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oyceterIt's very odd for me to read a history of the US and think, "Yes! That's me! That's my family! This fits with the stories my parents tell!"
Ronald Takaki tells the history of Asian-Americans in America: how they got there, who they were, and how they changed. He covers most of the large ethnic groups, thankfully including Filipinos, Asian-Indians, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Koreans, and not just the usual Chinese and Japanese. And his history goes from the mid-1800s to the 1980s (the book was published in 1989. Really, the only thing I would complain about with regard to the scope is that it hasn't been revised for the present-day, but that's hardly Takaki's fault.
It's so interesting to see how similar the experiences of Asian immigrants are -- Takaki highlights changes in legislation that affect most of the Asians, including quotas and laws to keep out anyone of the "Mongoloid" race. And yet, the book draws clear distinctions among the groups as well, pointing out that the Filipino experience of being a colony of Spain made them more inclined to intermarry with Mexican immigrants, or that the experience of the Vietnamese and the Cambodians, who were fleeing from war instead of making a choice to move for financial reasons, would necessarily be more difficult and wrenching.
The book was also extremely helpful because Takaki would continue to return to each ethnic group at different periods in time so you could see not just how each ethnic group's experience was similar or different to others', but also how all the experiences changed over the decades in response to changes in immigration policy, colonialism in Asia, WWII and economic development.
I found it fascinating to read about all the different second-generation Asian-Americans, how similar their expereinces were no matter what group they were from or what decade they grew up in. Of course, I am probably conflating many of the differences because I personally liked knowing that people not of my generation had the same problems with generational differences + cultural differences with their parents, how they all struggled with issues of identity and where they belonged and what their relationship was to their Asian heritage and their American citizenship.
There were also times I wanted to stand up and yell at people for all the racism through the decades, for their inability to distinguish between "Chinks" and "Japs" and how that affected different ethnicities, how quickly public opinion could change (anti-Japanese during WWII versus anti-Chinese during the Cold War). I keep wanting to generalize and say that so many of the ethnic groups were treated alike by the government: first the scares about California not being white and the Asians overrunning everything, then the immigration laws being tightened, then wars in which certain Asian nations were seen as the enemy (Vietnam, Japan, China, Korea) and the inevitable grouping of all Asians into those enemy groups.
It brought home that "I can't tell Asians apart" isn't always a harmless statement facilitated by poor facial recognition (for people already firing up their commenting engines: I know it often is poor facial recognition. I personally suck at it. But because of the effects of this aspect of poor facial recognition coupled with racism, you have Filipinos and Koreans being mistaken for the Japanese during WWII, when being mistaken for being Japanese could be very harmful.
There's so much in this book that angers me -- not the writing, but the actual historical events. It is so frustrating and hurtful to read about a good century or so of racism, particularly because I didn't know about most of the things in this book, aside from the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
I like the interspersal of personal narratives, history and poetry written by Asian Americans; it made the book flow much faster. Highly recommended.
Ronald Takaki tells the history of Asian-Americans in America: how they got there, who they were, and how they changed. He covers most of the large ethnic groups, thankfully including Filipinos, Asian-Indians, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Koreans, and not just the usual Chinese and Japanese. And his history goes from the mid-1800s to the 1980s (the book was published in 1989. Really, the only thing I would complain about with regard to the scope is that it hasn't been revised for the present-day, but that's hardly Takaki's fault.
It's so interesting to see how similar the experiences of Asian immigrants are -- Takaki highlights changes in legislation that affect most of the Asians, including quotas and laws to keep out anyone of the "Mongoloid" race. And yet, the book draws clear distinctions among the groups as well, pointing out that the Filipino experience of being a colony of Spain made them more inclined to intermarry with Mexican immigrants, or that the experience of the Vietnamese and the Cambodians, who were fleeing from war instead of making a choice to move for financial reasons, would necessarily be more difficult and wrenching.
The book was also extremely helpful because Takaki would continue to return to each ethnic group at different periods in time so you could see not just how each ethnic group's experience was similar or different to others', but also how all the experiences changed over the decades in response to changes in immigration policy, colonialism in Asia, WWII and economic development.
I found it fascinating to read about all the different second-generation Asian-Americans, how similar their expereinces were no matter what group they were from or what decade they grew up in. Of course, I am probably conflating many of the differences because I personally liked knowing that people not of my generation had the same problems with generational differences + cultural differences with their parents, how they all struggled with issues of identity and where they belonged and what their relationship was to their Asian heritage and their American citizenship.
There were also times I wanted to stand up and yell at people for all the racism through the decades, for their inability to distinguish between "Chinks" and "Japs" and how that affected different ethnicities, how quickly public opinion could change (anti-Japanese during WWII versus anti-Chinese during the Cold War). I keep wanting to generalize and say that so many of the ethnic groups were treated alike by the government: first the scares about California not being white and the Asians overrunning everything, then the immigration laws being tightened, then wars in which certain Asian nations were seen as the enemy (Vietnam, Japan, China, Korea) and the inevitable grouping of all Asians into those enemy groups.
It brought home that "I can't tell Asians apart" isn't always a harmless statement facilitated by poor facial recognition (for people already firing up their commenting engines: I know it often is poor facial recognition. I personally suck at it. But because of the effects of this aspect of poor facial recognition coupled with racism, you have Filipinos and Koreans being mistaken for the Japanese during WWII, when being mistaken for being Japanese could be very harmful.
There's so much in this book that angers me -- not the writing, but the actual historical events. It is so frustrating and hurtful to read about a good century or so of racism, particularly because I didn't know about most of the things in this book, aside from the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
I like the interspersal of personal narratives, history and poetry written by Asian Americans; it made the book flow much faster. Highly recommended.
(no subject)
Tue, Jan. 23rd, 2007 08:13 pm (UTC)Takaki also spends a chapter on the model minority myth and how it's a) not true, b) damages race relations on a whole, and c) only applies to certain Asians (usually East Asians) and disregards others. Also, what you mentioned about lighter-skinned folk being held up as a model is so true and what I hate the most about the "But POC are racist too!" speak.
(no subject)
Wed, Jan. 24th, 2007 04:10 am (UTC)The counterpoint I usually offer is this- does this mean it's ok to lynch white people? After all, "White people lynched folks too!"...