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In 1965, the first Asian American theatre company, the East West players, was founded by a group of actors who wanted to find better opportunities in the acting industry. Forty years later, Asian American theatre is one of the fastest growing theatre sectors with over thirty active theatre companies and numerous award-winning artists such as Frank Chin, Jessica Hagedorn, Ping Chong, David Henry Hwang, Philip Kan Gotanda, Velina Hasu, and B. D. Wong. Based on over seventy interviews, the book surveys the history of Asian American theatre from 1965 to 2005 with focus on actors, playwrights, companies, audiences, and communities. Emphasizing historical contexts, Esther Kim Lee examines how issues of cultural nationalism, interculturalism, and identity politics affect a racially defined theatre. Addressing issues ranging from actor's activism to Asian Diaspora, the book documents how Asian American theatre has become an indispensable part of American culture. ... Read more

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Deeper understandings
Gary Okihiro, in his book "Margin as Mainstream", examines the margins of historical consciousness, race, gender, class and culture of Asians by widening the discourse in a compelling and scholarly way.Okihiro offers these crucial viewpoints to gain a deeper understanding and a clearer perspective on the mainstream of America today. Okihiro suggests that the mainstream is neither uniform nor all-powerful but actually derives its identity from its representation of its "Other". Okihiro encompases the "other" marginalized groups such as African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, women, gays & lesbians in his book but focuses on how Asians have helped to redefine the meaning of the American identity and to expand it beyond the narrower idea of only white and black. In this wonderful contribution to Asian American studies, historical and legal scholars and Asians in general, Okihiro aptly surfaces and dives into the struggles of Asians in America in how it has helped preserve and advance the principles and ideals of democracy and thereby making America a freer place for all.A good read! ... Read more

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"Chinese American Transnationalism" considers the many ways in which Chinese living in the United States during the exclusion era maintained ties with China through a constant flow of people, economic resources, as well as political and cultural ideas. Continuing the exploration of the exclusion era begun in two previous volumes (Entry Denied and Claiming America), editor Sucheng Chan and the contributors underscore the complexities of the Chinese immigrant experience and the ways in which its contexts changed over the sixty-one year period.The collection's topics (and contributors) include: changing patterns of Chinese immigration and strategies for circumventing exclusion laws (Erika Lee); Chinese trade networks that facilitated Chinese migration (Madeline Hsu); female migration, marriage, and family formation (Sucheng Chan); Chinese herbalists in America (Haiming Liu); the significance of Chinese Americans' economic ties with China (Yong Chen); Chinese American debates about ideological currents in China (Shehong Chen); the role of Chinese-language schools in the United States in promoting ethnic "authenticity" (Him Mark Lai); and two classic autobiographies that reflect an emerging Chinese American consciousness (Xiao-huang Yin). ... Read more

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As people from the cultures of the Indian subcontinent increasingly participate in the complex and often heated debates about race and ethnicity in the United States, they confront questions about naming and claiming an identity that designates their group in this country. To be sure, claiming any single identity omits, perhaps threatens to obliterate, the significant political, historical, economic, and religious differences between their countries of origin. However, the term 'South Asian' is growing in acceptance among people in this country who trace their heritage to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Maldives because it acknowledges common interests while it allows for difference. This construction process parallels the gradual acceptance of the term 'Asian American' by peoples primarily of East and Southeast Asian ancestry who found abundant reason to claim a shared identity in dealing with officialdom and an apparently intractable racism in this country.In time, 'Asian American' has become a designation of collective pride for a wide range of peoples.In academic institutions and society generally, there are vexed questions about the term's inclusiveness and the dominance of established groups over more recent ones. "A Part, Yet Apart: South Asians in Asian America" concerns itself with the extent to which South Asian Americans are and ought to be included within Asian America as that term is applied to academic programs and admission policies; grassroots community organizing and politics more broadly; and, critical analyses of cultural products. Taken together these essays form a spirited dialogue on the dilemmas of identity politics, coalition building, and diasporics. Author note: Lavina Dhingra Shankar is Assistant Professor of English at Bates College, Maine. Rajini Srikanth is Adjunct Professor of American Studies at Tufts University, Massachusetts. ... Read more

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South Asians seek inclusion in Asian America
At first glance, one may wonder why a book should be made about South Asians' demands to be more visible in the Asian-American community when many articles and college forums have already addressed the topic effectively.However, this anthology is well worth the effort.Here, academics analyze the history and social construction behind ideas such as "South Asians", "Asian America" and even "Asia" itself.One gets a sampling of the works of the top South Asian-American scholars around the country.Even as East Asians are criticized for hogging the spotlight, East Asian-American academics were allowed to submit pieces to the anthology.The book uses political campaigns, student groups, gay rights, and literature to answer many complex questions.Some essays are convoluted and odd (Song, Prashad) but most (like Roy and Shankar) are excellent.South Asians must buy this book and other Asian Americans will be equally challenged and pleased if they read this text as well.

I have one main criticism of this book.This book often re-iterates that South Asians get left out because both whites and East Asians think of all Asians as "yellow."However, this book fails to point out that South Asians get punished for being dark-skinned.If East Asians get considered "model minorities" or "a paler shade of white", it is partially due to their phenotype.This book doesn't discuss that many Americans confuse South Asians for Latinos.It doesn't mention how Urvashi Vaid was called "practically a [Black American epithet]" when she was appointed as the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.It surprises me that the challenges of being "brown" rather than just "not being yellow" are not even mentioned here. ... Read more

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Since the immigration law changes in 1965, the population of Asian Americans in this country has increased dramatically and has also become more diverse as newer groups have joined the earlier Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Asian Indians. Especially notable are the refugees from the Vietnam War and other immigrants from Southeast Asia: Lao, Khmer, Hmong, Thai, and others. In addition, political and economic changes in Asia have stimulated the migration of highly educated Asians and the flow of capital from their trans-Pacific homelands to the United States. The essays in this volume provide a framework for understanding the historical experiences of Asians in the United States, with emphasis on the years after World War II. ... Read more

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Cultural Compass rewrites the space of Asian Americans. Through innovative studies of community politics, gender, family and sexual relations, cultural events, and other sites central to the formation of ethinic and citizen identity, contributors reconfigure ethnography according to Asian American experiences in the United States. In these eleven essays, scholars in anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, and Asian American studies reconsider traditional models for ethnographic research. ... Read more

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a useful book on the topic of ethnographic research
I happened upon this book by accident and am glad I did.There are some good chapters on different concerns in conducting ethnographic-typeresearch in an Asian American community or organization as a co-ethnic. What kinds of things to beware of, what kinds of co-optation could possiblyoccur.

Seems like some young, new researchers who are excited about thepossibility of researching Asian Americans in real day-to-day situations. Some good insight into problems which could come up and the specialadvantages of "researching your own."

Deals also with concernsof Asian Americans from one ethnic group conducting research with otherethnic Asian Americans. ... Read more

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The last ten years have witnessed an enormous growth in American interest in Asia and Asian/American history. In particular, a set of key Asian historical moments have recently become the subject of intense American cultural scrutiny, namely China’s Cultural Revolution and its aftermath; the Korean American war and its legacy; the era of Japanese geisha culture and its subsequent decline; and China’s one-child policy and the rise of transracial, international adoption in its wake. Grice examines and accounts for this cultural and literary preoccupation, exploring the corresponding historical-political situations that have both circumscribed and enabled greater cultural and political contact between Asia and America.

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Asian American History in Fairfax County began in 1867 with a Chinese medical missionary student Suvoong.Over 143 years (from 1867 - 2010), Fairfax County history has been enriched by many more Asian American residentsthat have included Filipino soldiers, Japanese internment camp survivors, Korean poets, Vietnamese refugees, Indian professionals.They have made remarkable contributions as patriotic soldiers and selfless volunteers for the county, as well as leaders in the fields of education, business, public safety, and health care while sharing their heritage through festivals, faith communities, mass media, cuisine, and senior centers.They have shared an abiding love for this special place they chose to call home - Fairfax County, Virginia, once the beloved home of George Washington.Since 1990 Asian residents have been the largest minority group in Fairfax County and by 2007, their numbers havesurpassed 160,000, accounting for over 16% ofthe population in one of America's most dynamic multicultural megalopolis.The Fairfax County Asian American History Project (FCAAHP) was created in 2007 as an oral history project /community development program aimed at a better understanding of the Asian American community in Fairfax County by all county residents. ... Read more

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In 1882, Congress passed a Chinese exclusion law thatbarred the entry of Chinese laborers for ten years. The Chinese thusbecame the first people to be restricted from immigrating into theUnited States on the basis of race. Exclusion was renewed in 1892 and1902 and finally made permanent in 1904. Only in 1943 did Congressrescind all the Chinese exclusion laws as a gesture of goodwilltowards China, an ally of the United States during World War II. EntryDenied is a collection of essays on how the Chinese exclusion lawswere implemented and how the Chinese as individuals and as a communityin the U.S. mobilized to mitigate the restrictions imposed uponthem. It is the first book in English to rely on Chinese languagesources to explore the exclusion era in Chinese American history. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: European American, Yellow Peril, Immigration to Europe, Asian Latin American, Asian American History, Asian Brazilian, People of the United States, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, Asiatic Exclusion League. Excerpt:Asian American history is the history of an ethnic and racial groups in the United States who are immigrants or descendants of persons from the continent of Asia. Asian Americans Main article: Asian American Asian American history is the history of individual ethnic groups, and also the common history of groups often affected by the same laws and a culture that often saw them as one racial group. Since the late 1960s and 1970s, many activists and academics referred to an "Asian American movement" similar to the civil rights movement to refer to efforts across different Asian groups to promote their common welfare. In the latter 20th century, spurred by the 1965 Immigration Act, Asians from many different groups immigrated in larger numbers, often arriving as college students, or skilled workers with degrees. Their image of success was portrayed with headlines of the "Model Minority". Chronology [topse... ... Read more