Contemporary Issues In Southeast Asian American Studies Revised Edition

"Contemporary Issues in Southeast Asian American Studies" is the first anthology to critically examine Southeast Asian Americans and their communities. It offers contemporary perspectives of renowned Southeast Asian American scholars to complement insightful primary-source documents. Together, these selections highlight Southeast Asian American experiences from interdisciplinary and cross-cultural comparative approaches, and explore such topics and themes as: history, cultural productions, political activism and apathy, and economic and social integration. The essays are written in clear, jargon-free language accessible to undergraduate students, and each is followed by pedagogically engaging and provocative discussion questions. Students are encouraged to not only identify challenges and struggles but also to devise solutions to the difficult topics discussed in each chapter. Jonathan H. X. Lee is Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies specializing in Southeast Asian and Sino-Southeast Asian American studies. Lee received a Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2009. He is the Program Co-chair of the Religions of Asia section for the American Academy of Religion, Western Region (AAR/WR) conference, and is academic adviser and grant writer for South East Asian Cultural Heritage & Musical Performing Arts (SEACHAMPA). Lee is also a member of the National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA) and is a member of the editorial review board of the "Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement." His recent publications include "Cambodian American Experiences: Histories, Communities, Cultures, and Identities" (2010) and "The Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife" (on-press).

"What is the relevance of the area studies approach to Southeast Asia?" The current state and future directions of area studies, of which Southeast Asian studies are a part, is a central question not only to scientists working in the field but also those engaged in university politics. This collection of nine articles is written by specialists from different disciplinary backgrounds and working in institutions of higher learning all around the world. It provides an up-to-date insight into the current state of the study field, its strengths and weaknesses and seeks ways to reconfigure Southeast Asian studies in order to meet the challenges of a region that is caught up in profound transformation as a consequence of both globalization and localization.

Includes essays on demographic, political, economic, and social changes affecting people of Southeast Asian, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese ancestry -- in Hawaii and on the U.S. mainland. Special sections on indigenous Hawaiians and Asian American literature.

"This is a textbook for undergraduate students studying the Asian American experience and ethnic studies in the fields of Sociology, Political Science, History, and Cultural Studies."--Jacket.

Asian American Studies Now truly represents the enormous changes occurring in Asian American communities and the world, changes that require a reconsideration of how the interdisciplinary field of Asian American studies is defined and taught. This comprehensive anthology, arranged in four parts and featuring a stellar group of contributors, summarizes and defines the current shape of this rapidly changing field, addressing topics such as transnationalism, U.S. imperialism, multiracial identity, racism, immigration, citizenship, social justice, and pedagogy. Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Thomas C. Chen have selected essays for the significance of their contribution to the field and their clarity, brevity, and accessibility to readers with little to no prior knowledge of Asian American studies. Featuring both reprints of seminal articles and groundbreaking texts, as well as bold new scholarship, Asian American Studies Now addresses the new circumstances, new communities, and new concerns that are reconstituting Asian America.

This anthology is the perfect introduction to Asian American studies, as it both defines the field across disciplines and illuminates the centrality of the experience of Americans of South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, and Filipino ancestry to the study of American culture, history, politics, and society. The reader is organized into two parts: "The Documented Past" and "Social Issues and Literature." Within these broad divisions, the subjects covered include Chinatown stories, nativist reactions, exclusionism, citizenship, immigration, community growth, Asia American ethnicities, racial discourse and the Civil Rights movement, transnationalism, gender, refugees, anti-Asian American violence, legal battles, class polarization, and many more. Among the contributors are such noted scholars as Gary Okihiro, Michael Omi, Yen Le Espiritu, Lisa Lowe, and Ronald Takaki; writers such as Sui Sin Far, Bienvenido Santos, Sigrid Nunez, and R. Zamora Linmark, as well as younger, emerging scholars in the field.

Who are Asian Americans? Moving beyond popular stereotypes of the “model minority” or “forever foreigner,” most Americans know surprisingly little of the nation’s fastest growing minority population. Since the 1960s, when different Asian immigrant groups came together under the “Asian American” umbrella, they have tirelessly carved out their presence in the labor market, education, politics, and pop culture. Many times, they have done so in the face of racism, discrimination, sexism, homophobia, and socioeconomic disadvantage. Today, contemporary Asian America has emerged as an incredibly diverse population, with each segment of the community facing its unique challenges. When Contemporary Asian America was first published in 2000, it exposed its readers to the formation and development of Asian American studies as an academic field of study, from its inception as part of the ethnic consciousness movement of the 1960s to the systematic inquiry into more contemporary theoretical and practical issues facing Asian America at the century’s end. It was the first volume to integrate a broad range of interdisciplinary research and approaches from a social science perspective to assess the effects of immigration, community development, and socialization on Asian American communities. This updated third edition discusses the impact of September 11 on Asian American identity and citizenship; the continued influence of globalization on past and present waves of immigration; and the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class on the experiences of Asian immigrants and their children. The volume also provides study questions and recommended supplementary readings and documentary films. This critical text offers a broad overview of Asian American studies and the current state of Asian America.