Department of Ethnic Studies

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ETHN 14 Introduction to Asian American Studies

• Department of Ethnic Studies Asian American
  Studies Program
• California State University, Sacramento

Week 9 Session 1 South Asian American
Experiences / Midterm Review
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Housekeeping Items

• Midterm Exam has been pushed back to Monday, 11/2
  and Wednesday, 11/4
• 11/2 Persuasive, analytical essays
• 11/4 Identification terms (short essay)

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Last Time

• Impact of the Immigration and Naturalization Act
  of 1965 on the API community
• Discuss the South Asian American and Korean
  American Experiences in the United States

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Today

• Impact of the Immigration and Naturalization Act
  of 1965 on the API community
• Discuss the Southeast Asian American experiences
  in the United States
• Introduce midterm essay topics

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Immigration Laws Pre- and Post-1965 Immigration
and Naturalization Act

• Pre 1965
• National origins quotas
• Favored European immigration, particularly
  Western European countries
• Heavily restricted immigration from Asia and
  Africa
• Post 1965
• Moved to a preference system based on labor
  shortages and educational status
• Included family reunification provisions
• Led to Asian chain migration

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Crosscutting Themes Chinese Americans Japanese Americans Filipino Americans Pacific Islander Americans
Immigrant Populations Sojourner immigrants, Chinese Women Poor from rural areas and Ryokyu Islands First, second, and third waves. Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 Samoans, Guamanians/Chamorros, Tongans, Hawaiians
Settlement Patterns Pacific Coast California San Francisco Pacific Coast, Hawaii, California San Francisco Second wave, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Pacific coast (Stockton Key migratory hub) Hawaii Mormons, economics, Laie (Country came to them, they didnt come to the country)
Factors that influenced Immigration (Push-Pull) Gold Rush, Fall of Saigon Exclusion of Chinese, Agriculture, Railroads, and domestic work Spanish American War, Alaskeros, Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, World War II, Pensionados Westernization, World War II, Department of the Interior, 1950 Organic Act, Land of Opportunity Family reunification
Labor Agriculture, WWII economy Railroads Domestic Services (Laundries) Agriculture, Railroads, and domestic work Alaskeros, The Great Depression, Carlos Bulosan, Agriculture, Domestic service Faasamoa, Modernization, Unskilled semi-skilled labor (e.g. custodians, cooks, clerks)
Country of Origins Relationship with US Government Immigration Act of 1965, The Good Earth, Arrival of Chinese Women, Ping Pong Diplomacy Gentlemens Agreement, Meiji Revolution, Attack on Pearl Harbor Pensionados, Imperialism, colonization, Philippine-American War, Tydings McDuffie Act American Samoa/Western Samoa Dole vs. Cleveland
Exclusion, Surveillance, and Discrimination Foreign Miners Tax Chinese Exclusion Act Ordinances on Living and Labor Conditions, Cold War, Hiram Fong, FOB/ABC, Dr. Wen Ho Lee San Francisco School Board incident, Anti-miscegenation laws, restrictive covenants, Alien Land Act (1913 and 1920), CWIRC/Exec Order 9066 Anti-Miscegenation laws, The Great Depression, Watsonville Riot, fight for Affirmative Action Christian Missionaries Great Mahele
Community Institutions Family Associations, Paper Sons Six Companies Native Sons of the Golden State, levels of educaiton Japanese Association of America, Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Catholicism, Visayan, Tagalog, and Illocano, LodgesMens womens and youth and churces Matai, Haole society, plantation life, and Hawaiian traditional culture, Hawaiian Homes Commission, Council of Hawaiian Organizations
Cultural representations of the racialized other Hatchet men, Yellow Peril, Model Minorities, Tianaman Square The second generation Japanese Problem, Yellow Peril, Scientific racism/social darwinism Little Brown Brothers Allos in America is in the Heart Meed-Freeman controversy, colonization, imperialism, Comparison between Native Hawaiians and Americans
Generations and Acculturation Native Sons of the Golden State, FOBs ABCs Issei, Nisei, Sanseil redress Pre- and post-1965 Bridge generation Refugee processing centers, Generational role reversal, language difficulties, cultural challenges
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Crosscutting Themes South Asian Americans Korean Americans Southeast Asian Americans
Immigrant Populations Sojourner immigrants, Punjabi, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Majority men Whole families, War Brides, First, second and third waves Refugees Vietnamese, Laotians (Hmong and Lao), Cambodians, and ethnic Chinese. First and second generation
Settlement Patterns Mainly Western US, but dispersed Northern Sacramento Valley, Imperial Valley, Tech communities Hawaii, California Early Waves urban Third wave suburban LA county South Central LA Dispersed settlement Resettlement programs Minneapolis, Fresno
Factors that influenced Immigration (Push-Pull) 1946 Act Railroads Immigration Act of 1965 Japanese Occupation of Korea Korean War Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 Vietnam War Push immigrants vs. Pull Immigrants, Dienbienphu
Labor Gujuarato, Dalip Singh Saund, Post-1965 skilled, technical, management, highly educated Agriculture Family business model Agricuture unskilled labor
Country of Origins Relationship with US Government British colonization 9/11 Treaty at Chamulpo Korean War Student refugees Vietnam War, Cold War
Exclusion, Surveillance, and Discrimination Thind Case Alien Land Act (1920) Hemet Valley Incident Language Gap Familiarity with institutions Riots of 1992 Few jobs, Goal was to scatter resettlement, nativist resentment of assistance, discrimination based on language status
Community Institutions Indian League of America, Gadar Movement Family Christian Church Presbyterianism Family business model Strain on local agencies, Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance programs, Little Saigon
Cultural representations of the racialized other Terrorists, Least Desirable Race MASH Movie, Falling Down Riots of 1992 Child brides, boat people
Generations and Acculturation Immigration Act of 1965 Refugee processing centers, Generational role reversal, language difficulties, cultural challenges
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• Key Take-Aways from our Analysis Work
• Social structures such as institutions and
  organizations and power distribution are closely
  linked. Institutions function to reinforce
  existing power relations between ethnic groups.
  Differential power relations between ethnic
  groups shape how institutions function.
• Immigrant communities are often structured around
  institutions and organizations that were brought
  from the home country and adapted in the United
  States. These organizations took on different
  functions with the second generation. Segregation
  discouraged assimilation.
• The dominant culture values material wealth and
  uses its control over local, state, and federal
  government to limit labor competition and access
  to opportunity.
• Cultural representations of API groups promote or
  reinforce U.S. national interest and European
  American materialism. Stereotypes and depictions
  of Asian Americans are linked to a history of
  West-East dualism (Edward Saids Orientalism)
  often linked to the enduring image of the
  perpetual foreigner.
• Despite structural differences among API
  immigrants, groups were relegated to similar
  forms of labor and housing and experienced
  multiple forms of discrimination.
• The relationship between Asian countrys
  governments varies greatly. The relationship
  between countries affected the experiences of
  Immigrants.
• Individual versus the collective (family,
  community, ethnic group)

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Mid-Term Format

• Monday, 11/2
• Three to four analytical essay topics will be
  developed from our classs cross-group analysis
  work. You will write on two of them but will need
  to be prepared for all four.
• Wednesday, 11/4
• Four identification terms. Short essay
  explanation of their significance to the API
  experience and the class.

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Topic 1 Sociopolitical Context of API
Immigration

• Asian American Studies scholars routinely
  situate the emergence of the umbrella term API
  within a historical context of national
  expansion, colonization, and marketplace
  dominance. As a result, a central dimension of
  the collective Asian and Pacific Islander
  American experience is strong similarities in the
  sociopolitical context of arrival to and
  settlement in the United States among different
  national origin groups. Develop and defend a
  thesis that characterizes this shared experience
  with regard to U.S. national interest, labor
  market conditions, and immigration policy.

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Topic 2 Cultural Representations,
Discrimination, and Maintaining Privilege

• Numerous stereotypes experienced by API groups
  reflect a history of orientalism, or an
  assumption by westerners that easterners are
  cultural others, or the opposite of them. Some
  examples include yellow peril, perpetual
  foreigners, and the model minority. Oftentimes,
  representations like these justify forms of
  discrimination. Develop and argue a thesis that
  explores how cultural representations of Asian
  and Pacific Islander Americans promote and
  maintain a system of material wealth and
  privilege for those of the dominant culture in
  the United States.

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Topic 3 Structural Influences on Acculturation

• Historically, social scientists viewed ethnic
  group arrival, settlement, and adaptation through
  the lens of assimilation. The guiding assumption
  of their analyses was that all groups eventually
  lose their cultural differences to become part of
  the dominant group. In more recent decades,
  scholars moved away from assimilation theory to
  acculturation theory. Acculturation theory
  rejects the all or nothing and linear view of
  culture (culture does not get lost, it
  evolves). Instead, ethnic group arrival,
  settlement, and adaptation are viewed as
  negotiations, or an ongoing process of picking
  and choosing between cultural rituals, forms,
  values, and influences. Develop and argue a
  thesis that explores how structural factors
  influenced API acculturation in the United
  States.

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To Prepare for Next Session

• OBD on Bulosan, Part V
• Review for Midterm Exam