As America’s most ethnically diverse foreign-born population, Asian Americans can puzzle political observers. This volume’s multidisciplinary team of contributors employ a variety of methodologies—including quantitative, ethnographic, and historical—to illustrate how transnational ties between the U.S. and Asia have shaped, and are increasingly defining, Asian American politics in our multicultural society.

Original essays by U.S.- and Asian-based scholars discuss Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese communities from Boston to Honolulu. The volume also shows how the grassroots activism of America’s “newest minority” both reflects and is instrumental in broader processes of political change throughout the Pacific. Addressing the call for more global approaches to racial and ethnic politics, contributors describe how Asian immigrants strategically navigate the hurdles to domestic incorporation and equality by turning their political sights and energies toward Asia. These essays convincingly demonstrate that Asian American political participation in the U.S. does not consist simply of domestic actions with domestic ends.

Christian Collet is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the International Christian University, Tokyo.

Pei-te Lien is Professor of Political Science affiliated with Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her book The Making of Asian America through Political Participation (Temple), received the 2002 Best Book Award on Political Participation, Voting, Elections, and Political Behavior from APSA's Division on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics.