Intro to Asian American Experience: Identity and Writing Workshop 4a

1. Intro to Asian American Experience: Identity and Writing Workshop 4a ETHN 100: Week 13 Session 1

2. Last Time • Discuss the political situation of Mexican Americans historically and in the contemporary moment. • Explored the notion that the border signifies the political situation of Mexican Americans.

3. Today • Reflect on previous ETHN 100 texts to explore the concept of identity. • Begin comparing and contrasting across groups for WA4/final paper.

4. Warm Up • What was the social and economic backdrop of the Vincent Chin murder? • What effect did this context have on the events before and after the tragedy? • How did Chin’s death necessitate political solidarity among Asian American groups? • Why are the filmmakers concerned that few people know about Vincent Chin? What argument do they seem to be making about this observation?

5. Emergence of “Asian American” • The term “Asian,” like the term “Black,” means different things in different places around the world. • In the United States, “Asian American” is primarily a political term that reflects a panethnic experience. • Many Asian Americans identify themselves first with the the nation of ancestry. Some do not identify with the term Asian American.

8. A Basic Definition of Identity • Identity refers to how groups and individuals are understood in relation to others.

9. Some Key Dimensions of Identity • Identity is fluid and is shaped by social and political contexts. • Identity is imposed and selected. It is both how we see ourselves and how others see us. • Identities are marked in terms of race and ethnicity, class (socioeconomic status), gender, ability, and sexual orientation. People who study identity are often concerned with the body as the unit of analysis. • We will focus on the “intersections” of these collective identities, or how different markers of identity intersect and shape one another. • Identities have social and materials consequences.

10. Five ETHN 100 Texts • The Late Homecomer • A Class Divided (Brown Eye-Blue Eye Exercise) • The Country of the Blind • A House Divided • Adventures of an Indian Princess • The Zoot Suit Riots

11. Activity • Spend a few moments reminding each other what the text was about. Draw from reading notes you might have handy. • What about the text reflects the notion that identity: • is a social process? • is associated with markers of difference? • is comprised of intersecting markers of difference? • have social and materials consequences?

12. WA4/Final Topic Develop a thesis that addresses the following questions: What trends or patterns with regards to ethnic struggle and conflict have you observed among the four groups we studied this semester? What lessons can be learned from ethnic group experiences in the United States that might help to address issues in other nations and regions?

13. Looking Within and Across to Develop a Thesis about Racial and Ethnic Inequality Native Americans African Americans Chicano/as Asian Americans Cross Cutting Themes Inventory of Key Terms Developing a Thesis Citing Evidence Theoretical Framework Claims/Thesis

15. Next Time • Chinese Americans • Two chapters • We will work from your reading notes on Stuart Hall, “Ethnicity: Identity and Difference”