The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.
Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.
Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.
As the new academic year starts for many colleges around the country, like many professors, I am busy preparing to teach my courses. In my case, I usually teach two courses in the fall semester: “The Asian American Experience” (a ‘conventional’ classroom course with 40 students) and “Bridging Asia and Asian America” (a once-a-week, two-hour colloquium with 30 students, taught in the lounge of one of the residence halls). While these two courses are distinct, obviously there is a lot of overlap in terms of examining the histories and experiences of Asian Americans and their connections back to Asia.
With that in mind, I would like to share my list of films, videos, and documentaries that I think are good choices for showing in introductory Asian American Studies classes (the videos are most suited for college and advanced high school courses). As the study of Asian Americans continues to grow, hopefully instructors of these kind of courses and others interested in Asian Americans in general will find this list useful.
The following list is organized by topic and corresponds to the chronological order in which I discuss each topic in my “Asian American Experience” course. For each topic, I highlight the documentary (or for some topics, two or more) that I tend to show the most often, followed by other videos that I consider to be good choices for that topic as well.
Basic Concepts: The Racialized Landscape
In this first section of the course, I lay out the sociological framework and institutional nature of the U.S.’s racial/ethnic landscape into which Asian Americans fit. I focus on how, contrary to historical and contemporary ideals of being “colorblind,” American society has been and continues to be highly racialized and how social institutions reinforce and perpetuate racial distinctions.
The Color of Fear: Made in 1992, this video is “just” a group of men from various racial backgrounds sitting around talking about race, but their words sharply illustrate many of the basic and also subtle ways in which racialization gets played out on the individual level and ultimately highlights the failures of trying to be colorblind.
White Like Me/em>: An excellent documentary that focuses on the life and work of anti-racism activist and author Tim Wise and how he tries to address ongoing racism int he U.S. by trying to get White Americans to see how racism affects them and their everyday lives.
Race: Power of an Illusion
Race, the World’s Most Dangerous Myth
Understanding Race
Immigration and Settlement
In this section, I describe the history of Asian immigration to the U.S., how the 1965 Immigration Act has impacted the current demographics of the Asian American population, and the dynamics of Asian American ethnic communities, from the first urban Chinatowns to emerging suburban enclaves like Little Saigon.
Saigon USA: Summarizes the exodus of refugees out of Viet Nam, how many of them eventually settled in Orange County CA, the formation of the Little Saigon enclave, and the ways in which Vietnamese Americans reflect both old and new ways, and the ways in which they’re socially divided yet united as well.
This section explores the multidimensional and multi-level process of assimilation and ethnic identity formation. I discuss how these ideas involve more than just acculturation, how ideas of what it means to be an American have evolved through the years, and how these dynamics play out among adopted and mixed-race Asian Americans.
Daughter From Danang: This critically-acclaimed documentary chronicles the experiences of an Amerasian from Viet Nam who was adopted by a White mother and her journey back to reconnect with her birth family in Viet Nam. Along the way, she comes to some powerful and painful realizations about her identity.
Wo Ai Ni Mommy: Another critically-acclaimed documentary that focuses on the assimilation of adopted Asian Americans by, in this particular case, following the adoption and adjustment of an seven-year old (older than most Asian adoptees) girl from China by a White American family on Long Island, New York. Illuminating, touching, and very thought-provoking.
From a Different Shore: The Japanese-American Experience
Who is Albert Woo?
Yellow Tale Blues
No Turning Back
Women, Gender, and Family
Emphasizing the histories, experiences, challenges, and contributions of Asian American women, I highlight their paths of immigration into American society and the contemporary and often contradictory pressures they face, from familial expectations, to academic success, to dealing with exoticization and “yellow fever.”
Never Perfect: This video portrait follows a young Vietnamese American woman and her decision to have eyelid surgery. In between, it highlights the historical and contemporary pressures on how Asian American women are expected to look and behave.
Seeking Asian Female: This very personal documentary was created by Debbie Lum as she tries to explore the “Yellow Fever” fetishization of Asian women. She does so by profiling a White American man and a Chinese woman and the ups and downs of their relationship.
This section examines the origins of Asian Americans portrayed as the “model minority” and in what ways a seemingly “positive” stereotype is true and beneficial to Asian Americans, and how it also distorts the reality of life for many of us as it overgeneralizes and carelessly lumps all Asian Americans together.
Linsanity: The Movie: As the title implies, it focuses on jeremy Lin’s rise to meteoric rise to superstardom and into popular American culture. In the process, it describes the ups and downs of his amateur and professional career and is an interesting look into how he both reinforces and challenges model minority notions of Asian Americans.
“The Governor” segment of Searching for Asian America: This segment of the Searching for Asian America video features Gary Locke and his victory as Governor of Washington state in 1992 and how his personal story both reinforces and contradicts the model minority image.
How do Asian Americans differ in terms in terms of their occupational and employment success? I analyze two different aspects of that question in this section — glass ceiling barriers that many Asian Americans still confront in the workplace and secondly, how many choose to bypass those hurdles altogether by owning their own small business.
Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority: An excellent profile and biography of the remarkable and irrepressible Patsy Mink. It follows the trials and tribulations of her life and career and how she overcame each successive challenge and glass ceiling barrier that she encountered on the way to becoming one of the most beloved, respected, and revered Asian Americans ever.
Labor Women: This documentary profiles three young Asian American women who work as labor organizers in the Los Angeles area and in the process, fight against the traditional patriarchal notions of women’s work in their communities while forging important ties to other communities of color.
Part 2 of my list of best documentaries about Asian Americans will focus on videos relating to discrimination & racism, interracial relationships, faith, spirituality, & religion, sexuality & creative expression, social movements & collective action, and emerging issues in the 21st century.
The following are announcements about jobs for those interested in racial/ethnic/diversity issues. As always, the announcements and links are provided for informational purposes only and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of the organization or college involved.
American Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
The University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Department of American Studies, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor appointment, full-time, 9-months, to begin August 2011, pending position clearance and availability of funds. Duties: Teach Indigenous Studies/American Studies undergraduate and graduate courses; conduct research in Indigenous Studies/American Studies; work with graduate students; and other duties as assigned by chair.
Minimum qualifications: Ph.D. in American Studies or related area, ABDs will be considered. Ability to teach undergraduate/graduate courses and conduct research in Indigenous Studies with emphasis on North America and/or Asia/Pacific including Hawai’i. Desirable qualifications: Ability to teach and conduct research in American Studies. Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience.
To apply, send letter of application indicating how you satisfy the minimum and, if applicable, desirable qualifications, curriculum vitae, three letters of recommendation, and graduate school transcripts (copies are acceptable, original transcripts will be required at time of hire) to Indigenous Studies Search Committee Chair, Department of American Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 1890 East-West Road, Moore Hall 324, Honolulu, HI 96822-2318.
Departmental representatives plan to conduct invited interviews at the annual meeting of the American Studies Association. For inquiries contact Professor Kathleen M. Sands, Indigenous Studies Search Committee Chair, kmsands@hawaii.edu or 808-956-9093. Closing Date: October 1, 2010. An EEO/AA Employer.
The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin has multiple Tenure-Track openings in Global Policy Studies at the rank of Assistant Professor, (exceptional candidates may be considered at more senior levels).
Focus for one opening includes but is not limited to an interest in Asian Policy Issues. Candidates should have strong interests in Policy relevant research and a Doctoral equivalent degree, by start date, in Policy relevant disciplines.
Successful candidates will have an outstanding academic record and significant original research as well as develop a research program, teach graduate and undergraduate courses, collaborate with other Faculty from varied disciplinary backgrounds and provide service to the University, their profession and society. Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. EEO/AAE. Background check conducted on applicant selected.
Applicant Instructions: Please visit http://facultyjobs.utexas.edu for complete job description and to apply for Job ID: 10072800001.
The Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder seeks to fill a full-time, three semester Instructor position in Asian American studies. Candidates must be able to teach Introduction to Asian American Studies and other courses in the field. Those who employ comparative frameworks or demonstrate the ability to teach a comparative Foundations of Ethnic Studies course will receive fullest consideration. Ph.D. in hand or advanced ABD preferred.
This position will be rostered in Ethnic Studies and will last for three semesters (beginning in January 2011 and terminating in May 2012). Teaching load will be six classes per academic year. There is no formal application process. If you are interested (or know of viable candidates), please email daryl.maeda@colorado.edu with a c.v. and list of classes you have taught or are prepared to teach. Review of files will commence immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Daryl J. Maeda
Assoc. Professor of Ethnic Studies
University of Colorado at Boulder
http://spot.colorado.edu/~maeda
Social scientists know that one institution of American life that is crucial to either alleviating or perpetuating inequalities is our education system. With that in mind, I would like to highlight a few recent news stories, articles, and announcements that include positive news as they relate to Asian Americans and higher education. With each step that the Asian American community (and other racial/ethnic communities as well) takes, hopefully it represents another positive development in reducing social inequalities for all Americans.
Wallace Loh Named New President of Univ. of Maryland
Dr. Loh and his family left China in 1961 to escape communist oppression, first immigrating to Peru (Dr. Loh is also fluent in Spanish) and then coming to the U.S. for college. He completed his Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in Iowa in Psychology (take note of that young Asian Americans — he is not an engineer or physical scientist), a Master’s from Cornell, a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and finally a law degree at Yale. He was also Dean of the University of Washington’s law school (where he was also a close advisor to then-Governor Gary Locke) and most recently, Provost at the University of Iowa.
As you can see, Dr. Loh is extremely accomplished and as an Asian American in higher education, I am thrilled to see another Asian American attaining the Presidency of a major university. I wish Dr. Loh the best success in his new position.
Special Issue on Asian American and Pacific Islander Higher Education
The academic journal AAPI Nexus (2010, Volume 7, Number 1 and published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center) has just released its second issue of a three part education series, focusing on Higher Education, guest edited by Mitchell J. Chang (UCLA) and Peter Nien-chu Kiang (University of Massachusetts Boston). Below is a listing of the articles included in the issue:
Ling-chi Wang: Establishing a Chinatown campus of the City College of San Francisco
Rick Wagoner and Anthony Lin: Southeast Asian American community college students who transfer to four-year institutions
Jillian Liesemeyer: Historical comparison of exclusionary quotas against Jewish and Asian American college students
Oiyan Poon: Recent policy changes in eligibility of admissions in the University of California system
Julie Park and Mitchell Chang: Improving the future influence of AAPI communities on educational matters
While I have yet to read the articles in this issue, from their descriptions it looks like they each tell a story in which Asian Americans — individually and collectively — have faced and continue to face various challenges when it comes to achieving educational access and success. In their own ways, each article seems to highlight ways in which Asian Americans have worked individually and collectively to confront those barriers and in the process, they have not only empowered themselves but others around them to work toward greater inclusion.
Not Just Scientists & Engineers: Asian American College Students Diversify Their Majors
International Business Times reports that Asian American college students are increasingly turning to other fields of study and majors, rather than the more stereotypical ones of physical sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics:
Larry Shinagawa, director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland, said that . . . First-generation immigrant Asians typically pursue STEM careers — fields that are secure, prestigious, pay well, and have low barriers to entry. He added that two generations ago, Asian Americans (even those born and raised in the U.S.) also largely pursued stereotypical STEM careers.
However, Asian Americans (second-, third-, or fourth-generation) have recently begun to defy the STEM stereotype. Now, a greater number of them study humanities and social sciences versus STEM disciplines. And after completing their studies, an increasing number of them are entering into law and business.
Shinagawa said that many Asian Americans feel more “Americanized” and believe they have a broader range of occupational choices. As to why they choose business and law specifically, he explained that many Asian Americans do not feel they can compete with immigrant Asians in STEM fields, so they opt for law and business, which offer the same or better pay and prestige compared to STEM jobs.
As I’ve always said, there’s nothing wrong with becoming a scientist, engineer, mathematician, etc. if that’s what you truly enjoy doing. But if it’s mainly the parents who are pushing their children towards these occupations, that’s a recipe for future alienation and resentment. For Asian American college students in that position, you owe to yourself to have an honest talk with your parents about what you want to do for the rest of your life.
Further, as diverse as the Asian American population is, so too should be our occupational distributions. We need Asian Americans as doctors, scientists, engineers — and also as musicians, authors, professors, corporate executives, journalists, actors, etc. The take home message is: do not limit yourself.
Frank Wu Named New Dean of Univ. of California Hastings Law School
I also offer a belated congratulations to Frank Wu, renowned civil rights scholar and activist, for being named as the new Dean of the Law School at the University of California, Hastings:
Wu, a Michigan native, has said he changed his career plans from architecture to law as a teenager in response to the racially motivated murder of a young Chinese American man in Detroit in 1982 (Vincent Chin).
He first practiced law with a San Francisco firm and later taught at Columbia, the University of Michigan and Stanford. He became the nation’s youngest law school dean at Wayne State University in Detroit in 2004 and served until mid-2008.
Wu was chairman of the Washington, D.C., Human Rights Council in 2001-02. He is the author of the 2003 book Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, and was a co-author of the 2001 textbook Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment.
As with the cases of Wallace Loh (mentioned above), Jim Young Kim at Dartmouth, and other accomplished Asian American leaders in higher education, it is very gratifying to see Asian Americans in these positions of leadership. With these accomplishments, Asian Americans continue to demonstrate that, contrary to some stereotypes, we can be excellent leaders in helping the U.S. succeed in the age of globalization and transnationalism.
Chinese College Students Flocking to U.S. Campuses
USA Today reports that several colleges and universities around the country have seen a recent surge in students from China enrolling on their campuses:
Last year alone, 98,510 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students poured into U.S. colleges and universities, lured by China’s emphasis on academic achievement and the prestige of U.S. higher education.
China is second only to India when graduate students and undergrads are counted. But undergraduates are the newer phenomenon. Nationally, an 11% growth in undergrad enrollments last year was driven largely by a 60% increase from China, a report by the Institute of International Education says. Grad student enrollments were up 2%. . . .
The increase also reflects a “strong dialogue” between the two countries, says U.S. State Department deputy assistant secretary Alina Romanowski. She says the recent growth can’t be pinned to specific changes in visa policy, but some U.S. college officials say they detect a friendlier attitude among U.S. embassies and consulates, which review visa applications. One key question for any country is whether visa-seeking students can prove they will return to their home country upon graduating from a U.S. college.
“Because the Chinese economy has improved, students feel there are opportunities there waiting for them,” says Gretchen Olson, director of international programs at Drake University in Des Moines, where there are 28 undergraduates from China this fall, up from one in 2003.
Overall, I agree that these increases in “academic exchange” (the proliferation of Confucius Institutes around the U.S. are another example) are a positive development in terms of fostering more interaction between Chinese and Americans, which according to the “contact hypothesis” should by itself result in more understanding and tolerance between two groups, which the USA Today article discusses.
However, Chinese educational and government authorities, along with Chinese students who come to U.S. colleges, should remember that they need to conform to American norms and expectations in regard to things like who gets to determine curriculum (in China, the government does — in the U.S., the colleges, departments, and faculty do) and lax standards when it comes to academic dishonesty.
Overall, each of these recent news items represent a positive step forward for Asian Americans and all of American society in general. The next steps of course, are to keep the momentum going and to ensure that all racial/ethnic groups are also included in what will hopefully be a rising tide of greater empowerment and achievement as we move forward.
Here are some more announcements and links out that have come my way relating to Asians or Asian Americans. As always, links to other sites are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of their contents.
The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is Seeking One Intern for Fall 2010.
The Initiative is responsible for the implementation of the President’s Executive Order 13515 dated October 14, 2009. Its purpose is to develop, monitor, and coordinate executive branch efforts to improve the quality of life of AAPIs through increased participation in Federal programs. The Initiative is housed at the Department of Education but represents a collaboration among many Federal agencies.
Intern duties may include:
Performing research on AAPI issue areas, including education, community and economic development, health, labor and employment, and civil rights
Writing policy memos and proposals to improve government programs for AAPIs
Conducting outreach to national and local API organizations, elected officials, and ethnic media outlets
Creating communication strategies around social media
Coordinating events
Intern Qualifications
Currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate student (must be enrolled at least half-time)
Outstanding research and writing skills
Experience working with AAPI communities or familiarity with the issues
Detail-oriented
Team player
Advanced knowledge of various software applications to include but not limited to Microsoft Office
Compensation:
Interns are eligible for transit benefits, which cover the cost of commuting to and from work on public transportation. Interested applicants should send a resume, cover letter, and enrollment verification with the subject “FALL INTERNSHIP 2010” to Shelly Coles at shelly.coles@ed.gov by August 23rd. Please be advised that if selected to work as an intern, you will have to undergo a security background check.
I’m doing the call out for Spring 2011 host sites and would greatly appreciate your help in getting the word out. Please distribute this to the student organizations that you are connected with. I especially need help with reaching out to schools in the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Hawaii. Thank you!
OCA Now Accepting Applications for Spring 2011 APIA U: Leadership 101 Host Schools
OCA is seeking Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) student organizations from colleges, universities, and community colleges across the country to host a Spring 2011 (Jan-April) APIA U: Leadership 101 training. This interactive college leadership training program involves hands-on exercises, small group discussions, and presentations led by two qualified APIA facilitators. The one-day Saturday training assembles 60 APIA students from each region and focuses on understanding APIA history and identity, leadership development, and social justice and advocacy. Participants will be asked to challenge themselves, share their experiences, and develop leadership tools in order to effectively serve as catalysts for change.
Help bring this exciting and FREE leadership training to your campus! Potential sites are considered from anywhere across the country, coast to coast. We especially encourage new schools to apply from the following regions: Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Hawaii.
Tasks Include:
Publicizing and recruiting students to attend (both from on campus and other colleges)
Securing a room that fits approximately 60 people (open area, no fixed desks)
Providing recommendations for local restaurants and hotels
Hosting students that cannot afford hotel expenses (optional)
Again, these are only a sample of the tasks involved and OCA covers all expenses. To host a training in Spring 2011, apply online by August 30 at http://bit.ly/b5jJUD or complete the paper application and mail it to 1322 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20036 ATTN: APIA U Host Application. Please contact Iimay Ho at iho@ocanational.org with any questions.
Best,
Iimay Ho
Program Manager
Organization of Chinese Americans National Center
1322 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-223-5500 tel
202-296-0540 fax
iho@ocanational.org www.ocanational.org
OCA: Embracing the Hopes and Aspirations of Asian Pacific Americans
Visual Communications will begin accepting applications for our 2010/2011 “Armed With a Camera” Fellowship. This fellowship offers emerging Asian Pacific American film and media artists an opportunity to further their development and help them make connections that they will need to thrive within the film industry.
The 10 fellows chosen will receive $500 each to be used for the purposes of making a 5-minute film within a 5-month time frame. The final movies will be shown at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival that has an attendance of over 16,000 people. The Fellowship application will be open until October 1, 2010 and we will announce the winners during the last week of October.
Women, South Asian and Southeast Asian filmmakers are highly encouraged to apply to the Armed With A Camera Fellowship! More details and information on how to apply can found on our website.
From the Migration Information Source: according to our analysis of 2008 federal government data (the most recent year available):
There were about 342,000 foreign born from Taiwan residing in the United States — 47 percent of them in California alone.
Seventy-six percent of Taiwanese immigrant adults owned the home they resided in compared to 57 percent of all immigrants and 73 percent of native-born adults.
Among the Taiwanese foreign born, 72 percent were naturalized US citizens while just 43 percent of all immigrants were naturalized.
Over 70 percent of Taiwanese-born adults had a bachelor’s degree or higher, more than double the rate among the foreign born overall (28 percent) and the native-born adult population (27 percent).
Management, business, and finance was the dominant occupation reported by Taiwanese immigrant men (23 percent) and Taiwanese immigrant women (28 percent).
Kind Regards,
Kirin Kalia
Senior Editor, Migration Information Source
www.migrationinformation.org
Migration Policy Institute
1400 16th Street, NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
www.migrationpolicy.org
phone: 202-266-1913
fax: 202-266-1900
You can now find copies of the Yellow Seeds newspaper on-line. As many of you know, Yellow Seeds was an Asian American anti-imperialist organization focused on the Asian American community and Chinatown neighborhood in Philadelphia during the 1970s.
From the organization’s description:
Yellow Seeds aligns itself with the liberation struggles of all people all over the world against all forms of imperialism and colonialism. Here in America we actively participate in the struggle of the people against attacks on the livelihood of workers, against racism, against sexism and all other forms of exploitation. We recognize that Asian Americans are a part of this broad struggle against a common enemy and part of a movement to build a society free of exploitation for all people.
You might be interested to read the following posts from August of years past:
2009: Young Hip-Hop Asians: Promoting Diversity or Stereotypes? A recent article profiling young Asian Americans generates controversy over whether it promotes more inclusion and diversity, or just biased and harmful stereotypes.
2007: Controversy Over Martin Luther King Memorial Criticisms over who gets to create the Martin Luther King memorial exposes racial and nationalist tensions between African Americans and Asians.
2005: Wal-Mart and Asian Americans Asian American individuals and organizations face a dilemma in regard to the question of Walmart’s effect on their communities.
2004: Can Ignorance be More Blatant? Looking at the reasons why conservative Asian American ‘pundit’ Michelle Malkin defends the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
As part of this blog’s mission of making academic research and data more easily accessible, understandable, and applicable to a wider audience and to practical, everyday social issues, I highlight new sociological books about Asian Americans and other racial/ethnic groups as I hear about them. A book’s inclusion is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily mean a full endorsement of its contents.
In addition to mentioning new book releases, I will periodically include links to recent news articles from around the internet that relate to the books’ topic as well, to give readers a wider exposure to the different dynamics involved. This time around, I highlight books and internet links that focus on art and entertainment involving Asians and Asian Americans.
From cuisine and martial arts to sex and self-esteem, East Eats West shines new light on the bridges and crossroads where two hemispheres meld into one worldwide immigrant nation. In this new nation, with its amalgamation of divergent ideas, tastes, and styles, today s bold fusion becomes tomorrow s classic. But while the space between East and West continues to shrink in this age of globalization, some cultural gaps remain.
In this collection of twenty-one personal essays, Andrew Lam, the award-winning author of Perfume Dreams, continues to explore the Vietnamese diaspora, this time concentrating not only on how the East and West have changed, but how they are changing each other. Lively and engaging, East Eats West searches for meaning in nebulous territory charted by very few. Part memoir, part meditations, and part cultural anthropology, East Eats West is about thriving in the West with one foot still in the East.
Yellow Future examines the emergence and popularity of techno-oriental representations in Hollywood cinema since the 1980s, focusing on the ways East Asian peoples and places have become linked with technology to produce a collective fantasy of East Asia as the future. Jane Chi Hyun Park demonstrates how this fantasy is sustained through imagery, iconography, and performance that conflate East Asia with technology, constituting what Park calls “oriental style.”
Park provides a genealogy of oriental style through contextualized readings of popular films-from the multicultural city in Blade Runner and the Japanese American mentor in The Karate Kid to the Afro-Asian reworking of the buddy genre in Rush Hour and the mixed-race hero in The Matrix. Throughout these analyses Park shows how references to the Orient have marked important changes in American popular attitudes toward East Asia in the past thirty years, from abjection to celebration, invisibility to hypervisibility.
Unlike other investigations of racial imagery in Hollywood, Yellow Future centers on how the Asiatic is transformed into and performed as style in the backdrop of these movies and discusses the significance of this conditional visibility for representations of racial difference.
No Safe Spaces looks at one of the most radical and enduring changes introduced during the Civil Rights era — multiracial and cross-racial casting practices in American theater. The move to cast Latino/a, African-American, and Asian-American actors in classic stage works written by and about white Europeans and Americans is viewed as both a social and political gesture and an artistic innovation. Non-traditionally cast productions are shown to have participated in the national dialogue about race relations and ethnic identity and served as a source of renewed creativity for the staging of the canonical repertory.
The book opens with a historical overview of multiracial casting, considering the artistic, political, and pragmatic dimensions of nontraditional approaches to casting. Two subsequent chapters examine non-traditional casting in terms of the relationship between reality and stage representation being assumed by various theatrical genres and in the context of the process of racial formation in the United States. The remaining chapters focus on case studies from the dominant genres of twentieth-century American theater: classical tragedy and drama, modern domestic drama, anti-realist drama, and the Broadway musical.
Since Japanese horror sensations The Ring and Audition first terrified Western audiences at the turn of the millennium, there’s been a growing appreciation of Asia as the hotbed of the world’s best horror movies. Over the last decade, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Hong Kong have all produced a steady stream of stylish supernatural thrillers and psychological chillers that have set new benchmarks for cinematic scares.
Hollywood soon followed suit, producing high-profile remakes of films such as The Ring, Dark Water, The Grudge, and The Eye. With scores of Asian horror films now available to Western audiences, this guide helps viewers navigate the eclectic mix of vengeful spooks, yakuza zombies, feuding warlocks, and devilish dumplings, discussing the grand themes of Asian horror cinema and the distinctive national histories that give the films their special resonance.
Tracing the long and noble tradition of horror stories in eastern cultures, it also delves into some of the folktales that have influenced this latest wave of shockers, paying tribute to classic Asian ghost films throughout the ages.
A Chinese-made production of the story of “Mulan” competes with the Disney version to capture attention, history, and revenue. As the article also notes, “While the Disney film wove comedy into a Disney-esque plot about a young girl breaking out of the confines of tradition to pursue her own destiny, the new Mulan focuses on patriotism, filial piety, romance and the difficulties of war. The formula is part of an evolving mainland genre that has seen filmmakers incorporating more nuanced, entertaining storytelling into patriotic plots.”
The Alma Mater Society of Queens University in Kingston, Canada declares that sumo costumes are offensive and that organizations should stop using them as part of their activities:
“Sumo suits, the plastic novelties that can transform a skinny sports fan into a comically unstable sphere for the delight of a stadium audience, are racist and dehumanizing instruments of oppression, according to the student government of Queen’s University. They “appropriate an aspect of Japanese culture,” turn a racial identity into a “costume,” and “devalue an ancient and respected Japanese sport, which is rich in history and cultural tradition.” They also “fail to capture the deeply embedded histories of violent and subversive oppression that a group has faced.”
Likewise, the owners of the two suits have never imagined they could be considered offensive. “It’s the first time we’ve heard of [the racist aspects],” Mike Grobe, a spokesman for Queen’s Athletics, which uses the suits at football and basketball games for half-time shows, when people run obstacle courses in them. “They’re just big puffy suits. They’re pink… No one’s complained.”
Comprised of four Filipino Americans from San Francisco, Legaci has recently gained fame by performing in support of Justin Bieber. But does their success reinforce the notion that Asian American pop music performers can’t be successful as lead acts?
“Even if most people just know us as Justin Bieber’s Asian backup singers,” [Legaci co-founder] Micah Tolentino said, “we’re proud to be out there, to show the world that Asian-Americans are talented.” While the pop charts are a familiar home to African-Americans and Latino-Americans, they’ve been less hospitable to Asian-Americans in the United States.
“Asian-Americans are locked out,” said Phil Yu, who runs the pop-culture blog angryasianman.com. “There are definitely elements of racism, but it’s also that audiences are not used to seeing Asian faces on the pop charts or on music videos, and record labels won’t take a chance on that.” Legaci can list its fellow travelers on one hand. There’s the Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger (her father is Filipino), the fledgling Filipino pop star Charice (who sings a duet with Iyaz on her first United States single, “Pyramid”) and most famously, Allan Pineda, a k a Apl.de.ap, of the Black Eyed Peas.
Christine Balance, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California, Irvine, points out that while Latin and black music have longstanding currency in the industry, there’s nothing comparable for Asian-Americans. “How do you market an Asian-American star?” she said. “African-Americans are foundational to U.S. popular culture, and for Latinos there’s the adjective ‘Latin’ music that’s used to describe a variety of musical forms. But Asians are still seen as foreign or alien to mainstream America.”
Below is an announcement about a research project and online survey in need of Asian American respondents. As always, this announcement is provided for informational purposes only and does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the research project.
Participants Needed for Study on Biracial Adults of Chinese and White Backgrounds
Are you 18 years of age or older?
Are you biracial with a Chinese or Chinese American parent and a White European parent?
Were you born in the U.S.?
Would you like to take part in a raffle for 10 Amazon gift cards of $35?
I am a graduate student in clinical psychology and I am currently conducting a study on ethnic identity. For more information and to participate in the study, please visit one of the following websites:
The following is guest post by Kyle Simpson. His post summarizes several important inventions and technology that originated in Asia. It’s a good reminder that many Asian cultures are several thousands of years old and through the years, have accumulated much history and innovation.
The Asian continent has a long and storied history of grand dynasties and bustling metropolitan areas that predate similar Western civilizations by a long shot. As a result, they seem to have been ahead of the curve on technological advancements (especially those that benefit all mankind) for a lot longer than you may imagine.
Did you really think Europeans invented warships? Or man-made tools? Or that they were the first to discover the world was round? All of these advancements occurred in one part of Asia or another long before they trickled into Western civilization. And it has to be said, they hit on many of the sciences long before Westerners.
In fact, many conveniences that we depend on and take for granted in our modern life had origins in different parts of Asia, from plumbing and municipal planning to the paper we use without a thought to where it came from. Here are a few of the big ones you might not know about.
1. Gunpowder
China was the first to discover the combination of elements needed to produce gunpowder. In an attempt to create an elixir that would bring about immortality (through the use of chemistry), they found that mixing sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate produced an explosive black powder. This definitely dates back at least as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), since it was used at that time to create bombs and other explosives used in wars. However, historians have found veiled textual references as far back as 850 BCE.
2. Guns
Closely following the arrival of gunpowder, it’s no surprise that weapons meant for targeted use came next. What is interesting is that it wasn’t the Chinese who created the technology. In fact, Arabs are credited with introducing the first firearm in the early 14th century CE after gunpowder made its way over from China.
3. Sewage Systems
The ruined city of Mohenjo-Daro in India, which existed around from about 3000-1500 BCE has unveiled many secrets about early civilization. The city was not only laid out in a clearly planned grid system with homes two or more stories high, but the layout included complex waste-control measures. Both human waste and trash were carried out of houses through chutes that connected to underground sewers, all of which led to a central sewage system.
4. Water Control
Systems of canals, waterworks, and even some hydraulics and a man-made lake were used in and around the areas of Cambodia and Vietnam (then the kingdom of Funan) to control flooding and transport water as early as the 3rd to 6th century CE.
5. Paper
The Chinese were the first to develop a process for making paper and they did so during the Tang dynasty. As the production and use of paper spread, Asians also began to dabble in moveable type (at least as early as the 13th century CE, and possibly sooner). Although the Chinese were doing wood-block printing about 200 years before that, it was Korea that implemented the use of moveable metal type for printing.
