The Sum Of Our Parts: Mixed-Heritage Asian Americans
by Teresa Williams-Leon
Temple University Press, 2001 Cloth: 978-1-56639-846-6 | Paper: 978-1-56639-847-3 Library of Congress Classification E184.O6.S86 2001 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.895073
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Largely as a result of multiracial activism, the U.S. Census for 2000 offers people the unprecedented opportunity to officially identify themselves with more than one racial group. Among Asian-heritage people in this country and elsewhere, racial and ethnic mixing has a long but unacknowledged history. According to the last U.S. Census, nearly one-third of all interracial marriages included an Asian-descent spouse, and intermarriage rates are accelerating. This unique collection of essays focuses on the construction of identity among people Asian descent who claim multiple heritages.
In the U.S., discussions of race generally center on matters of black and white; Asian Americans usually figure in conversations about race as an undifferentiated ethnic group or as exotic Eurasians. The contributors to this book disrupt the standard discussions by considering people of mixed Asian ethnicities. They also pay particular attention to non-white multiracial identities to decenter whiteness and reflect the experience of individuals or communities who are considered a minority within a minority. With an entire section devoted to the Asian diaspora, The Sum of Our Parts suggests that questions of multiracial and multiethnic identity are surfacing around the globe. This timely and provocative collection articulates them for social scientists and students.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Teresa Williams-Leon is an Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies at California State University, Northridge.
Cynthia L. Nakashima is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley.
CONTRIBUTORS: Paul R. Spickard, John Chock Rosa, Maria P. P. Root, Michael C. Thornton, Harold Gates, Yen Le Espiritu, Curtiss Takada Rook, Christine C. Iijima Hall, Trude I. Cooke, Daneil A. Nakashima, Cathy J. Tashiro, Rebecca Chiyoko King, Kieu Linh Caroline Valverde, Darby Li Po Price, David Parker, Mark Taylor Brinsfield, Loraine Van Tuyl, Stephan Murphy-Shigematsu, Jan R. Weisman, and the editors
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Foreword Michael Omi
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Reconfiguring Race, Rearticulating Ethnicity Teresa Williams-Leon and Cynthia L. Nakashima
Section I: Multiraciality and Asian America: Bridging the Hybrid Past to the Multiracial Present
1. Who Is An American? Who Is a Pacific Islander? Monoracialism, Multiracial People, and Asian
American Communities Paul Spickard
2. Possibilities of a Multiracial Asian America Yen Le Espiritu
3. Servants of Culture: The Symbolic Role of Mixed-Race Asians in American Discourse Cynthia L. Nakashima
4. "The Coming of the Neo-Hawaiian American Race": Nationalism and Metaphors of the Meaning
of the Melting Pot in Popular Accounts of Mixed-Race Individuals John Chock Rosa
Section II: Navigating Sociocultural Terrains of Family and Identity
5. Factors Influencing the Variation in Racial and Ethnic Identity of Mixed-Heritage Persons of
Asian Ancestry Maria P. P. Root
6. Alaska's Multiracial Asian American Families: Not Just at the Margins Curtiss Takada Rooks
7. The Diversity of Biracial Individuals: Asian-White and Asian-Minority Biracial Identity Christine C. Iijima Hall and Trude I. Cooke Turner
8. Black, Japanese, and American: An Asian American Identity Yesterday and Today Michael C. Thornton and Harold Gates
Section III: Remapping Political Landscapes and Communities
9. A Rose by Any Other Name: Names, Multiracial/Multiethnic People, and the Politics of Identity Daniel A. Nakashima
10. Multiracial Comedy as a Commodity in Hawaii Darby Li Po Price
11. Doing the Mixed-Race Dance: Negotiating Social Spaces Within the Multiracial Vietnamese
American Class Typology Kieu Linh Caroline Valverde
12. The Convergence of Passing Zones: Multiracial Gays, Lesbians, and Bisexuals of Asian
Descent Teresa Williams-Leon
13. Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Mapping Discussions of Feminism, Race, and Beauty in Japanese
American Beauty Pageants Rebecca Chiyoko King
14. Mixed but Not Matched: Multiracial People and the Organization of Health Knowledge Cathy J. Tashiro
Section IV: Asian-Descent Multiraciality in Global Perspective
15. "We Paved the Way": Exemplary Spaces and Mixed Race in Britain David Parker
16. A Dutch Eurasian Revival Mark Taylor Brinsfield
17. Multiethnic Lives and Monoethnic Myths: American-Japanese Amerasians in Japan Stephan Murphy-Shigematsu
18. The Racial Politics of Being Dogla and of "Asian" Descent in Suriname Loraine Y. Van Tuyl
19. The Tiger and His Stripes: Thai and American Reactions to Tiger Wood's (Multi-) "Racial Self" Jan R. Weisman
The Sum Of Our Parts: Mixed-Heritage Asian Americans
by Teresa Williams-Leon
Temple University Press, 2001 Cloth: 978-1-56639-846-6 Paper: 978-1-56639-847-3
Largely as a result of multiracial activism, the U.S. Census for 2000 offers people the unprecedented opportunity to officially identify themselves with more than one racial group. Among Asian-heritage people in this country and elsewhere, racial and ethnic mixing has a long but unacknowledged history. According to the last U.S. Census, nearly one-third of all interracial marriages included an Asian-descent spouse, and intermarriage rates are accelerating. This unique collection of essays focuses on the construction of identity among people Asian descent who claim multiple heritages.
In the U.S., discussions of race generally center on matters of black and white; Asian Americans usually figure in conversations about race as an undifferentiated ethnic group or as exotic Eurasians. The contributors to this book disrupt the standard discussions by considering people of mixed Asian ethnicities. They also pay particular attention to non-white multiracial identities to decenter whiteness and reflect the experience of individuals or communities who are considered a minority within a minority. With an entire section devoted to the Asian diaspora, The Sum of Our Parts suggests that questions of multiracial and multiethnic identity are surfacing around the globe. This timely and provocative collection articulates them for social scientists and students.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Teresa Williams-Leon is an Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies at California State University, Northridge.
Cynthia L. Nakashima is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley.
CONTRIBUTORS: Paul R. Spickard, John Chock Rosa, Maria P. P. Root, Michael C. Thornton, Harold Gates, Yen Le Espiritu, Curtiss Takada Rook, Christine C. Iijima Hall, Trude I. Cooke, Daneil A. Nakashima, Cathy J. Tashiro, Rebecca Chiyoko King, Kieu Linh Caroline Valverde, Darby Li Po Price, David Parker, Mark Taylor Brinsfield, Loraine Van Tuyl, Stephan Murphy-Shigematsu, Jan R. Weisman, and the editors
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Foreword Michael Omi
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Reconfiguring Race, Rearticulating Ethnicity Teresa Williams-Leon and Cynthia L. Nakashima
Section I: Multiraciality and Asian America: Bridging the Hybrid Past to the Multiracial Present
1. Who Is An American? Who Is a Pacific Islander? Monoracialism, Multiracial People, and Asian
American Communities Paul Spickard
2. Possibilities of a Multiracial Asian America Yen Le Espiritu
3. Servants of Culture: The Symbolic Role of Mixed-Race Asians in American Discourse Cynthia L. Nakashima
4. "The Coming of the Neo-Hawaiian American Race": Nationalism and Metaphors of the Meaning
of the Melting Pot in Popular Accounts of Mixed-Race Individuals John Chock Rosa
Section II: Navigating Sociocultural Terrains of Family and Identity
5. Factors Influencing the Variation in Racial and Ethnic Identity of Mixed-Heritage Persons of
Asian Ancestry Maria P. P. Root
6. Alaska's Multiracial Asian American Families: Not Just at the Margins Curtiss Takada Rooks
7. The Diversity of Biracial Individuals: Asian-White and Asian-Minority Biracial Identity Christine C. Iijima Hall and Trude I. Cooke Turner
8. Black, Japanese, and American: An Asian American Identity Yesterday and Today Michael C. Thornton and Harold Gates
Section III: Remapping Political Landscapes and Communities
9. A Rose by Any Other Name: Names, Multiracial/Multiethnic People, and the Politics of Identity Daniel A. Nakashima
10. Multiracial Comedy as a Commodity in Hawaii Darby Li Po Price
11. Doing the Mixed-Race Dance: Negotiating Social Spaces Within the Multiracial Vietnamese
American Class Typology Kieu Linh Caroline Valverde
12. The Convergence of Passing Zones: Multiracial Gays, Lesbians, and Bisexuals of Asian
Descent Teresa Williams-Leon
13. Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Mapping Discussions of Feminism, Race, and Beauty in Japanese
American Beauty Pageants Rebecca Chiyoko King
14. Mixed but Not Matched: Multiracial People and the Organization of Health Knowledge Cathy J. Tashiro
Section IV: Asian-Descent Multiraciality in Global Perspective
15. "We Paved the Way": Exemplary Spaces and Mixed Race in Britain David Parker
16. A Dutch Eurasian Revival Mark Taylor Brinsfield
17. Multiethnic Lives and Monoethnic Myths: American-Japanese Amerasians in Japan Stephan Murphy-Shigematsu
18. The Racial Politics of Being Dogla and of "Asian" Descent in Suriname Loraine Y. Van Tuyl
19. The Tiger and His Stripes: Thai and American Reactions to Tiger Wood's (Multi-) "Racial Self" Jan R. Weisman