seminar notes on “Asian American History: A Very Short Introduction”

competitions/economics
mistreating asian immigrants mirrors immigrant issues today
-> latinx and middle eastern (mainly muslim) immigration
->xenophobia + the dangers of profiling
scapegoating of vulnerable marginalized groups
what is an asian-american? (hard to draw a clear line bc of how many asian ethnic groups there are)
asian american: japan (even though japan is on an island), china, korea, south asian, south-east asia
pacific islander: south east asia (ex. philippines), oceania, samoa, hawaii, i’m missing a lot of places but there’s plenty more
->part of it is geopolitical – putting groups against each other
-> most ppl think of their country of origin first instead of asian/asian american
people w/ most power conquering “weaker” folks
->exploitation, encouraging ppl to come for labor but not to stay forever
why is it important to learn asian american/pacific islander american history to understand asian popular culture?
ex. food
-> why do we see so many chinese restaurants but not pilipino ones?
self exotification (as a means of survival) + proximity to whiteness (access to resources, etc)
economic status
survival and sacrifice