Asian America. Pawan Dhingra

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Название Asian America
Автор произведения Pawan Dhingra
Жанр Социология
Серия
Издательство Социология
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781509534302



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same time, a greater percentage of Asian Americans than non-Hispanic whites live in poverty, and Asian Americans are more likely than the US population overall to be uninsured.2 A range of Asian Americans rely on public welfare programs, work in low-wage and in ethnic enclaves (e.g. Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Saigon), encounter racial stereotypes as foreigners, suffer from untreated mental health illnesses, are undocumented, and/or are victims of hate crimes.3

      Yet, even with all of these variations and contradictions, it is not the multifaceted lives of Asian Americans alone that make them necessary subjects of study. The experiences of Asian Americans speak to more than just this group. Their lives provide insight into a host of broader topics that have been the key focus of academic and popular concern. These topics include how race shapes people’s lives; how immigrants gradually assimilate – or do not – to their surroundings; how war and empire building impact families; how transnationalism influences people’s social and economic opportunities; how small groups come together or engage in conflict; how people self-identify; what leads to academic success and failure; and more. The goal of the book is to shed light on such general sociological questions through the experiences of Asian Americans.

      And of course, the study of Asian Americans matters to Asian Americans and those who are interested in our well-being. A text that centers on the lives of Asian Americans affirms their experiences while also informing the human social condition more broadly.

      Asian Americans refers to individuals living in the United States who immigrated from (e.g. first-generation immigrants) or whose ancestors (e.g. second-generation immigrants and beyond) immigrated from Asian countries and Asian diasporas (i.e. settlements in other countries). Asian Americans consist of Bangladeshi, Burmese, Chinese, Cambodian, Filipinx, Hmong, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Nepalese, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese Americans, among others originating from Asia. As discussed in chapter 3, “Arrival and History,” Asians have lived in the United States in large numbers since the 1800s. Historically, scholarship on Asian Americans focused on the largest groups to first immigrate, namely Chinese and Japanese Americans. The descendants of these early immigrants drove the Asian-American movement of the 1960s, which gave rise to Asian American Studies and increased research and writing about the Asian-American experience. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 altered the demographics of the United States and precipitated a much larger immigration of Asians after decades of anti-Asian immigration policies limited their entry into the country. Asian-American demographics have continued to change since then with continued voluntary immigration and also due to war and imperialism. Southeast Asians have arrived mostly since the 1970s as refugees and as family members sponsored by those refugees.

      Source: US Census Bureau, 2015–2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates and 1-Year Estimates, Table ID B02018; generated by Pawan Dhingra, using American FactFinder

Group Population, 2019
Asian (alone or with other races) 22,191,093
Chinese 4,993,935
Asian Indian 4,318,046
Filipinx 4,014,408
Vietnamese 2,086,017
Korean 1,859,653
Japanese 1,477,579
Other Asian 692,723

       Discussion question

       When you think of someone who is Asian American, what do they look like? What countries/ethnicities do they identify with?

      Online resources: For updated demographic information on the Asian-American population, including helpful infographics, see AAPI Data, https://aapidata.com/. Another important resource on demographic information on immigration more generally, including the Asian-American population, is the Pew Research Center. The Pew Research Center describes itself as a “nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.” Many academics and media outlets use immigration data generated by the Pew Research Center. It is generally considered a reputable source: https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/asian-americans/

       Defining terms