FYPS 102A Myth-busting the Model Minority: Asian American Experiences

Introduction: Building an archive of organizing praxis : Asian American activism in the 21st century / Robyn Magalit Rodriguez and Diane C. Fujino -- Prison to leadership pipeline : Asian American prisoner activism / Eddy Zheng -- Ho'opono Mamo and restorative practices : reflections on scholar activism in juvenile justice systems change / Karen Umemoto -- The streets of SoMA : building community amidst displacement in San Francisco / Angelica Cabande ; with Katherine Nasol -- Dismantling the "undocumented Korean box" : race, education, and undocumented Korean immigrant activism for liberation / Ga Young Chung -- Drivers on the frontlines : the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, neoliberalism, and global pandemic : an interview with Javaid Tariq / Diane C. Fujino -- BAYAN USA : Filipino transnational radical activism in the United States in the twenty-first century / Jessica Antonio -- Political education as revolutionary praxis / May C. Fu -- "Organizing wherever your feet land" : reconceptualizing writing and writing instruction in the legacy of Asian American activism / Katherine H. Lee -- How does it feel to be on the precipice? ChangeLab, a racial justice experiment / Soya Jung -- On movement praxis in the era of Trumpism / Alex T. Tom -- "Pete Wilson trying to see us all broke" : Asian Americans cross-racial student activism in 1990s California / Robyn Magalit Rodriguez ; with Wayne Jopanda -- The struggle to abolish environmental and economic racism : Asian radical imagining from the homeland to the frontline / Pam Tau Lee -- Epilogue: Be love, be loved, be Amado : radical love for a new generation / Robyn Magalit Rodriquez.

A New History of Asian America is a fresh and up-to-date history of Asians in the United States from the late eighteenth century to the present. Drawing on current scholarship, Shelley Lee brings forward the many strands of Asian American history, highlighting the distinctive nature of the Asian American experience while placing the narrative in the context of the major trajectories and turning points of U.S. history. Covering the history of Filipinos, Koreans, Asian Indians, and Southeast Indians as well as Chinese and Japanese, the book gives full attention to the diversity within Asian America. A robust companion website features additional resources for students, including primary documents, a timeline, links, videos, and an image gallery. From the building of the transcontinental railroad to the celebrity of Jeremy Lin, people of Asian descent have been involved in and affected by the history of America. A New History of Asian America gives twenty-first-century students a clear, comprehensive, and contemporary introduction to this vital history.

An overview of Asian American history, written by an American with Japanese roots, this work of popular history gives voice to Asian Americans past and present. It reveals the aspirations and accomplishments of people who are often seen as foreigners in their own land.

Asian Americans are often stereotyped as the "model minority." Their sizeable presence at elite universities and high household incomes have helped construct the narrative of Asian American "exceptionalism." While many scholars and activists characterize this as a myth, pundits claim that Asian Americans' educational attainment is the result of unique cultural values. In The Asian American Achievement Paradox, sociologists Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou offer a compelling account of the academic achievement of the children of Asian immigrants. Drawing on in-depth interviews with the adult children of Chinese immigrants and Vietnamese refugees and survey data, Lee and Zhou bridge sociology and social psychology to explain how immigration laws, institutions, and culture interact to foster high achievement among certain Asian American groups. For the Chinese and Vietnamese in Los Angeles, Lee and Zhou find that the educational attainment of the second generation is strikingly similar, despite the vastly different socioeconomic profiles of their immigrant parents. Because immigration policies after 1965 favor individuals with higher levels of education and professional skills, many Asian immigrants are highly educated when they arrive in the United States. They bring a specific "success frame," which is strictly defined as earning a degree from an elite university and working in a high-status field. This success frame is reinforced in many local Asian communities, which make resources such as college preparation courses and tutoring available to group members, including their low-income members. While the success frame accounts for part of Asian Americans' high rates of achievement, Lee and Zhou also find that institutions, such as public schools, are crucial in supporting the cycle of Asian American achievement. Teachers and guidance counselors, for example, who presume that Asian American students are smart, disciplined, and studious, provide them with extra help and steer them toward competitive academic programs. These institutional advantages, in turn, lead to better academic performance and outcomes among Asian American students. Yet the expectations of high achievement come with a cost: the notion of Asian American success creates an "achievement paradox" in which Asian Americans who do not fit the success frame feel like failures or racial outliers. While pundits ascribe Asian American success to the assumed superior traits intrinsic to Asian culture, Lee and Zhou show how historical, cultural, and institutional elements work together to confer advantages to specific populations. An insightful counter to notions of culture based on stereotypes, The Asian American Achievement Paradox offers a deft and nuanced understanding how and why certain immigrant groups succeed.