Eduardo Loera
Sociology 004
Alvarado
4/21/16
Neither real Americans nor real Asians?
From my understanding the article which was done by Mia Tuan, discusses some of the
hardships or misfortunes that Asian Americans face today and have faced for years. Mia states
that 66% of Asians currently in America today are foreign born thus making them a minority in
our country. However this was not always the case as two thirds or of Asian Americans were
native born almost three decades ago but changed with the 1965 immigration act. Since then
many Asian Americans have been confronted with the idea of not being “Asian enough” in the
way they conduct their lifestyles while at the same time being perceived as not American enough
by non-Asians. They are not seen as real Americans. Mia stated that people of Asian background
have and continue to struggle against stereotypical labels that have been imposed on them
throughout the years.
Too furthermore analysis the situation on Asian ethics, Mia conducted interviews on
middle class Asians between 1994-1995. The research consisted of 95 Asians ranging from third,
fourth, and fifth generations living in south and north California. The purpose of the interviews
was to determine the content, meaning, and salience of ethnicity in their lives. To explore the
degree to which they felt that ethnicity was optional rather than an imposed facet of their
identities. And also to examine the role played by race in shaping like experiences. California is
an essential state because a majority of Asians are found in this state since Chinese were first
brought here into labor mines. Most of the people interviewed were well educated white collar
professionals in fields such as medicine, banking, law, engineering, and computer technology.
The interview showed that it is not as easy for Asians as it is for European immigrants to
have the option and freedom to choose how they want to identify themselves. For Cathy Leong,
one of the interviewers, she described herself as Asian-American due to the fact that she has a lot
of Asians friends and coworkers and therefore since the majority of her friends are other Asians
she feels more comfortable emphasizing Asian-American. For Emily Woo identifying herself is
not as easy as she is half Chinese and half Japanese while at the same time being American. She
says that by blood she is Chinese and Japanese but by culture she doesn’t know if she is much of
either. For others like Tony, they are more assertive in how they identify themselves. He prefers
the term American-Asian.
The interviews concluded that for many it was hard to identify with just one ethnic group.
For those who were asked why they wouldn’t identify themselves as simply Americans,
answered that they couldn’t for the simple fact that they looked too different from the typical
American. They also expressed their frustration at the fact that no one ever asks European
immigrants after the first generation why they don’t speak polish or if they are ashamed of being
Polish because they don’t speak Polish. But for Asians it is different because many think if you
are Asian and don’t speak Chinese or Japanese than you are ashamed.
An interesting question that was asked was, “does it mean something different if you say
you are an American of Irish decent compared to saying you are an American of Chinese or
Japanese decent” many answered yes and added that they still look at the Chinese as a foreigner.
Many Asians believe that whiteness is equated with being American.
Questions
1. Do you guys think that whiteness equates to being American?
2. Do you guys identify yourselves more with being Hispanic or being American and why?
3. if Mia would have conducted her interviews with Polish immigrants as opposed to Asian
immigrants, would she have gotten similar answers?