The Contemporary Asian American Experience: Beyond the Model Minority

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Contemporary Asian American Experience: Beyond the Model Minority Alexander Yamato The Contemporary Asian American Experience: Beyond the Model Minority. By Timothy P. Fong. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. In The Contemporary Asian American Experience: Beyond the Model Minority, Timothy Fong has written a readable textbook that makes accessible research on Asian Americans across a broad range of topics. Based on a course that he has been teaching for a number of years, Fong examines the Asian American experience after 1965 with particular focus on the issues and controversies arising in the 1990s. He emphasizes a comparative perspective in understanding the impact of those issues upon diverse Asian American ethnic groups and the ways in which class, race, and gender further complicate the Asian American experience. The first two chapters provide a basis for exploring contemporary issues. Chapter one provides an overview of Asian American history with particular emphasis upon United States immigration and refugee policies and the factors leading to the arrival of immigrants and refugees from Asian nations. Chapter two examines the development of Asian American communities, including useful tables on socio-economic status and population patterns from the 1990 Census, allowing for comparisons across Asian American groups. In addition, Fong utilizes the most recent socio-economic data to analyze explanations of controversial issues such as Asian Americans engaging in small business enterprise and Asian Americans as a “model minority.” Fong has brought together a wide-ranging analysis of social science research as well as community and public debate over such issues as education, employment, anti-Asian violence, media portrayal of Asian Americans, Asian American families, and identities, including those of multiracials and gays and lesbians, and political participation. Chapter three continues the critique of Asian Americans as a “model minority,” examining its implications and realities and myths in the educational experience of Asian Americans. Fong contrasts cultural and structural explanations for those Asian American students with high educational attainment, and discusses often ignored educational issues such as the implications of limited English proficiency, parental expectations and pressures, and racial conflict upon many Asian American students in elementary and secondary schools. The chapter also discusses the controversy over college admissions policies vis-à-vis Asian American students. Chapter four provides a wide-ranging discussion of employment issues such as the glass ceiling and accent and language discrimination, and the plight of low-wage workers. To highlight obstacles in promotion faced by Asian Americans, [End Page 221] Fong examines the court challenges of Bruce Yamashita and Rosalie Tung, who were denied promotion. The struggles of Asian American workers is discussed through the examination of the efficacy of union and community organizing in diverse industries with Asian Immigrant Women Advocates as a case example. Chapter five addresses anti-Asian violence. Drawn from the findings of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the chapter describes the range of hate crimes directed against Asian Americans. The chapter concludes with an overview of the 1992 south central Los Angeles riot and the polarization between the African and Korean American communities. A common thread in the first five chapters is the perpetuation and persistence of stereotypes. The ways in which those stereotypes have been reinforced in various forms of media such as film, television, theater, and the news is explored in chapter six. Of interest is the examination of Asian American responses to provocative productions such as Rising Sun, All-American Girl, M. Butterfly, and Miss Saigon. In chapter seven, Fong summarizes the vast range of research on aspects of Asian American marriage and family, mental health, and ethnic, racial, multiracial, and gay and lesbian identities. Chapter eight deals with the growth and development of political participation among Asian Americans and provides an analysis of the obstacles for political empowerment in the 1990s. In the concluding chapter, Fong points out that the diversity and complexity of Asian American experiences call for new models reflecting “paradigm shifts” as well as social activism and political action based upon changing coalitions and alliances determined by the issues. I commend Fong for writing a lucid and cogent text, appropriate in an upper division course in ethnic studies or...