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As the twentieth century closes, ethnicity stands out as a powerful force for binding people together in a sense of shared origins and worldview. But this emphasis on a people's uniqueness can also develop into a distorted rationale for insularity, inter-ethnic animosity, or, as we have seen in this century, armed conflict. Ethnic identity clearly holds very real consequences for individuals and peoples, yet there is not much agreement on what exactly it is or how it is formed. The growing recognition that ethnicity is not fixed and inherent, but elastic and constructed, fuels the essays in this collection. Regarding identity as a dynamic, on-going, formative and transformative process, "We Are a People" considers narrative the creation and maintenance of a common story as the keystone in building a sense of peoplehood.Myths of origin, triumph over adversity, migration, and so forth, chart a group's history, while continual additions to the larger narrative stress moving into the future as a people. Still, there is more to our stories as individuals and groups.Most of us are aware that we take on different roles and project different aspects of ourselves depending on the situation. Some individuals who have inherited multiple group affiliations from their families view themselves not as this or that but all at once. So too with ethnic groups. The so-called hyphenated Americans are not the only people in the world to recognize or embrace their plurality. This relatively recent acknowledgment of multiplicity has potentially wide implications, destabilizing the limited (and limiting) categories inscribed in, for example, public policy and discourse on race relations."We Are a People" is a path-breaking volume, boldly illustrating how ethnic identity works in the real world. Author note: Paul Spickard is Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at UC Santa Barbara and is author of "Mixed Blood". W. Jeffrey Burroughs is Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. ... Read more

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In this remarkable memoir, Tung Pok Chin casts light on the largely hidden experience of those Chinese who immigrated to this country with false documents during the Exclusion era. Although scholars have pieced together their history, first-person accounts are rare and fragmented; many of the so-called "Paper Sons" lived out their lives in silent fear of discovery. Chin's story speaks for the many Chinese who worked in urban laundries and restaurants, but it also introduces an unusually articulate man's perspective on becoming a Chinese American.

Chin's story begins in the early 1930s, when he followed the example of his father and countless other Chinese who bought documents that falsely identified them as children of Chinese Americans. Arriving in Boston and later moving to New York City, he worked and lived in laundries. Chin was determined to fit into American life and dedicated himself to learning English. But he also became an active member of key organizations—a church, the Chinese Hand Laundrymen's Alliance, and Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association—that anchored him in the community. A self-reflective and expressive man, Chin wrote poetry commenting on life in China and the hardships of being an immigrant in the United States. His work was regularly published in the China Daily News and brought him to the attention of the FBI, then intent on ferreting out communists and illegal immigrants. His vigorous narrative speaks to the day-to-day anxieties of living as a Paper Son as well as the more universal immigrant experiences of raising a family in modest circumstances and bridging cultures.

Historian K. Scott Wong introduces Chin's memoir, discussing the limitations on immigration from China and what is known about Exclusion-era Chinese American communities. Set in historical context, Tung Pok Chin's unique story offers an engaging account of a twentieth-century Paper Son. ... Read more

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During the Second World War, Chinese Americans contributed to the war effort by joining the armed forces and working in the defense industries. In doing so, they improved their social status, often at the expense of Japanese Americans, and positioned themselves to become the "model minority" and the "good Asian in the good war." In "Americans First", K. Scott Wong uses archival research and oral histories to provide the first detailed account of Chinese Americans in the American military. Wong traces the history of the 14th Air Service Group, a segregated outfit of Chinese Americans sent to China in support of the American Army Air Corps and the Chinese Air Force. His ethnic history of inclusion shows how this new generation of Chinese Americans was more socially accepted, moving from the margins of society into the American mainstream during a time of pervasive racism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An untold story
This history of Chinese Americans during WW II goes beyond justh the story but gives the reader a background into the Chinese migration to America.The book is interesting and informative, and its a fast good read.

I was very pleased to find this history and social commentary.
I was very pleased to find this history of the Chinese American experience in World War II and have recommended this book to others. ... Read more

Product Description
The end of 'World War II and the enactment of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 marked the beginning of a new Asian immigration. The new Asian immigrants—among them higher proportions of women and middle-class professionals, managers, and entrepreneurs—have been profoundly affected and influenced by the restructuring of the global economy, particularly in Pacific Rim industries. This volume focuses on Los Angeles as a critical "world city" in the developing global economy and also as the center of new Asian immigration. Included are discussions of the settlement patterns of various groups of Asians in relation to the social, economic, and political developments in Asia and the United States. At a local level, the contributors examine the garment and health care industries in Los Angeles to explore the role of new Asian immigrants in the city's economy and politics. ... Read more

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The struggle to save the International Hotel and prevent the eviction of its elderly residents became a focal point in the creation of the contemporary Asian American movement, especially among Filipinos. Like other minorities who were looking for positive models in their past to build an identity movement, Filipino youth found their "roots" in the stories and lives of the "manongs" (respected elders), and the anti-eviction movement became a key site for the formation of a distinct Filipino American consciousness. Estella Habal, a student activist during the anti-eviction protests, relates this history within the context of the broader left politics of the era, the urban housing movement, and San Francisco city politics. Ultimately, the hotel was razed, but a new one now occupies the site and commemorates the residents and activists who fought for low-income housing for the elderly and their right to remain in their own community. ... Read more

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Focusing on San Diego in the post-Civil Rights era, Linda Trinh Võ examines the ways Asian Americans drew together—despite many differences within the group—to construct a community that supports a variety of social, economic, political, and cultural organizations.

Using historical materials, ethnographic fieldwork, and interviews, Võ traces the political strategies that enable Asian Americans to bridge ethnicity, generation, gender, language, and class differences, among others. She demonstrates that mobilization is not a smooth, linear process and shows how the struggle over ideologies, political strategies, and resources affects the development of community organizations. Võ also analyzes how Asian Americans construct their relationship with Asia and how they forge relationships with other racialized communities of color. Võ argues that the situation in San Diego illuminates other localities across the country where Asians face challenges trying to organize, find sufficient resources, create leaders, and define strategies. ... Read more

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This collection of evocative personal testimonies by three generations of Hmong refugees is the first to describe their lives in Laos as slash-and-burn farmers, as refugees after a Communist government came to power in 1975, and as immigrants in the United States. Reflecting on the homes left behind, their narratives chronicle the difficulties of forging a new identity. From Jou Yee Xiong's Life Story: 'I stopped teaching my sons many of the Hmong ways because I felt my ancestors and I had suffered enough already. I thought that teaching my children the old ways would only place a burden on them'. From Ka Pao Xiong's (Jou Yee Xiong's son) Life Story: 'It has been very difficult for us to adapt because we had no professions or trades and we suffered from culture shock. Here in America, both the husband and wife must work simultaneously to earn enough money to live on. Many of our children are ignorant of the Hmong way of life. Even the old people are forgetting about their life in Laos, as they enjoy the prosperity and good life in America'. From Xang Mao Xiong's Life Story: 'When the Communists took over Laos and General Vang Pao fled with his family, we, too, decided to leave.Not only my family, but thousands of Hmong tried to flee. I rented a car for thirty thousand Laotian dollars, and it took us to Nasu. We felt compelled to leave because many of us had been connected to the CIA. Thousands of Hmong were traveling on foot. Along the way, many of them were shot and killed by Communist soldiers. We witnessed a bloody massacre of civilians'. From Vue Vang's Life Story: 'Life was so hard in the [Thai refugee] camp that when we found out we could go to the United States, we did not hesitate to grasp the chance. We knew that were we to remain in the camp, there would be no hope for a better future. We would not be able to offer our children anything better than a life of perpetual poverty and anguish'. Author Sucheng Chan, Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is general editor of "Temple's Asian American History and Culture Series". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Hmong Means Free
Whether or not the meaning of "Hmong" LITERALLY means "free" or not, I'm SURE, is not what the author is trying to say.

My thoughts
I thought the chineses' called Hmongs "Miao" and the Tais' called Hmongs "Meo." Don't quote me on that, I could be wrong.

Hmong peoples' stories are a bit different than most immigrants that came to the US. They are here because they assisted the US CIA with a "Secret War" against Indochina Communist and fled to the US to escape from death and imprisonment.

I agree that other races faced equal or more horrific conflicts, as well, but to bicker with PMS is a bit over the top. All of the reviews have brought much joy to me. At least there are people thinking deeply about the idea of Hmong and "reading" this cool book.

To the not so cool dude.Get a life!
I have not read this book personally, but the reviews I have read seemed like some of you are a little ticked off. It doesn't matter what "Hmong" really means to you, it's what it means to the author. But all of a sudden, some of you have become experts in the Hmong culture and language.Well send me your email address and I will personally send you a diploma, a B.S. in Hmong culture and language.

Now for the jerk that wrote the last review- The Hmong have put up with all kinds of stereotyping, but to say that they are inferior by looking at the way they live is really a slap in the face. I could say the same thing about the Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Chinese, or any other Asian groups in this country but I don't.What a person becomes is really up to that individual, so for you to pass judgement on others, especially a group of people, based on your narrow minded pea brain, I nominate you for the "Jerk of the Year" award.

Go get a life and stop ruining mine!

Cried and laughed all at once.
The author's intro was informative but lacks passion (some day, a Hmong author may be able to do a more passionate job on our plight).

The narratives were honest and sincere. There was no "sugar-coating"--I know! The narratives had a single common denominator: the sufferings of the human condition. Throughout the narration, I cried and laughed all at once. I cried: all the sufferings. I laughed: when one of the narratives failed the drivers' written test (in California) the first time because after she took the test, she didn't even realized it was in Spanish until her husband told her--she did not know Spanish.

The book gave me a sense of my history in a personal and down-to-earth way. The book is an excellent reference.

Helping young Hmong Americans find and identity...
I work in the healthcare field and have seen quite a few young (teenage +) Hmong Americans struggling with their sense of value.In particular, a young girl who had been "Americanized" AKA taken from her family when she was young because of supposed abuse - a common practice not that long ago.She was depressed, living with a loving but very white family in which she felt inferior.Asian gang activities in our area made her feel embarrassed.This book put a spark back in her eyes.I found it wonderful and would highly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
A companion volume to "The Cry and the Dedication", this is the first extensive collection of Carlos Bulosan's short stories, essays, poetry, and correspondence. Bulosan's writings expound his mission to redefine the Filipino American experience and mark his growth as a writer. The pieces included here reveal how his sensibility, largely shaped by the political circumstances of the 1930s up to the 1950s, articulates the struggles and hopes for equality and justice for Filipinos. He projects a 'new world order' liberated from materialist greed, bigoted nativism, racist oppression, and capitalist exploitation. As E. San Juan explains in his Introduction, Bulosan's writings 'help us to understand the powerlessness and invisibility of being labeled a Filipino in post Cold War America.' Author note: Born in 1911 in the Philippines to a peasant family, Carlos Bulosan was one of the first wave of Filipino immigrants to come to the United States in the 1930s. After several arduous years as a farmworker in California, Bulosan became involved with radical intellectuals and started editing the workers' magazine "The New Tide".While hospitalized for three years for tuberculosis and kidney problems, Bulosan began writing poetry and short stories. Despite having little formal education, he saw his talent for writing as a means to give a voice to Filipino struggles, both in the Philippines and in the United States. He went on to publish three volumes of poetry, a best-selling collection of stories, "The Laughter of My Father", and "America Is in the Heart", the much acclaimed chronicle based on his family's battle to overcome poverty, violence, and racism in the United States. "The Cry and the Dedication" carries on Bulosan's passionate, satirical style. E. San Juan, Jr. is Fellow of the Center for the Humanities and Visiting Professor of English, Wesleyan University, and Director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center. He was recently chair of the Department of Comparative American Cultures, Washington University, and Professor of Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He received the 1999 Centennial Award for Literature from the Philippines Cultural Center.His most recent books are "Beyond Postcolonial Theory", "From Exile to Diaspora", "After Postcolonialism", and "Racism and Cultural Studies". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Grips the Heart
This book grips the heart and pulls on all the strings.It brings out the Filipino experience for the "Manongs" as no other book that I have read.This collection of short stories, essays, poems, and correspondance lets Carlos Bulosan bring out the total message.A must have book

Gripping Epic!
This reading should be considered one of Filipino-America's (and Asian America's) best literary works as of yet.There is no other writer prior to the cliche' "Amy Tan-esque" era that has made a lasting impact on American literature.The novel is (r)evolutionary in its attempt to educate generations of literature afficionados.What better way to pay tribute to equal rights activists than Bulosan's magnum opus?Bulosan is the next Walt Whitman and then some, beginning with his incipient stages in rural Pangasinan province, to his voyage to America and initiation into manhood and the adventures in between. He is Walt Whitman's echo, fervent, passionate, honest - speaking for all humankind, and fighting for the rights of 1930s struggling working class of Filipinos, Mexicans, Native Americans, African-Americans, and Asians.

Potent
Powerful works.Bulosan is poetic, honest and down-to-earth, and very vivid and lyrical in his descriptions of the atrocities he suffered as a Filipino living in America. ... Read more

Product Description
To talk about 'political style' is to acknowledge a dynamic and somewhat improvisational approach to politics; it is to acknowledge the need to work within the limits presented by tradition, resources, and social context. To speak of 'political style' in relation to a particular ethnic group is to recognize their agency in shaping their history. In "Nisei/Sansei: Shifting Japanese American Identities and Politics", Jere Takahashi challenges studies that describe the Japanese American community's essentially linear process toward assimilation into U.S. society. As he develops a complex and nuanced account of Japanese American life, he shows that a diversity of opinion and debate about effective political strategy characterized each generation of Japanese Americans. As he investigates the ways in which each generation attempted to advance its interests and concerns, he uncovers the struggles over key issues and introduces the community activists whose voices have been muffled by assimilation narratives.Takahashi's approach to political style includes the ways that Japanese Americans mustered and managed political resources, but also encompasses their on-going efforts at self-definition. His focus, then, is on personal and social action; on individual activists, power, and ideological shifts within the community, and generational change. In telling the story of the community's complex and dynamic relationship to the larger society, he highlights individuals who contributed to the struggles and debates that paved the way for the emergence of a distinct Japanese American identity. Jere Takahashi teaches Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. ... Read more

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This previously unpublished novel by the author of "America Is in the Heart" dramatizes the resourcefulness, cunning, and pain of the Filipino peasants' struggle against a heritage of colonization, first by Spain and later by the United States. Set during the political upheavals of the 1940s and 1950s, seven underground rebels old and young, male and female, intellectual and peasant set off across the Philippine countryside fueled by their outrage over continued U.S. domination. They combat both internal foes from their past memories and experiences and visible enemies who view their clandestine work as a destructive force of communism. As they confront danger and face physical and emotional sacrifices along the way, their sense of mission conveys a profound vision of democracy and self-determination.Bulosan's exceptional narrative, at once an allegorical and a psychological critique of the West's racism and delusion of supremacy, portrays an armed rebellion that can represent many Third World peoples. Literary and political, Bulosan's work embodies his personal dream of equality and freedom.When asked what impelled him to write, Bulosan replied, 'To give literate voices to the voiceless...to translate the desires and aspirations of the whole Filipino people in the Philippines and abroad in terms relevant to contemporary history'. Author note: Born in 1911 in the Philippines to a peasant family, Carlos Bulosan was one of the first wave of Filipino immigrants to come to the United States in the 1930s. After several arduous years as a farmworker in California, Bulosan became involved with radical intellectuals and started editing the workers' magazine "The New Tide".While hospitalized for three years for tuberculosis and kidney problems, Bulosan began writing poetry and short stories. Despite having little formal education, he saw his talent for writing as a means to give a voice to Filipino struggles, both in the Philippines and in the United States. He went on to publish three volumes of poetry, a best-selling collection of stories, "The Laughter of My Father", and "America Is in the Heart", the much acclaimed chronicle based on his family's battle to overcome poverty, violence, and racism in the United States."The Cry and the Dedication" carries on Bulosan's passionate, satirical style. E. San Juan, Jr. is Fellow of the Center for the Humanities and Visiting Professor of English, Wesleyan University, and Director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center. He was recently chair of the Department of Comparative American Cultures, Washington University, and Professor of Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He received the 1999 Centennial Award for Literature from the Philippines Cultural Center. His most recent books are "Beyond Postcolonial Theory", "From Exile to Diaspora", "After Postcolonialism", and "Racism and Cultural Studies". ... Read more

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No one knows how many Chinese are being smuggledinto the United States, but credible estimates put the number at50,000 arrivals each year. Astonishing as this figure is, it representsonly a portion of the Chinese illegally residing in the United States.Smuggled Chinese presents a detailed account of how this traffic isconducted and what happens to the people who risk their lives toreach Gold Mountain.

When the Golden Venture ran aground off New York's coast in1993 and ten of the 260 Chinese on board drowned, the publicoutcry about human smuggling became front-page news. Probinginto the causes and consequences of this clandestine traffic, Ko-linChin has interviewed more than 300 people--smugglers, immigrants,government officials, and business owners--in the United States,China, and Taiwan. Their poignant and chilling testimony describes aflourishing industry in which smugglers--big and littlesnakeheads--command fees as high as $30,000 to move desperatebut hopeful men and women around the world. For many whosurvive the hunger, filthy and crowded conditions, physical andsexual abuse, and other perils of the arduous journey, life in theUnited States, specifically in New York's Chinatown, is adisappointment if not a curse. Few will return to China, though,because their families depend on the money and status gained byhaving a relative in the States.

In Smuggled Chinese, Ko-lin Chin puts a human face on thisintractable international problem, showing how flaws in nationalpolicies and lax law enforcement perpetuate the cycle ofdesperation and suffering. He strongly believes, however, that theproblem of human smuggling will continue as long as China'scitizens are deprived of fundamental human rights and economicsecurity.

Smuggled Chinese will engage readers interested in humanrights, Asian and Asian American studies, urban studies, andsociology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Smuggled Chinese
This is an interesting book, an obvious result of extensive research. It best serves as a historical reference tool for anyone interested in the crisis of Chinese being smuggled to the U.S. in the 80's and early 90's. That is also its shortcoming, since it lacks any reference to more recentevents related to the smuggling of Chinese into the U.S.This was a majordisappointment to me for a book published in 2000.The book would bewell-served to be updated with reference to new routes being used bysmugglers; the INS Global Reach program, new offices in China, and effortsto disrupt the smuggling trade; the Chih Yung interdiction and other boatsstopped off Mexico and Central America; the Spring 1999 influx ofsmuggler's ships in Guam and Tinian; and the impact on the smuggling ofChinese as a result of the 1996 immigration reform law. ... Read more

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The first biography of an American-born Korean woman, "Doing What Had to Be Done" is, on the surface, the life story of Dora Yum Kim. But telling more than one woman's story, author Soo-Young Chin offers more than an unusual glimpse at the shaping of a remarkable community activist. In addition as she questions her subject, introduces each chapter, and reflects on how Dora's story relates to her own experience as a Korean-American who immigrated to this country as an adult she carves around Dora's compelling and courageous life story, a story of her own and one of all Korean-Americans. Born in 1921, Dora, as she tells Chin her story, chronicles the shifting salience of gendered ethnic identity as she journeys through her life. Traveling through time and place, she moves from San Francisco's Chinatown where Koreans were a minority within a minority to suburban Dewey Boulevard where Dora and her family attempt to integrate into mainstream America and where she becomes a social worker in the California State Department of Employment. As the Korean immigrant community grows in the late 1960s, Dora becomes deeply involved in community service.She remembers teaching English to senior citizens and preparing them for their naturalization exams, finding jobs for the younger Koreans, and founding a community center and meals program for seniors. A detailed and inspiring lens through which to view Korean-American history, Dora's life journey echoes the changing spaces of the American social landscape. The grace and ease with which Dora just 'does what has to be done' shows us the importance of everyday acts in making a difference. Soo-Young Chin is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Asian-American Studies at the University of Southern California. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

2 stars out of 5
I'm in the mist of a Korean-American book craze and was excited when I came across this book since I too am a Korean female. Unfortunetly I was disappointed with this book because I was expecting to read a narrative story rather than transcripts of several interviews focusing on Dora Yum Kim's experience as a volunteer and a social activist for the Korean immigrant community. If you're expecting to read about her personal experience as one of the very first American born Koreans in the early 1900s.. you might be disappointed. Its sort of interesting though because she sounds like a compassionate, tolerant non-Korean American. I was also quite annoyed with the author and her Jerry Springer like "final thoughts" at the end of each chapter, it just didn't seem like it belonged there, just wasted pages. I'm not going to give up though, my next read will be Quiet Odyssey by Mary Paik Lee. ... Read more

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With the recent proliferation of critically acclaimed literature by Asian American writers, this groundbreaking collection of essays provides a unique resource for students, scholars, and the general reading public. The homogeneity implied by the term "Asian American" is replaced in this volume with the rich diversity of highly disparate peoples. Languages, religions, races and cultural and national backgrounds. Examining a century of Asian American literature from the late 19th century up through the contemporary experimental drama of Ping Chong, the contributors address the work of writers with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, East Indian, and Pacific Island ancestry. Asian Canadian and Hawaiian literature are also considered. ... Read more

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This ground-breaking collection of new interviews, critical essays, and commentary explores South Asian identity and culture. Sensitive to the false homogeneity implied by 'South Asian', 'diaspora', 'postcolonial', and 'Asian American', the contributors attempt to unpack these terms. By examining the social, economic, and historical particularities of people who live 'between the lines' on and between borders they reinstate questions of power and privilege, agency and resistance. As South Asians living in the United States and Canada, each to some degree must reflect on the interaction of the personal 'I,' the collective 'we,' and the world beyond. The South Asian scholars gathered together in this volume speak from a variety of theoretical perspectives; in the essays and interviews that cross the boundaries of conventional academic disciplines, they engage in intense, sometimes contentious, debate. Author note: Deepika Bahri is Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Literature and Theory at Emory University. Mary Vasudeva is on the Board of Directors for the Academic Excellence Foundation at Bowling Green State University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book but too expensive
I really enjoyed this particular book becasue it accuratelydelves into the minset of many indians and their feelings over a verycontroversial time period. Many books focus on the comments and feelings of leaders but this book was able to transcend the genral emotions of he common person most affected by the changes. ... Read more

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In Claiming the Oriental Gateway, Shelley Sang-Hee Lee explores the various intersections of urbanization, ethnic identity, and internationalism in the experience of Japanese Americans in early twentieth-century Seattle. She examines the development and self-image of the city by documenting how U.S. expansion, Asian trans-Pacific migration, and internationalism were manifested locallyoand how these forces affected residents' relationships with one another and their surroundings. Lee details the significant role Japanese Americansoboth immigrants and U.S. born citizensoplayed in the social and civic life of the city as a means of becoming American. Seattle embraced the idea of cosmopolitanism and boosted its role as a cultural and commercial "Gateway to the Orient" at the same time as it limited the ways in which Asian Americans could participate in the public schools, local art production, civic celebrations, and sports. She also looks at how Japan encouraged the notion of the "gateway" in its participation in the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and International Potlach.Claiming the Oriental Gateway thus offers an illuminating study of the "Pacific Era" and trans-Pacific relations in the first four decades of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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In the first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud probes the complexities of Vietnamese American identity and politics. She provides an analytical introduction to the literature, showing how generational differences play out in genre and text. In addition, she asks, can the term Vietnamese American be disassociated from representations of the war without erasing its legacy? Pelaud delineates the historical, social, and cultural terrains of the writing as well as the critical receptions and responses to them. She moves beyond the common focus on the Vietnam war to develop an interpretive framework that integrates post-colonialism with the multi-generational refugee, immigrant, and transnational experiences at the centre of Vietnamese American narratives. Her readings of key works, such as Andrew Pham's Catfish and Mandala and Lan Cao's Monkey Bridge show how trauma, racism, class and gender play a role in shaping the identities of Vietnamese American characters and narrators. ... Read more

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Filling an important gap in scholarship, this unique historical dictionary recounts the experience of immigrants from more than ten countries in East and Southeast Asia and assesses the cultural, social, economic, and political impact of these groups on United States history. A wealth of specific information on people, places, and events is contained in over one thousand entries, each including its own bibliography. Fourteen historical and sociological essays, written by outstanding Asian specialists, provide analyses of particular groups and issues and clarify the ethnohistorical concepts that are essential to an understanding of majority/minority relations in America. An extensive general bibliography on Asian-American history and a comprehensive chronology of events are additional features. ... Read more

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Once thought of in terms of geographically bounded spaces, Asian America has undergone profound changes as a result of post-1965 immigration as well as the growth and reshaping of established communities. This collection of original essays demonstrates that conventional notions of community, of ethnic enclaves determined by exclusion and ghettoization, now have limited use in explaining the dynamic processes of contemporary community formation.

Writing from a variety of perspectives, these contributors expand the concept of community to include sites not necessarily bounded by space; formations around gender, class, sexuality, and generation reveal new processes as well as the demographic diversity of today's Asian American population. The case studies gathered here speak to the fluidity of these communities and to the need for new analytic approaches to account for the similarities and differences between them. Taken together, these essays forcefully argue that it is time to replace the outworn concept of a monolithic Asian America. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection brings together essays on the Philippineswritten in the wake of the Cold War and the Marcosregime. Cross-disciplinary by vocation and affiliated by their commonengagement with the intersections of power, representation, andagency, the contributors probe the discrepant histories that underliethe formation of the Philippine nation-state and translocal Filipinocultures: the mestizo social hierarchy, colonial medicine, penalcolonies, nationalist desire, diasporic literatures, gay beautypageants, ideas of everyday violence, and state bulimia in the age ofglobal capitalism.

As Filipinos and non-Filipinos, these writers are alert to andintimate with the distance and difference of their own object ofstudy; they intend their essays on the Philippines to translate,localize, and reassess the stakes in current debates around the studyof colonial modernity, nationalism, and postcoloniality. ... Read more