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Stereotyping Asian Americans: The Dialectic of the Model Minority and the Yellow Peril
Abstract
The model minority stereotype is viewed as the most influential and pervasive stereotype for Asian Americans today. In this article, the author argues that this seemingly positive stereotype, the model minority, is inseparable from the yellow peril, a negative stereotype, when Asian Americans are stereotypically represented in mainstream media texts. The model minority–yellow peril dialectic is explicated with the concepts of racial triangulation and the ambivalence of stereotypes. Racial meanings for Asian Americans cannot be discussed without considering both local and global contexts. The author explores historical, political, and economic contexts of both the United States and Asia in which the two stereotypes were produced and reproduced, and examines how the dialectic of the model minority and the yellow peril operates in a Hollywood film, Rising Sun.
... The model proactively considers potential triggers for affective trauma responses or challenging emotions that may be detrimental to the client, incorporating trauma-informed techniques for grounding and emotional self-care throughout the viewing experience (Eschholz, Bufkin and Long, 2002;. (Kawai, 2005;St. John, 2001). ...
... An investigation by Kawai (2005) delves into the impact of stereotyping Asian ...
... Americans in film. The study highlights the complexities of the Asian American stereotype, portraying it as inferior to Caucasian Americans but superior to African Americans (Kawai, 2005). Kawai also explores the amalgamation of these conflicting images in media representations of Asian Americans, further complicating their portrayal (Kawai, 2005). ...
... Beliefs about Asians as the model minority may be taking its effect in shaping a perception of the cultural group's intellectual caliber. The model minority is a pervasive idea that Asian Americans are higher performing and academically and professionally more successful compared to people in other minority groups (Kawai, 2006). This cognitive attitude (academic related) that rhetorically distinguishes the Asian immigrant narrative from the voices of other underrepresented groups is as damaging as negative attitudes and perceptions as it sets unrealistically high expectations for Asians and Asian Americans in general and creates tensions and even conflicts among minority groups (Kawai, 2006;Siy & Cheryan, 2016). ...
... The model minority is a pervasive idea that Asian Americans are higher performing and academically and professionally more successful compared to people in other minority groups (Kawai, 2006). This cognitive attitude (academic related) that rhetorically distinguishes the Asian immigrant narrative from the voices of other underrepresented groups is as damaging as negative attitudes and perceptions as it sets unrealistically high expectations for Asians and Asian Americans in general and creates tensions and even conflicts among minority groups (Kawai, 2006;Siy & Cheryan, 2016). Indeed, Cvencek et al. (2011) found that by the second grade, children are aware of racially bound academic stereotypes (e.g., Asians are good at math and smart), indicating early development and awareness of academic stereotypes. ...
From the intergroup contact perspective, we examined the influence of American college students’ ( N = 375) contact quality and frequency with their most frequent Chinese international student (CIS) contact on their cognitive attitudes toward Chinese international students (CISs), as well as the mediating role played by relational solidarity with the contact and the moderating role of the type of outgroup contact. Results showed that contact quality with the CIS contact positively predicted perceptions of CISs as nice and kind and negatively predicted perceptions of CISs as rude and annoying, shy and socially awkward, and culturally maladjusted, independent of the moderating variable. On the contrary, contact frequency negatively predicted perceptions of CISs as nice and kind and positively predicted perceptions of CISs as rude and annoying when the outgroup contact was an acquaintance. Additionally, results showed that both contact quality and frequency positively predicted relational solidarity with the Chinese contact, which was, in turn, associated with positive and negative perceptions of CISs. Particularly, these significant indirect effects of contact quality were stronger when the CIS contact was a friend, indicating the significance and complexities of our findings.
... article 51 the existence of structural racism. [33][34][35] The healthy migrant effect posits that migrants enter the country with a high quality of health that deteriorates over time given the difficulties in sustaining adequate standards of nutrition, housing, income and healthcare. Consequently, the health of many Asian migrants in Aotearoa deteriorates faster than expected following migration. ...
... Programmes lacking representation from the Asian grouping had higher proportions of females overall, perhaps indicating a barrier to entry for females in the Asian grouping. Other factors, like pressure to uphold the model minority myth, [33][34][35]47 may divert students from the Asian grouping to professions with higher salaries and higher social standing within their communities. We are not aware of any studies to compare our results with. ...
aim: To provide a socio-demographic profile of Asian students enrolled in their first year of a health professional programme in polytechnics and universities in Aotearoa New Zealand and to explore differences in enrolment rates (ERs) within Asian sub-groups and by socio-economic deprivation, citizenship status, urban/rural location and gender. methods: Ethnic group/sub-group and socio-demographic characteristics of students enrolling within 21 health professional programmes were collected and averaged over 5 years (2016–2020). Age- and ethnicity-matched denominator data from the 2018 Census were used to calculate yearly ERs and ratios (ERR) using generalised linear modelling with the European ethnic group as the reference. results: The overall ER for Asian students was higher than for Europeans (ERs [95% confidence interval: 280 [269–292] per 100,000 population aged 18–29 per year vs 149 [144–154]). However, Indian, Chinese and Southeast Asian students were under-represented in occupational therapy (ERR: 0.33–0.67, p=<0.017), midwifery (ERR: 0.46–0.61, p=<0.002) and paramedicine (ERR: 0.23–0.29, p<0.001). There were proportionately fewer female Asian students compared with European students (68% vs 82%, p<0.001). conclusion: This novel research provides detailed information on Asian sub-group representation in health professional programmes in Aotearoa. Taken in the context of known health needs of different Asian sub-groups, these data may facilitate health workforce planning and targeted policies within health professional programmes in order to better match the health workforce to population health needs.
... Therefore, to investigate the surge in anti-Chinese sentiment, it has been reviewed existing literature addressing the concepts of stigmatisation (Goffman, 1963;Weiner and Perry, 1988; Major and O'Brien, 2005) and the 'model minority' stereotype (Delener and Neelankavil, 1990;Cohen, 1992;Taylor and Stern, 1997;Kawai, 2005;Taylor et al., 2005). Subsequently, it is discussed the development of contemporary anti-Chinese sentiment and the conduction of a critical discourse analysis of a selection of publicly available Twitter posts. ...
... Taylor et al. (2005) also assert that one of the major flaws in the 'model minority' stereotype is that it disregards differences in social and cultural backgrounds among countries such as China, Japan and Korea, and places them altogether in a single and uniform 'Asian box'. Kawai (2005) argues that rather than being positive, the model minority stereotype in fact represents a pernicious stigmatisation of Asian Americans. In addition, Kraus and Eun (2020) claim that this stereotype simplifies and distorts the life experiences of Asian Americans. ...
This paper presents a critical analysis of the interplay between the emergence of COVID-19 and the recent surge in anti-Chinese sentiment observed in Western societies. To achieve this, it reviews the concept of stigma and the 'model minority' stereotype, discusses the development of contemporary anti-Chinese sentiment and, finally, analyses the role played by major social media platforms in this phenomenon. In so doing, three intertwined arguments are presented. First, rather than being a completely new phenomenon, anti-Chinese sentiment has been dormant for a long time, probably shielded by the 'model minority' stereotype, and has now resurfaced with the emergence of COVID-19. Second, although some voices refer to this phenomenon as racism and others as xenophobic manifestations, a critical discourse analysis of a sample of publicly available Twitter posts demonstrates that, in reality, racism and xenophobia both permeate anti-Chinese sentiment. Finally, major social media platforms represent a powerful vehicle enabling the wide and instantaneous dissemination of discourses that construct Chinese people according to three main categories: a) strange people, b) the perfect scapegoat, and c) the undesirable citizen.
... According to Peterson (1966), the model-minority stereotypes reflect the perspective that Asian Americans are more successful academically, economically, and socially when compared to other racial/ethnic minority groups in the U.S. Attributes such as intelligence, perseverance, emphasis on hard work, and a belief in a meritocracy are attached to model-minority stereotypes (Yoo et al., 2015). This signifies that those who fall behind (particularly, those who are from non-Asian racial/ethnic groups) do so due to poor personal behavior, which diverts attention from institutional racism, structural inequality, and denies the different historical contexts and immigration histories of racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. (Kawai, 2005;Shih et al., 2019). ...
... One example that has garnered public attention and arguably perceived to have changed awareness of anti-Asian racism is the movement Stop Asian Americans PI Hate (Cao et al., 2022). The social activism witnessed across Asian communities can be argued to counter the typical characteristics attached to the model minority which includes passivity, staying under the radar, complacency, and obedience (Kawai, 2005). Grassroots movements like this, in addition to top-down advocacy efforts like research and policy development, can combat anti-Asian racism by increasing education and awareness, and supporting health-related data disaggregation among AAPI populations, which can result in data-informed policies and structural change. ...
The rise in anti-Asian hate since the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the challenges that Asian Americans in the United States (U.S.) experience with xenophobia, racism, and the “model-minority stereotype.” The model-minority stereotype is a misleading myth that has been pervasively attached to the Asian American identity and experiences. Thus, it can serve as a useful framework to understand experiences in the current anti-Asian hate climate. In this exploratory qualitative study, the investigators interviewed Asian American social workers ( N = 17), highlighting their perspectives and experiences during the anti-Asian hate climate, with attention paid to how the model minority stereotype was contextualized among participants.
Findings
The resounding tone underlying participants’ model-minority stereotype-related discussions was the need to counter the model minority stereotype. Notably, the model-minority stereotype was contextualized differently for participants and three themes were identified: (1) limbo between model minority and perpetual foreigner status; (2) impacts on the social worker role and in the organizational setting; and (3) impacts on advocacy work.
Applications
Study findings suggest a need for continued support and opportunities to unlearn and relearn the purpose of the model-minority stereotype and its broad sweep and attacks on various health dimensions (physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually) across Asian Americans ethnic groups. Countering the model-minority stereotype can play a pivotal role in transforming the narratives surrounding Asian American's identity and experiences in the U.S., in addition to organizational culture and dynamics to support Asian Americans social workers practice and advocacy work across practice levels.
... Research on the prevalence of stereotypes in media and popular culture has a long history, with early studies primarily focusing on portrayals of African Americans in mainstream U.S. media [8]. As scholarly interest grew, research expanded to encompass stereotypes related to various ethnic, racial, and marginalized groups, such as Asians [9], Latinos [10], Indigenous peoples [11], and the elderly [12]. In recent years, this area of study has diversified to examine stereotypes across multiple forms of media, including television, film, video games, social media platforms, and media-sharing sites. ...
Limited or superficial knowledge about others
can foster stereotypes and prejudice. Consequently, this
study explores specific methods to counteract these
stereotypes. We posit that the key to challenging stereotypes
lies in acquiring relevant knowledge about the subject.
Given that gathering such information is often time
consuming, this study introduces an Artificial Intelligence
(AI) -assisted, time-efficient approach. Additionally, we
outline the advantages and disadvantages of these methods
and examine their suitability across different scenarios. This
study has three primary objectives. First, we propose
targeted methods to reduce stereotypical visual elements in
current designs. These methods aim not only to create novel
visual representations of characters but also to ensure they
remain recognizable to the audience. Second, we seek to
mitigate the negative effects associated with stereotypes. We
will experimentally test the effectiveness of this method,
with success indicated by the character’s representation
surpassing existing stereotypes. Finally, we analyze and
compare experimental data to evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses of the proposed methods, as well as their
appropriate applications. In general, this study examines
three methods of deconstructing visual stereotypes across
three phases, with the data compared and summarized. The
methods include: 1) analyzing textual media to deconstruct
stereotypes of characters whose origins conflict with current
stereotypes; 2) examining multiple media sources and
historical records to address stereotypes of characters that
have undergone multiple transformations over time; and 3)
using ChatGPT-4 to summarize archetypal character
stereotypes, then deconstructing these stereotypes to assess
whether they are exchanged or retained. This study
achieved three primary objectives. First, it proposed specific
methods to reduce standardized visual elements, or
stereotypes, in current designs. These methods generated
new visual representations of the character while ensuring
that the character remained recognizable to the audience.
Second, the study aimed to mitigate the negative effects
associated with stereotypes. Experimental data indicated
that the characters used in the experiment broke from
existing stereotypes. Given that it takes time for elements of
current stereotypes to shift and become widely accepted as
new norms, it is theoretically possible to lessen the negative
impacts of existing stereotypes by incorporating the character concept into work over time, using the
methodology developed in this study. The third objective
was to analyze and compare the experimental data to
summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the
methodologies, as well as the contexts in which they are
most appropriately applied. Unlike many studies, this one
refrains from directly undermining prejudicial thinking;
instead, it proposes multiple methodological approaches.
These methodologies are intended as tools for transforming
the visual stereotypes of characters. The study employs AI
to summarize stereotypes, significantly reducing time
demands. It also assesses the success of breaking stereotypes
based on the originality and communicative clarity of the
work. Overall, this study addresses the limitations and
inertia of design thinking, promoting a character-based
approach that encourages critical and dialectical thinking
among creators. It also provides valuable reference points
and inspiration for future research on stereotypes.
... 47 CRT scholars and activists have long argued that "yellow peril" and "model minority" stereotypes organize American thinking about Asianness. 48 Within this binary, East Asians are presented as dangerous and disloyal "forever foreigners, " who threaten to overrun the nation. 49 All too often, Asianness is also feminized, for instance through the association of spying with gossip and the association of disloyalty with weakness. ...
... On the one hand, Asian Americans are valorized as a "model minority" vis-à-vis African Americans, to the effect of creating a racial wedge between the two minority groups. By being ostracized as "perpetual foreigners," on the other hand, Asian Americans are simultaneously marginalized as outsiders and a latent threat to "mainstream" American society (Kim, 1999;Kawai, 2005;Xu and Lee, 2013). ...
There are two prominent but seemingly contradictory symbols of how Asians are racialized domestically within the United States: “yellow peril” and “model minority.” How do these two racial tropes relate to each other? What effects do they have on the formation of support for race-targeted public policy? In this paper, we propose and empirically test that racialized resentment toward Asian Americans and the congratulatory framing of them as a model minority are both salient in the minds of the American public, reflecting the complexity of prejudices toward Asians in American society. Utilizing two original survey-based measures of anti-Asian resentment and the model minority stereotype, we empirically demonstrate the interconnection between the two racial tropes and highlight the key demographic and dispositional correlates of these multi-faceted contemporary racial attitudes toward Asian Americans. We then show that the two racial tropes, both independently and by interacting with each other, significantly shape racial public policy preferences in the United States.
... L. Huynh et al., 2011;Tessler et al., 2020). At the same time, they are positioned as the model minority, problem-free minorities who are successful and high-achieving because of their determination, hard work, and apolitical attitudes (Kawai, 2005;Yoo et al., 2010). ...
Objectives: Collective minoritized identities such as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) may promote cross-racial solidarity. However, Asian Americans occupy a racially triangulated position as the “buffer minority” stereotyped as both the model minority and perpetual foreigner, complicating their inclusion in the BIPOC identity. The present study examined how the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes relate to Asian Americans’ perceived belongingness and identification with the BIPOC identity and, in turn, their interracial solidarity toward Black Americans. Method: A path analysis was conducted using cross-sectional data from a sample of 312 Asian Americans (Mage = 41.19, 69.87% college graduates, 46.79% foreign-born) to examine direct and indirect effects on Black community activism orientation (BCAO), with internalized model minority stereotype (MMS) and experiences of COVID-19 racial bias (CVRB) as exogenous predictors and perceived BIPOC inclusion and BIPOC self-identification as mediators. Results: The BIPOC variables demonstrated a direct and positive association with BCAO. Furthermore, internalized MMS negatively related to BCAO through the sum effect of decreased perceived BIPOC inclusion and BIPOC self-identification, while experiences of CVRB positively related to BCAO through the sum effect of increased perceived BIPOC inclusion and BIPOC self-identification. Conclusions: Asian Americans’ perceived BIPOC inclusion and BIPOC self-identification are shaped by their racially triangulated position, characterized by both the inhibiting effect of internalized MMS and the promoting effect of experiences of CVRB. This heightened or diminished BIPOC self-concept subsequently influenced their willingness to engage in interracial solidarity for Black Americans.
... Currently, more than 22 million Asians with roots in at least 20 different countries live in the United States, with a combined buying power of $1.2 trillion (Budiman and Ruiz 2021). Despite the obvious appeal of this economically viable and diverse target audience, recent data suggests that Asian Americans have often been overlooked by advertisers (Nielsen 2020) or depicted as a monolithic 'model minority' (Appiah & Liu, 2009;Kawai, 2005). Some brands have been hesitant to feature Asian Americans in their advertising due to a desire to enhance connections with their mainstream customers by presenting them with socially congruent images (Aaker, Brumbaugh, and Grier 2000;Feig 2004). ...
... 47 CRT scholars and activists have long argued that "yellow peril" and "model minority" stereotypes organize American thinking about Asianness. 48 Within this binary, East Asians are presented as dangerous and disloyal "forever foreigners, " who threaten to overrun the nation. 49 All too often, Asianness is also feminized, for instance through the association of spying with gossip and the association of disloyalty with weakness. ...
This vibrant and visionary reimagining of the field of cyberlaw through a feminist lens brings together emerging and established scholars and practitioners to explore how gender, race, sexuality, disability, class, and the intersections of these identities affect cyberspace and the laws that govern it. It promises to build a movement of scholars whose work charts a near future where cyberlaw is informed by feminism.
... This controlling image draws on the model minority stereotype. While they are stereotyped as foreigners and thus outsiders (Kim 1999), Asians are also stereotyped as "good," including being silent, apolitical, and obedient hard workers (Kawai 2005;Kim 1999;Lai 2012;Mok 1998;Stamps 2019;Wang 2014;Zhang 2010), despite long-standing activism in the Asian American community, particularly in the area of housing (Howard 2014;Li 2019;Yu 1981). The apolitical Asiantown is thus an Asian neighborhood home to foreign-born residents who are uninvolved in local politics and silent on political issues. ...
Prior literature has largely used the concept of “controlling images” to explain how the news media and other institutions use racialized and gendered stereotypes to control marginalized groups. This article extends the concept of controlling images to neighborhoods using 583 newspaper articles about gentrification in San Francisco. Using qualitative and spatial analysis, I demonstrate how controlling images exist in media through representations, underrepresentations, and omissions in the form of three controlling images of neighborhoods: “The apolitical Asiantown” appears through the omission of Asian neighborhoods and Asian residents of other gentrifying neighborhoods, “the immigrant barrio” through the underrepresentation of Latinx residents and centering of White residents in Latinx neighborhoods, and “the violent ’hood” through the focus on issues of blight, crime, and violence in Black neighborhoods. The findings contribute to our understanding of how institutional racism operates not only through racist representations, but also through racist exclusions.
... Asian women, who are more likely to encounter racial and gender stereotypes in the workplace, have distinct experiences due to the complex nature of identity creation at the intersection of race and culture. The model minority stereotype, for instance, paints Asians as the ones who succeed in spite of prejudice and disadvantage [25]. This prejudice is harmful to Asian students because it expects them to conform to a certain mold: they must be (1) very clever, especially in math and science; (2) diligent; (3) pursuing academic status; (4) seeking economic accomplishment; and (5) uncomplaining [18]. ...
... The COVID-19 pandemic and the increase of hate incidents against people with East-Asian appearances around the world (e.g., NYPD Hate Crime Reports 2020) have raised interest in possible COVID-19-related Sinophobia. Sinophobic discourses and 'Yellow Peril' narratives are not novel to Western media as the concept of 'Yellow Peril' dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century (Kawai 2005) and was found to be pervasive in different media sources across time (Shim 1998). ...
The article explores Sinophobic discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing specifically on violence-related metaphors used to frame China in American and Australian newspapers from January to June 2020. Specifically, the analysis aims to investigate the extent to which violence-related metaphors were used to frame China in a micro-diachronic perspective and the functions they performed in the dataset. The investigation was conducted by combining corpus linguistics and discourse analysis approaches to analyse the semantic domain of violence. The results revealed that violence-related metaphors were extensively used to negatively frame China and its institutions in both corpora, although they were more frequent in the Australian corpus. From a micro-diachronic perspective, in the American corpus, violence-related metaphors were less recurrent and evenly distributed over time, whereas they peaked in May 2020 in the Australian corpus, a time that coincided with China’s imposition of substantial tariffs on Australian barley. This seemed to suggest that the use of such metaphors was highly influenced by socioeconomic factors rather than by the spread of COVID-19.
... Data from the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey showed that even though 22% of White persons believed that there was "a lot" of discrimination towards white individuals, only 9% believed that there was "a lot" of discrimination towards Asians (Do & Wong, 2017). This may be due to the "model minority model" myth, where individuals of Asian ancestry were perceived to be successful and had few problems (Kawai, 2005). The perception of success may lead people to believe that Asians face relatively little to no racism or discrimination. ...
One out of ve Canadians and one out of eight Americans are foreign-born (World Bank, 2020). The United States is home to the largest proportion of the global immigrant population from Asia, and Canada is home to approximately 3.3% of this global immigration ow (United Nations, 2017). This chapter examines key challenges and issues that impact Asian-origin families in these two predominant countries. It provides an overview of demographic characteristics, acculturation, intergenerational relationship, and aging of individuals and families originating from Asia, along with challenges such as racism, discrimination, stereotypes, domestic and interpersonal violence. Our review highlights the needs for future research on Asian subgroups and on Asian Paci c Islanders' families, emphasizing the strengths and resilience of Asian-origin families in Canada and the United States.
... Therefore, this label presupposes that Asian-Americans, who are erroneously characterized as an homogenous community, do not need any social help as they are high-achievers, which invisibilizes profound social, economic, educational and working inequalities faced by them, and it delegitimizes their problems (Yi and Museus, 2015). Indeed, this label implies the existence of social standards that top a hierarchy in detriment of other minoritized ethnic groups, such as Black Americans or Latinos, which are minimized as 'inferior' groups in such hierarchy, and leads them to be mutually compared (Ispahani and Nandini, 2021;Kawai, 2005;Shih et al., 2019;Yi and Museus, 2015). ...
This paper focuses on the representation of the Asian-American community during the COVID-19 pandemic in the opinion articles of the US media about the growing expressions of violence against the community. These articles were posted in The Washington Post and CNN by an Asian-American journalist and an American journalist, respectively. Quantitatively, this study focuses on the proper nouns “Asian(s)” and “American(s)”. Qualitatively, it focuses on identifying patterns and interpreting the meanings underlying the discourse structures employed by each author. For these purposes, corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis (CDA) were employed. Results show that the Asian-American author uses the proper nouns and rhetorical figures more than their American counterpart, who mostly uses quoting. This, since the former speaks from the community and the latter speaks to the community. It is suggested that the opinion articles discourse should be approached critically since they may influence the readers’ representations around the topic.
Three studies ( N = 1,427) examine White Americans’ threat and stress appraisals and coping strategies in imagined inter- and intraracial interactions when a nearby White person does something racist. White individuals report heightened concern about being stereotyped as racist (i.e., metastereotyping) following an ingroup member’s stereotype-confirming (vs. neutral) behavior (Studies 1–3). Moreover, across studies, these heightened metastereotypes predict greater anxiety, which in turn predicts anticipated coping strategies (e.g., increased motivation to disprove the stereotype). Additionally, relative to imagined interactions with a White partner, these consequences of witnessing a White person’s anti-Black bias are significantly stronger with a Black or Latinx (Studies 1 and 2) but not an Asian (Study 3, preregistered) interaction partner. This work highlights how an ingroup member’s racist behavior is a situational stressor for White people during intergroup encounters, engendering coping strategies to protect the self and manage the ensuing interaction.
Drawing upon the theories of system justification and cultural inertia, this study qualitatively assesses Asian American perceptions of the police, focusing on how such perceptions may have been impacted by the rise of anti-Asian racism since the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this study was conducted with Asian Americans in the mid-Atlantic region. Results show that most participants displayed favorable attitudes toward the police, believing they are integral to keeping communities safe. Some argued that the police should address hate crimes, while others believed that the police are unable to effectively control hate crimes due to a lack of resources and the ambiguous definition of hate crime. Meanwhile, fear of the police was common primarily due to police use of force, firearm-carrying, and racial discrimination. There is a shared belief that the relationship between Asian Americans and the police needs to be improved.
The period comprising the past thirty-two years since the collapse of the Soviet Union has seen a range of approaches taken by the United States in handling its relationship with China. Launched in November 2011, the ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy approach entailed new levels of engagement with ‘a peaceful and prosperous China’, but on the most challenging issues this approach also brought increasing confrontation. The West (in this case the United States) has a history of utilising Orientalist-style, ‘us vs them’ dichotomies to manipulate unequal relations of power with the East (known as the ‘Orient’) throughout history (originally with middle-eastern nations). By using tenets from Edward Said’s Orientalism and critical discourse analysis adapted from Normal Fairclough’s 3-dimensional model, this article seeks to establish whether the foreign policy rhetoric of the United States has shifted to frame China through an Orientalist worldview since the Obama Administration’s “Pivot to Asia” strategy in late 2011. The article analyses 52 speeches from the Obama and Trump Administrations, finding evidence of pro-orientalist themes and language being adopted for both. Whilst utilised to a lower degree, these ‘us vs them’ dichotomies do exist under President Obama’s more accommodating and calmer linguistic-style, being intertwined with language designed to project an image of welcoming cooperation (albeit in a condescending, back-handed way). The use of orientalist themes is more prominently provable under President Trump, with almost all major speeches pertaining to China containing high usage of orientalist tropes in a more openly xenophobic, racist fashion.
The Warrior Mentality is composed of three subsections that discuss each dimension of the framework and how it applies to work with diverse athletes and coaches. The first dimension, Identifying Your Purpose, is presented in the context of research and theory related to the power of finding what motivates coaches and players to engage in a team. The second dimension, Acknowledging a Shared Destiny, explores how collectivistic worldviews provide the foundation of all relational processes within successful teams. The third dimension, Recognizing Risks and Building on Resilience, surrounds coaches’ abilities to understand personal shortcomings and systematic challenges within themselves and their players as well as reinforce strengths and contributions to move the team forward.
It is well established that skin lightness-darkness is associated with social outcomes, but little is known regarding the social salience of skin undertones (redness and yellowness). Our study addresses two related research questions on this topic: first, we ask whether red and yellow undertones are consistently perceived by observers; second, we ask whether red and yellow undertones are associated with expectations of discrimination across a range of social settings. We address these questions using novel survey data in which skin lightness-darkness and undertones are captured using CIELAB measurements and a two-dimensional categorical skin color scale. Although we find skin lightness-darkness to be the strongest and most consistent predictor of discrimination expectations, respondents also perceived skin undertones consistently, and skin yellowness was associated with a higher predicted likelihood of discrimination net of lightness-darkness in certain social settings. Our findings suggest that colorism can extend beyond a light-dark binary and emphasize the value of capturing undertones, particularly yellowness, in social surveys assessing skin color.
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss what anti-Asian racism looks like in the United States, referring to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) experiences and the Asian American adaptation of the Critical Race Theory or the AsianCrit (Iftikar and Museus, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 31:935–949, 2018; Museus, The misrepresented minority: New insights on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and their implications for higher education. Stylus, 2013). Multiple myths about AAPI intricately overlap to ensure that anti-Asian racism remains alive, and prevent AAPI groups from achieving solidarity within and across other racial/ethnic groups (Zheng, Harvard Business Review, 2021). Four of these myths are the Model Minority Myth, Perpetual Foreigner Syndrome, AAPIs as a monolith, and the hypersexualization and emasculation of AAPI individuals. The emerging work of the Oakland University AAPI Employee Resource Group (AAPI ERG) is informed by the tenets of the AsianCrit, and strives to drive organizational values that focus on improving AAPI visibility and representation on a Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) by being the voices of AAPI employees. The main strategies used to accomplish this goal are: (1) disseminate information to debunk the myths; (2) improve data collection and transparency of outcomes to ensure all types of racially motivated incidents on campus are captured; (3) define bias, hate, and hate speech in a way that honors all marginalized voices; and (4) improve messaging about mental health, as racism is mentally taxing. As the AAPI issue is intricately intertwined with systemic racism, this group believes that working alongside other marginalized groups is vital for the success of this work.
In 2019, the COVID‐19 pandemic impacted people across the world like no other disease of its kind. The origins of the virus were identified to be from Wuhan, China, which led to East Asians becoming the targets of racist attacks and discrimination. “Other” Asian subgroups such as South Asians and Southeast Asians have also experienced hate crimes targeted toward them (CCNCTO, “Another Year: Anti‐Asian Racism Across Canada Two Years Into the COVID‐19 Pandemic.” 2022). Yet, their voices have largely been missing from conversations on anti‐Asian racism. Using thematic analysis, I explore how South Asians construct their positionality within conversations of anti‐Asian racism. I examine the use of terms such as “anti‐Asian,” “Asian racism,” “racism,” “hate crime,” and “discrimination” in 209 posts and 20, 388 comments between 2020 and 2022 within r/ABCDesis, a Reddit community formed by and for the South Asian diaspora, primarily residing in the United States, and Canada. Findings suggest that while most members have personally not been impacted by anti‐Asian racism, they are wary of being the next target. Redditors expressed the need for greater solidarity with East Asians and POC's, and yet demonstrate how ethnic ambiguity and complex intergroup relations can pose difficulties when expressing positionality within discussions of anti‐Asian racism.
During COVID-19, Asian Americans were perceived as a threat to the American society, which could have led to heightened media scrutiny and a shift in media portrayals. This study examines this question with a quantitative analysis of crime stories sampled from five newspapers (2019–2021). Our results suggested that large-scale social events such as COVID-19 might have transformed media representations of Asians and other racial groups, with noteworthy variability: (a) When considering all types of crimes, during the pandemic, news about lawbreaking activities by Asian perpetrators almost doubled that of before-COVID period. No significant change was uncovered in the coverage of Asian victims. (b) However, on two types of crimes—“crimes against persons” and “violent crimes”—that have more newsworthiness and social import, stories about Asian victims during the COVID-19 were higher than those of the before-COVID period. (c) When comparing media representations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, the percentage of Asian perpetrators and victims in newspapers did not differ from that of the FBI in 2019 and 2020; however, Asians were overrepresented as victims in 2021.
Race makes a difference in every sphere of our lives and, unsurprisingly, it affects our intimate relationships as well. The term “intimate partner racism,” coined by Yampolsky et al. (2022) refers to the racism that can occur within romantic relationships and dating. This study aimed to understand how Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) experience and discuss racism from their intimate partners, and how gender dynamics can affect these interactions. Eight Asian-American women and five Asian-American men were prompted to discuss their experiences dating opposite-sex partners outside of the AAPI diaspora. They were asked to reflect on their experiences of stereotyping, racism, and exotification within their dating lives as well as their mixed-race relationships. The findings suggest that AAPI men and women experience similar amounts of intimate partner racism, but live and report the experiences differently as a result of differential gender stereotypes and norms.
Korean American youth often turn to Korean popular culture, such as K-pop, to claim their cultural space in the U.S., where they are marginalized. These ethnic media influence some to return to their ancestral homeland in search of racial belonging and ethnic identity. Nevertheless, literature and media rarely address the complexities and difficulties of such return migration. Hence, in this study, I utilize two K-pop young adult books—published in the United States, not Korea—to analyze the experiences of return migration and identity negotiation of return migrants in Korea through Korean American K-pop stars and their Korean American love interests.
As various racial justice movements emerged under the “Black Lives Matter” slogan after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, artist Monyee Chau posted a piece with the slogan #YellowPerilSupportsBlackPower on her Instagram page. The artwork, which depicted a yellow tiger, symbolizing Asians, and a black panther, symbolizing Black Americans, ignited Asian activism in support of Black Americans. In this study, I conceptualize #YellowPerilSupportsBlackPower movement as digital activism and analyze how Asian Americans project their “Asianness” to advocate for the Black community. In particular, I focus on Asian participants’ mediated memory work via Instagram to support the Black community. By identifying three types of affective memory work, I conclude that this affective memory work plays a key role in the legitimizing process through which Asian Americans produce affective ties with the Black community to build a multiracial identity that reaches beyond color lines.
Purpose
The study examines the prevalence and correlates of perceived discrimination across ten Asian American ethnic groups. The goal is to disaggregate an artificially created broad categorization of Asians into subgroups to reveal the existing intragroup differences.
Design/methodology/approach
Bivariate and multivariate analyses were based on data from the 2016 National Asian American Survey (NAAS). The exclusion of missing data on all variables used in the analysis revealed a final analytical sample size of 4,276.
Findings
Compared to all other Asian American ethnic groups, Cambodians report the lowest frequency of perceived discrimination on all outcome measures. On the contrary, the prevalence of perceived discrimination is highest for Bangladeshis and Indians on lifetime and job-related discrimination and for Indians and Japanese on day-to-day discrimination. Nearly all Asian American ethnic groups are more likely to report one or more types of perceived discrimination than Chinese Americans. The observed relationships disappear for Cambodians, Pakistanis and Japanese but persist for Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Hmong and Indians after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Among the socio-demographic controls, gender, birthplace, education and employment status are found to be significant predictors of perceived discrimination.
Originality/value
The findings of the study further the discussion on the importance of disaggregating minority groups and considering their heterogeneous experiences of perceptions of discrimination in the United States.
This study explored the experiences and perceptions of South Korean players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour with respect to stereotyping and discrimination. Specifically, we investigated South Korean Tour members’ perspectives about interactions with their fellow golfers, LPGA officials, and members of the media. A combination of group and individual interviewers with 11 South Korean women who played on the LPGA Tour were conducted, and data were analysed using Hatch’s nine-step inductive analysis method. Researchers identified six themes based on patterns in participants’ responses regarding their experiences. These themes included: (a) inconsistent enforcement of rules regarding use of native language during tournament play; (b) inconsistent enforcement of rules regarding interactions with parents; (c) lack of English fluency impact upon pro-am experiences; (d) limited media coverage; and (e) lack of English fluency limiting self-advocacy. Participants perceived that their race and lack of English fluency impacted their overall experiences, in particular the treatment they received from other tour members, tour officials, and the media. Participants’ perspectives demonstrate the prevalence of the “yellow peril” and “perpetual foreigner” stereotypes during this era of the LPGA Tour.
Is racial animus sensitive to social shocks, or is it a disposition that resists change? The early COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by incidents of prejudice and discrimination against the Asian American community in the United States. We investigate whether comparable shifts in public opinion also occurred during this time using survey data fielded through 2019 and 2020. We compare changes in anti-Asian sentiment to changes in anti-Black, anti-Latino, and anti-white sentiment, finding a distinct rise in anti-Asian sentiment starting in January 2020 that slowly returns to 2019 levels. We also compare neutral response options to both positive and negative responses and find polarization in sentiment where partisanship, political interest, and self-reported COVID-19 exposure all associate with a higher likelihood of expressing both positive and negative sentiment relative to neutral responses about Asian Americans. We discuss these findings in line with a theory of racial animus as a disposition that is subject to temporary, episodic activation.
Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are one of the fastest growing ethnic communities in the United States. Often referred to as the model minority, first coined by William Peterson, in 1966, AAPIs in the U.S. number approximately 15 million and represent more than 100 languages and dialects. However, few studies have investigated psychological consequences of internalizing the model minority. The purpose of this chapter is delve into the other side of the model minority façade, the less glamorous side of model minority, one of the causes of Asian Americans' psychological and mental health issues: the history of model minority, the concept of stereotype, and the various psychological and mental health issues, the reputation of the concept of psychological issues, and mental health services. While there is sacred empirical evidence in the support of the claim that direct causality exists between model minority and psychological and mental health issues, validities and correlations can be established, through the shared classification of diagnosed symptoms.
Stereotypes are positive or negative generalizations indiscriminately attributed to members of a group (Tamborini et al. ; → stereotypes). They have a significant impact on individuals' perception of and interactions with members of different social groups by conveying information about the social groups' capabilities (e.g., fast learners, good athletes), personalities (e.g., shy, violent) and/or socio‐economic status (e.g., educated, powerful, poor).
This study is a historical analysis of Asian American portrayals in entertainment media and a contextualization of their meaning in society. The general nature of Asian stereotypes and the racial formation projected in those stereotypes are examined. With knowledge of this history, the recent renewed propensity to depict Asians as “illegalists” will be understood more clearly.
This study examined the relationships between specific communication behaviors and overall perceptions of Black and White communicators and sought to replicate the findings of Leonard and Locke. Eighteen communication behaviors were identified in the literature representing "Black" and "White" communication. Black (N = 105) and White (N = 159) respondents recalled a past interaction with a racial "other" and completed a two-part questionnaire regarding these behaviors and overall impressions of the other. Pearson correlations were used to answer seven hypotheses regarding these behaviors and impressions. Individual communication behaviors were associated with several negative race-type impressions, suggesting that macrolevel interpretations between interracial speakers may be problematic. Results also suggest that the exact order of stereotypes/perceptions might change from place to place, depending on how the instrument is used, and may be influenced by interpersonal interaction.
There are few-very, very few-nonstereotypical portrayals of Hispanics in Hollywood cinema. Before Zoot Suit (1981), La Bamba (1987), and Stand and Deliver (1988)-all films with Hispanics in key creative positions-it is difficult to find examples of Hispanic characters in mainstream Hollywood cinema who are complex and self-determining. Katy Jurado s strong portrayal of the resourceful businesswoman in High Noon (1952), Ricardo Montalbáns intrepid Mexican government agent in Border Incident (1949), and Anthony Quinns dignified, defiant vaquero in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) are three rare cases where Hispanics are depicted as more than simplified caricatures in U.S. studio films. Hollywood has depicted the vast majority stereo typically.
A structural analysis of the racial oppositions in the television program Spenser: For Hire challenges the interpretivist media studies claim that popular culture texts are necessarily polysemic. The article argues that representations of racial difference, in particular, are not polysemic but are rather ambivalent within the structure of the racist stereotype. The character Hawk's oppositional stance and persona, though subject to contradictory critical evaluations, serve the needs of the dominant culture to depict blacks in stereotypical ways.
Current critical studies emphasize the way in which the polysemic qualities of mass mediated texts empower audiences to construct their own liberating readings. An examination of the text, audience readings, and historical placement of an episode of Cagney & Lacey concerning abortion indicates serious constraints placed on audiences by the rhetorical situations in which readings occur. The pleasures of the audience, I argue, may not be sufficient to certify a positive role for mass media in the process of social change.