Download Asian American History: Major Problems and Identity and more Study notes Asian literature in PDF only on Docsity! Katie Cardona HIST221- 0301 Week 2 Reading Notes Major Problems in AA History: Preface & Chapter 1 2000 US Census: AA fastest growing racial pop in US Classification of AA did not exist before 1960’s o First program in AA studies was founded in 1968 Focused on Chinese and Japanese cultures 1980s- Korean, Filipino, Southeast Asians, South Asians, Hawaiians and mixed races began to be studied AA Studies consist of ethnicity, migration, politics, economy, work, class, legal issues, community, families, education, religion, gender, sexuality, and culture AA Studies old and new endeavor o Old: 20th century social scientists examined the impact of immigration “anti-Asian racism was seen as resulting from the immigrants’ refusal, for whatever reason, to become American.” Later scholars determined the works of earlier social scientists to be racist in themselves because the blame of the racism was placed on the victims o New: When the civil rights movement brought the black nationalist struggles to light in the late 60’s, AA studies became possible AA activists became inspired by the black leaders and began a movement to create historical awareness Roger Daniels: Professor of History @ University of Cincinnati o Stresses importance of race for understanding the neglect of AAs in over a century of scholarship on American history Thesis: AAs have been treated as “perpetual foreigners” Ellis Island had welcoming tone w/ Statue of Liberty In the west (San Francisco), Angel Island set a tone of suspicion and rejection. o (1910-1940) Primarily a detention center for Asian immigrants o Chinese constituted ~1% of nations foreign born, but were more than 4% those deported Hubert Howe Bancroft: historian of CA Chinese were alien in every sense- “The color of their skins, the repulsiveness of their features, their undersize of figure, their incomprehensible language, strange customs, and heathen religion... conspired to set them apart” (History of California- 1890) “We want the Asiatic for our low-grade work, and when it is finished we want him to go home and stay there until we want him again” –Bancroft on Asians as “guest workers.” Ronald Takaki: Professor of Ethnic Studies @ UC Berkley o Racism is central to the experience of the many and diverse groups that have emigrated from Asia. o “Some immigrants believed, rightly in some instances, that their chances for material success would be improved if their name did not betray their origins.” Some would go as far as to attempt to shed their past and ethnic background. This was possible because of physical indistinguishability. AAs didn’t have this option o Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Singled out Chinese on racial basis o National Origins Act of 1924: Prohibited Japanese immigration o Cable Act of 1922: Any American woman who married “an alien ineligible to citizenship shall cease to be a citizen of the US.” o Executive Order 9066: FDR issued executive order targeting Japanese Americans for special persecution and deprived them of their rights of due process and equal protection of the law (WWII) Internment camps Sylvia Yanagisako o Critique of Takaki’s racial centrality thesis through her focus of gender, nationality, and class. o Post-WWII we should be concerned with new immigrants and their problems with social and economic adjustment- as well as the need for social services. o Dilemma of identity: “the only experience shared by all Asian Americans is that of having been assigned an essential character by what Edward Said has called ‘orientalism.’” Said’s critique of orientalism: “to be labeled as ‘oriental’ in the US is to be identified as having origins in a cultural tradition that is supposedly antithetical to that of the West and inferior to it.” o National borders do not constitute social borders Setting aside this great assumption would open up an entirely new dimension to AA studies. Would enable us to better understand the ways flows of people, money, labor, obligations, and goods between nations and continents have shaped AA experiences.
