Literature Review Chinese American

Literature Review

Danika Li (U0888022)

University of Utah

HONOR 3200

Professor Andy Hoffmann

October 23, 2016

Since the mid-19th century, Chinese immigrants have been a major presence in the history of the United States. However, there exists a major divide between Chinese immigrants who came to the US pre-1965 and post-1965. Pre-1965 immigration can be defined as one of racial discrimination, hardship, and the usage of immigration as labor supply for industrial endeavors by the United States. In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act facilitated a new wave of large-scale Chinese immigration. Educated academics and corporate workers who integrate themselves into the larger American community have characterized this new wave of immigration.  

Given both the split between pre and post-1965 immigrants, as well as the split between the Chinese and the Americans, Chinese Americans find themselves in a limbo where the definitions of heritage and identity are pulled in multiple different directions. In this context, museums possess the role of creating community unity within Chinese Americans, as well as bridging the gap between Chinese Americans as both a minority and an integral part of U.S. history.  

My first source is an article by Jane Junn and Natalie Masuoka, titled “Asian American Identity: Shared Racial Status and Political Context” (2008). Junn and Masuoka assert that due to distinctive historical conditions, migratory patterns, and government immigration policies, Americans classified by race have unique expressions of group consciousness. Because Chinese Americans pre and post 1965 don’t share the same history of subjugation with each other, the minority sits at a triangulated position between the dominance of the white population and the historically discriminated position of the black population.  

Regardless, the process of racial categorization into “Chinese American” still influences the perception of group identities. Post-1965, Chinese Americans have exhibited the highest levels of social and economic integration of any minority group. For Chinese Americans, the classification of American is more important than Chinese American.

However, Jung and Masuoka conducted a study where Chinese Americans were shown pictures of prominent Chinese American politicians and were asked how these descriptive influences affected their feelings towards race as an identifying group. Although Chinese Americans didn’t portray the same malleability as African Americans in the study did, they still demonstrated a latent group consciousness, which would be brought to surface under the right conditions.