Synopses & Reviews
Contemporary Asian America is the first volume to integrate a broad range of multi-disciplinary research on the ways in which the intersection of Asian immigration, community development, and socialization affect Asian American communities. It exposes its readers to developments within the discipline, from its inception as part of the ethnic consciousness movement of the 1960s to the more contemporary theoretical and practical issues facing Asian America at the century's end.
The volume includes 13 sections, and covers such topics as immigration, economic life, family and community, spiritual practices, gender, sexuality, racism and anti-Asian violence, the new second generation, youth gangs, domestic violence, visual culture, and theory. Contemporary Asian America provides an expansive introduction to the central readings in Asian America and Asian American Studies, presenting a grounded theoretical orientation to the discipline and framing key historical, cultural, economic, and social themes within a social science context.
Contributors include Shirley Hune, Dorinne Kondo, Lisa Lowe, Pyong Gap Min, Don Nakanishi, Gary Y. Okihiro, Ruben Rumbaut, and Ronald Takaki, among others.
Review
“A highly useful collection of readings that trace the topography of contemporary Asian American studies and introduce the major themes and concerns in the field: social movement, immigration policy, racism and racialization, labor gender and sexuality, and cultural expression. In this ambitious reader, Zhou and Gatewood bring together the histories and contemporary issues facing Asian Americans of different ethnic heritages, generations, and social class backgrounds.”-Elaine H. Kim,Professor of Asian American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Review
“An outstanding collection of essays, representing some of the most insightful work being done in Asian American studies today. The wide range of topics covered and the quality of the selections make this an indispensable volume, both in terms of its substantive content and its theoretical sophistication.”-Lane Ryo Hirabayashi,Ph.D. Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies University of Colorado, Boulder
Review
“An impressive and comprehensive collection of theoretically grounded and historically rich accounts of the Asian American collective and specific experiences. Ideal for undegraduate and graduate courses in Asian American Studies.”-Yen Le Espiritu,author of Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws, and Love
Review
“An outstanding collection of essays, representing some of the most insightful work being done in Asian American studies today. The wide range of topics covered and the quality of the selections make this an indispensable volume, both in terms of its substantive content and its theoretical sophistication.”
“An impressive and comprehensive collection of theoretically grounded and historically rich accounts of the Asian American collective and specific experiences. Ideal for undegraduate and graduate courses in Asian American Studies.”
“Presents a valuable collection of readings that address the complexities of contemporary Asian American communities. Bringing together a wide range of scholars who work in the areas of history, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory, transnationalism, and cultural studies, Contemporary Asian America will serve as the standard reader in courses dealing with the issues confronting contemporary Asian America for years to come.”
“A highly useful collection of readings that trace the topography of contemporary Asian American studies and introduce the major themes and concerns in the field: social movement, immigration policy, racism and racialization, labor gender and sexuality, and cultural expression. In this ambitious reader, Zhou and Gatewood bring together the histories and contemporary issues facing Asian Americans of different ethnic heritages, generations, and social class backgrounds.”
Review
“Presents a valuable collection of readings that address the complexities of contemporary Asian American communities. Bringing together a wide range of scholars who work in the areas of history, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory, transnationalism, and cultural studies, Contemporary Asian America will serve as the standard reader in courses dealing with the issues confronting contemporary Asian America for years to come.”-K. Scott Wong,co-editor of Claiming America: Constructing Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era
Synopsis
"Tells of life in turn-of-the-century Roman times. The novel's insights into the social and political temperaments of the times makes for involving reading."
The Bookwatch
An indefatigable writer and the author of over 40 books, Matilde Serao (1857-1927) was arguably the most famous Italian woman journalist of the nineteenth century. The Conquest of Rome (1885), which tells the story of the arrival in Rome of a provincial deputy from the poor South, paints a brilliant portrait of political and social life in contemporary Rome. Upon his arrival in Rome, Frencesco Sangiorgio dreams of a glittering future there. Although the Eternal City greets the young man's ambition with indifference, he gradually makes his mark on his parliamentary colleagues, soon establishing a place in high society. His fate is sealed, however, when he falls under the sway of the enigmatic Angelica Vargas, and the conquest of Rome that seemed so tantalizingly close begins to slip away.
About the Author
Min Zhou is Professor of Sociology and Founding Chair of the Department of Asian American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of
Chinatown, co-author of
Growing Up American, and co-editor of
Asian American Youth.
J. V. Gatewood is a PhD candidate in American Civilization at Brown University.
Table of Contents
Introduction: revisiting contemporary Asian America / Min Zhou and James V. Gatewood -- "On strike!" San Francisco State College strike, 1968-1969: the role of Asian American students / Karen Umemoto -- The "four prisons" and the movements of liberation: Asian American activism from the 1960s to the 1990s / Glenn Omatsu -- From a different shore: their history bursts with telling / Ronald Takaki -- When and where I enter / Gary Y. Okihiro -- U.S. immigration policies and Asian migration / Paul Ong and John M. Liu -- Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian Americans / Rubâen G. Rumbaut -- The social construction of gendered migration from the Philippines / James A. Tyner -- Life and work in the inner city / Paul Ong and Karen Umemoto -- Work and its place in the lives of immigrant women: garment workers in New York City's Chinatown / Min Zhou and Regina Nordquist -- Striving for the American dream: struggle, success, and intergroup conflict among Korean immigrant entrepreneurs / Jennifer Lee -- Children of inmates: the effects of the redress movement among third-generation Japanese Americans / Yasuko I. Takezawa -- Social capital in Chinatown: the role of community-based organizations and families in the adaptation of the younger generation / Min Zhou -- New household forms, old family values: the formation and reproduction of the Filipino transnational family in Los Angeles / Rhacel Salazer Parreänas -- Sangha of the South: Laotian Buddhism and social adaptation in rural Louisiana / Carl L. Bankston III -- The structure and social functions of Korean immigrant churches in the United States / Pyong Gap Min -- Asian Indian and Pakistani religions in the United States / Raymond Brady Williams -- Doing gender with a feminist gaze: toward a historical reconstruction of Asian America / Shirley Hune -- Power, patriarchy, and gender conflict in the Vietnamese immigrant community / Nazli Kibria -- Asian Americans as the model minority: an analysis of the popular press image in the 1960s and 1980s / Keith Osajima -- The "model minority" deconstructed / Lucie Cheng and Philip Q. Yang -- A quota on excellence? The Asian American admissions debate / Don T. Nakanishi -- The murder of Navroze Mody: race, violence, and the search for order / Deborah N. Misir -- Race, class, citizenship, and extraterritoriality: Asian Americans and the 1996 campaign finance scandal / L. Ling-chi Wang -- A letter to my sister / Lisa Park -- Maiden voyage: excursion into sexuality and identity politics in Asian America / Dana Y. Takagi -- Stories from the homefront: perspectives of Asian American parents with lesbian daughters and gay sons / Alice Y. Hom -- Searching for community: Filipino gay men in New York City / Martin F. Manalansan IV -- In search of the right spouse: interracial marriage among Chinese and Japanese Americans / Colleen Fong and Judy Yung -- What must I be? Asian Americans and the question of multiethnic identity / Paul R. Spickard -- Is there an Asian American aesthetics? / transcribed by Gargi Chatterjee and edited by Augie Tam -- Art, activism, Asia, and Asian Americans / Dorinne Kondo -- Rethinking race: paradigms and policy formation / Shirley Hune -- Heterogeneity, hybridity, multiplicity: marking Asian American differences / Lissa Lowe.