This week's reading focused around the origins of the term Asian American. The writers not only explained the struggles they faced arriving to a new country, but also explained how a term given to them though they were so divided could have such a powerful political nature.
The term *Asian American* was coined in 1968 by Yuji Ichioka. Though it was a source of significant pan-Asian unification and source of political legitimacy, especially during the time of the Vincent Chin case, it forgoes the concept of ethnicity overall, erasing the significant differences among Asian peoples. In Asians on the Rim, Dirlik argues that "[t]o understand Asian Americans it is no longer sufficient to comprehend their roots in U.S. history or, for that matter, in countries of origin, but a multiplicity of historical trajectories that converge in the location we call Asian America that may diverge once again to disrupt the very ideas of Asian Americaness." (Dirlik, 525) …show more content…
How should we call these various groups of people if not Asian
The term *Asian American* was coined in 1968 by Yuji Ichioka. Though it was a source of significant pan-Asian unification and source of political legitimacy, especially during the time of the Vincent Chin case, it forgoes the concept of ethnicity overall, erasing the significant differences among Asian peoples. In Asians on the Rim, Dirlik argues that "[t]o understand Asian Americans it is no longer sufficient to comprehend their roots in U.S. history or, for that matter, in countries of origin, but a multiplicity of historical trajectories that converge in the location we call Asian America that may diverge once again to disrupt the very ideas of Asian Americaness." (Dirlik, 525) …show more content…
How should we call these various groups of people if not Asian