Recent aarj items

Contributors

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Names and biographies of everyone who made this journal possible.

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

List of all works.

A Recipe for Disaster? Challenging Los Angeles’ Motion to Ban Gas Stoves on Equal Protection Grounds

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores whether an equal protection challenge to Los Angeles’ motion banninggas stoves in all new residential and commercial buildings is legally viable. Although themotion makes no specific mention of race (making it facially-neutral), Asian Americans haveraised concerns about the potential disproportionate impacts on their communities, due to thecultural significance of gas stoves in Asian cuisine. Stimulating the two-step process forevaluating whether unconstitutional discrimination has occurred from a facially neutral law, Idemonstrate that such litigation would not be legally viable at this time for three reasons.First, the unique circumstances surrounding the affected population make establishingdisparate impact, the first element, much more challenging than similarly situated cases.Second, political processes protecting the pseudo-right of government employees todiscriminate increase the burden of the challenger to prove discriminatory intent, the secondelement....

Breaking the Generational Silence: Collective Healing from Historical Trauma

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Trauma is primarily understood as a personal experience in which an event occurs andleaves long-term psychological distress. However, historical trauma exposes that trauma does notexist in isolation. Historical trauma is defined as “distressing or life-threatening events whichmembers of a group with a shared social identity experience together and pass on to theirdescendants”. This shift from direct survivor to descendant is very nuanced because it can 1manifest in genetic and psychological ways. Historical trauma has been studied in Holocaust 2survivors and Indigenous communities in North America, yet research is lacking AsianAmerican experiences. In this paper, I study historical and intergenerational trauma from the 3Japanese Incarceration Camps and the Khmer Rouge Genocide. This paper does not aim toequate or compare these two dissimilar experiences, but rather, learn from their differingcircumstances. In particular, I focus on the interactions between survivors of these...

Narrating the ‘Hippie’: Bengali Perceptions of the Trail

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

With this paper, I will attempt to shift the focus of the Counterculture of the 1960s and1970s from the Global North and examine how it affected cultural norms and perceptions in theGlobal South. My presentation will look at the ‘Hippie Trail’, a colloquial way to refer to a travelroute taken by many European and North-American youths to the East at the height of thecounterculture movement. The East served as an allegory of varying meanings but travelers oftencame by land from a European center like London and Amsterdam to anywhere relatively east,often ending in South and Southeast Asia. In this presentation, I try to understand the perceptionsof the trail in the Bengali cultural milieu through the literary representation in Satyajit Ray’sdetective Novel, Gangtok-e-Gondogol.

Resistance from Overseas: U.S. Diasporic and Transnational Activism in Response to the 2021 Myanmar Military Coup

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While homeland activism among the Burmese diaspora in the United States experienceda decline in momentum throughout Myanmar’s democratic transition period (2011-2021), therehas been a discernible shift since the 2021 Myanmar Military Coup. The junta’s attempts tothwart the formation of organized resistance proved unsuccessful against the rise of a newtransnational social movement—the Spring Revolution. With the 2021 Myanmar Military Coupcontinuing to unfold, this study seeks to discuss how modal and ideological shifts influence thediasporic and transnational dimensions of homeland activism among Burmese Americans.Existing literature on Burmese diasporic and transnational activism has largely focused on socialmovements responding to the 8888 Uprising (1988) and Saffron Revolution (2007). WhileBurmese Americans have traditionally played an active role in delivering political and economicremittances to Myanmar’s pro-democracy forces, the U.S. Burmese diaspora has not beenoperating...

Chief Editors' Note

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

To the community,

The Asian American Research Journal (AARJ) is honored and excited to share our fourth issuewith you, “The Space Between Oceans.” Our journal was founded in 2020 as the first AsianAmerican research journal at the University of California, Berkeley. Through our publication,AARJ hopes to further the pursuits of the student activists of the Third World Liberation Front(WTLF) by providing an accessible platform for students to produce and engage with academia. .Thanks to the incredible support of our faculty, peers, and authors, we have grown from our rootsand maintained our goal to provide Asian American and Asian voices with a place to share theirstories.The theme of our fourth edition “The Space Between Oceans” seeks to explore the changinglandscape of Asian American identity and heritage through the scope of immigration, livedexperiences, and historical representation of cross-cultural identity. This volume is a testament tothe fluctuating state of Asian...

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Reshaped Community Health Needs in San Francisco’s Chinatown: Examining The Historical, Social and Global Upstream Influencers

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A comparison of the San Francisco Chinese Hospital’s Community Health NeedsAssessment (CHNA) from the year 2019 to 2022 reveals striking transformations in top-reportedcommunity health concerns in San Francisco Chinatown during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Thesurvey reports skyrocketing mentions of mental health, community safety, and linguisticallyappropriate health information. These concerns emerged as pressing unmet needs during thepandemic. The spread of the COVID-19 virus alone is not enough to explain these shifts, rather,the sudden change in community health needs highlights the interrelationship between the healthof the individual and their environment. Major changes in social stigma, politics, andcommunication had a direct impact on health during the pandemic. This literature reviewsynthesizes recent literature to uncover how the influence of historical, social, and global factorsduring COVID-19 catalyzed these shifts in health priorities among a vulnerable population. Iargue...

Quality of Elderly Vietnamese Immigrant Healthcare In the Bay Area

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Elderly Vietnamese immigrants experience unique stressors and healthcareincompatibilities that demand an examination of the quality of their physician-patientinteractions. Previous studies on Vietnamese American health disparities demonstrate concernsover stroke rates, heart disease, and reluctance to communicate with health providers. Particularstructural, political, cultural, and behavioral effects resulting from forcible immigration from theVietnam War and communism have exacerbated healthcare complications. To study the depth ofthese effects, I surveyed and interviewed Vietnamese individuals sixty years of age or older whoimmigrated to America. These surveys and interviews allowed participants to rate their primarycare physicians on different metrics to demonstrate their level of satisfaction with theirpatient-physician interactions holistically and to connect these ratings to their personal levels ofintegration within American society and ability to navigate American healthcare...

About the Cover

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The cover of volume IV, The Space Between Oceans, was illustrated by our chief designer SeoLee. The woman is outlined with minimal lines, accentuating the negative space, to give thefigure an inclusive silhouette that any reader can project themselves onto. In order to emphasizethe theme of this year’s topic of fluctuating heritage and the fluidity of cross-cultural identity, thecover features motifs of waves. The tea poured by the woman from the traditional pot serves asthe medium through which the white stripes of the American flag bleed into the Japanese-stylewave art to capture the exchange of tradition and communities overseas. The American flagmotif continues on the back cover with the blue moon speckled with white stars. The red, white,and blue color palette encompasses both the famously “American” colors and the lucky shade ofred that many Asian cultures recognize. The woman, or anyone part of the Asian Americandiaspora, is claiming agency over the flow of her cultural...

Balancing Tongues: ESL Programs in Combating Asian American Stereotypes

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

To many immigrant students and students who speak a language other than English athome, ESL (English as a second language) programs are all too familiar. There is muchconversation surrounding the benefits and drawbacks of ESL programs but, historically, theestablishment of programs aiming to provide supplemental English resources to public schoolstudents has overturned students’ equal opportunity for education. Specifically, the 1974 Lau v.Nichols case reinforced the ruling of the Brown v. Board of Education and placed AsianAmericans at the forefront of education. This case occurred during a complex time: theChinatown community was struggling to balance cultural and language preservation with thedesegregation of schools and integration of Chinese students into majority-white schools. Thispaper examines the historical significance of the Lau v. Nichols case and its effects on Englishlanguage programs and Asian American stereotypes.

Contributors

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Names and biographies of everyone who made this journal possible.

Insiders, Outsiders, and In-Between: Asian Nonimmigrant Experience in the American Context of Intersectional Racism

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The racism discussion in the United States has often overlooked the role of legal statuses and left Asian resident nonimmigrants unable to process their intersectional experience with racial discrimination in the American context. This lack of space plays out within public discussions, within one’s subjectivity, and within the minority collective subjectivity. This paper demonstrates the invisibility of this space through examples of news reports and governmental policies during the 2020 pandemic and provides the language and framework for legal statuses as part of intersectional racism with reference to literature on the philosophy of race.

Ode to 옹기: An examination of culinary tradition, memory, and belonging in the Korean diaspora

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

옹기 are earthenware pots originating on the Korean peninsula; vessels that have sustained kitchens and designed palettes since before the common era. Home to fermented vegetables, cooking pastes, and alcoholic beverages, 옹기 are not so much culinary tools (though their practical benefits are innumerable) as they are symbols of nostalgia, artistry, and life. In turn, their fading regularity today provokes a greater discourse questioning the effects of modernity and the fluidity of tradition across generations of Korean diaspora. Beginning with 옹기, this paper analyzes the concept of authenticity as it appears in several diasporic negotiations of self, “home,” and belonging. Often when writing “ethnic” food, assumptions are liberally made, and the cuisine is homogenized—both intentionally and not, though this distinction matters little when the effect is the same. In light of this, terms like 고추장 are indexed as simply “spicy red pepper paste” rather than “Korean spicy red pepper paste”–a...

Bridging Vietnamese Subjectivities in the United States: On Complex Communication through Time and Space

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The end of “The Second Indochina War,” “The Vietnam War,” or “The Anti-American Resistance War” forty years ago has led to millions of Vietnamese fleeing Vietnam to the United States and millions of others living in post-war poverty. The historical, political, and spatial separation between North and South Vietnam has also resulted in a fragmented Vietnamese identity and subjectivity. As a Vietnamese international student growing up in north Vietnam, moving to the United States, and coming in contact with the Vietnamese diaspora here without identifying with it, I am driven by the questions: “What does it mean to be Vietnamese in the United States? How do I reconcile the internalized tension of North/South Vietnamese historical conflict and come to terms with my Vietnamese experience in the U.S. I share with many other diasporic subjects here?” Using María Lugones’s frameworks of diasporic and nondiasporic subjects, liminality, and complex communication, I analyzed Thi Bui’s...

Stuck in the Middle: Crimmigration and the Asian American Community

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“Crimmigration,” coined in 2006 by Professor Juliet Stumpf, refers to the merging ofcriminal and immigration law in the United States, particularly after 1980. Crimmigrationincludes both immigration-related punishments for non-American citizens convicted of crimesand immigration enforcement’s growing resemblance to criminal law enforcement. This paperexplores the historical development of crimmigration through laws such as the 1996Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and Illegal Immigration Reform and ImmigrantResponsibility Act, as well as the massive expansion in ICE detention in recent decades. Itargues that Asian Americans have been disproportionately impacted by crimmigration due totheir historical marginalization at the intersection of non-citizen status, poverty, and violence.“Stuck in the middle” of the criminalization of immigration and unjust punishment ofimmigrants with criminal convictions, Asian American communities are uniquely impacted by acrimmigration...

A Study on the ABG, a Racialized, Gendered Social Label

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Asian Baby Girl (ABG), a racialized and gendered social label, is a recent socialphenomenon occurring within the Asian American community. It is a new Asian Americanarchetype amongst the Dragon Lady, China Doll, and Lotus Blossom that targets and constructsracialized femininity. Hinging on its visual appearance, the ABG is a persona whoseperformance evokes positive and negative connotations due to its ability to subvert AsianAmerican stereotypes and create a hybridized Asian American persona, while also creating newand restraining stereotypes imposed onto Asian American women. This study intends toinvestigate how this new racialized and gendered social label, the ABG persona, impacts theexperiences of Asian American women by focusing on the allure and rejection of the label, andthe operation of this label under the male gaze and within academic and professional settings.

Elder Wisdom, 1960s Asian American Activism, and the Struggle for Third World Education

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The 1960s Asian American Movement and 1968–69 Third World Liberation Front(TWLF) Strikes dismantled racist stereotypes of Asian Americans as “silent citizens” while alsoconnecting the community to a broader global liberation movement. This research explores howthese 1960s radical movements continue to influence modern Asian American communityorganizing and efforts to build multiracial solidarity. This paper draws upon the wisdom ofinterviewees who participated in the 1960s TWLF Strikes at SFSU and UC Berkeley, and theradicalizing lessons they shared with a younger generation of students, activists, and communityleaders.Through a series of conversations with former TWLF student members and leftistactivists, this paper reflects on the following questions: In light of the broad political changesthat emerged from the 1960s Third World struggle, how do we begin to understand thesignificance of these movements today? What lessons can we learn from Third World solidarityand the origins...

Uprooted but Unbroken: Ethnic Studies Programs in California Prisons

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Asian Americans compose a relatively small but growing portion of the prison populationboth nationwide and in California, with the number of AAPIs incarcerated in the US quadruplingfrom 2000 to 2010. Incarcerated Asian Americans face unique challenges, often having arrivedto the US as refugees fleeing war and genocide and struggling with intergenerational trauma,familial isolation and stigma, and a lack of culturally informed programs in prison. Thus, thisresearch project focuses on ethnic studies programs in California prisons, with a specific focuson Asian American studies programs. Constructed through interviews with participants andfacilitators of these programs, this project finds that ethnic studies programs have transformativeeffects on incarcerated people’s sense of self, personal healing, sense of community, and capacityas agents of change for themselves and others during and after incarceration.

Japanese American Women's Self-Definition Facing Identity Crisis Through Intersectional Lenses

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This essay examines the self-definition of Japanese American women through anintersectional lens, recognizing the intricate interplay of multiple identities shaped by factorssuch as race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and more. While the portrayal of minority women bymainstream media as a homogenous group has resulted in damaging stereotypes that underminethe complexity and diversity of their experiences, the intersectional theory—whichacknowledges the complex interplay of social forces, identities, and ideologies that legitimizepower and disadvantage in society—offers a more nuanced understanding of the experiences ofJapanese American women. Incorporating historical context and Western feminist theories, thispaper argues that the adoption of an intersectional approach is necessary to better understand thediverse experiences of Japanese American women and their self-definition, also stressing thatpromoting diversity and intersectionality can advance research and support individuals,...

Chief Editors' Note

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

To the community,

We are honored and excited to share our third annual volume of the Asian American Research Journal with you all. This journal was established in Fall 2020, amid the pandemic, as a means of battling historical erasure and misunderstandings of Asian American history that continue to impact our community today. Our goal is to provide a platform to center Asian American and Asian diasporic experiences, studies, and research; we believe that by uplifting each other’s voices, we can inform, educate, and spark change.

This volume’s theme of “Shaping Our Legacies” explores how generations of Asian Americans have evolved and persevered throughout time. The stories in this publication invite readers to retrace the roots of Asian American identity and contemplate how these communities have continued to persist in the face of hardship, fight against injustice, and build upon their cultures. Through this issue, we hope you will gain a deeper understanding...

How Do You Decide Your Major(s)?: A Study of Asian American Female College Students’ Major Choice(s)

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“The “model minority myth” is an overgeneralized symbol for Asian Americans, definingthe characteristics and pursuits of Asian Americans based on their racial identity. They areportrayed as smart yet humble and, according to the stereotype, they enjoy a higher income inSTEM-related fields, which stands for “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”.Meanwhile, the myth perpetuates an image of Asian women as feminine, caring, and gentle.Thus, the intersectionality of the racial and gender stereotypes creates overlapping pressure anddiscrimination against Asian female college students. Given the stereotypes of the Asian andAsian female community, this study seeks to answer the following research questions by addinga gender component: How do Asian American female college students choose their major(s)? &How do they react to racial and gender stereotypes when deciding their major(s)? This researchaims to navigate the variety of reactions of Asian American female students...

The Impacts and Significance of Yum Cha for the Cantonese Diaspora

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Across the Cantonese diaspora, dim sum establishments have been a critical cultural hubfor immigrant communities. Dim sum are the foods that are consumed during yum cha, a popularCantonese brunch meal with shareable dishes and tea. Dumplings, buns, noodles, stews, desserts,fried delectables, and other dim sum come in a variety of flavor profiles, textures, and shapes,making the yum cha process one filled with joy and plentitude. Popularized in Southern China,yum cha became a staple morning cuisine for the working class by the mid-20th century. Itspopularity and other restaurant innovations elevated dim sum from street food to indoor diningfood. Labor migrations within the last century have brought Cantonese cuisine to the rest of theworld, including Southeast Asia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and North America. ForChinese communities overseas, the establishment, performance, and preservation of native foodsbecomes a process of recreating home and belonging in the resettlement...

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

List of all works.

Chief Editors' Note

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

To the community,

The Asian American Research Journal was founded in the Fall of 2020, amidst a year of reinforced stereotypes and rising violence against Asian Americans as the COVID-19 pandemic began to become embedded into everyday life. A year later, we continue to witness and experience the harm inflicted upon our communities. We have all been awaiting the day this hostility comes to an end, but with further investigation of our histories as immigrants and descendants of immigrants, we are certain that the same question has been pondered by generations of Asian Americans throughout the course of economic, legal, and social injustices they have had to endure since their arrivals: When will things change? Adversity seems to persist regardless of the time period. However, alongside the pain, we become more conscious and confident about our own existences and identities. As we learn more about ourselves, our families, our communities, and our histories, we grow as we...

Infantilization of the Asian American Elderly and the Nature of the Media

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

As hostility towards Asian Americans has been on the rise since the start of the global pandemic, Asian American elders have been particular targets of public brutality. While Asian Americans have historically been defined and positioned with varying stereotypes depending on their context in America, including the duality of the model minority myth and the international threat, the Asian American elderly do not seem to be registered in either of these categories but continue to exist as victims to these violences. Rather, there seems to be a uniquely intersectional position the Asian American elderly occupy in consequence to them being infantilized that causes Americans to desire to inflict harm upon them. The media has been devoutly displaying the news of these assaults, rampantly spreading them as widely as they can for the nation to see, but there seems to be something cynical about their obsession with images of violence.

Language and Ethnic Belonging: Identity by Way of Language

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Language and ethnic belonging are topics that intertwine with one another. 1.5 and second generation Asian Americans experience a struggle in the maintenance of their ethnic language as they navigate the USA with the English language. This paper examines this relationship by investigating how language proficiency impacts an individual’s degree of ethnicbelonging within the Asian American experience. This investigation utilizes the narratives of eight 1.5 and second generation Asian Americans. Drawing from these narratives, proficiency in the ethnic language can impact ethnic belonging via personal identification, coethnic acceptance, and cultural connection.

The Risk Factors of Poor Mental Health Outcomes in Second-Generation Asian Americans

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Poor mental health is a prevalent public health issue, especially among Asian American populations. Due to cultural barriers, Asian Americans may not understand the concept of mental health and may underutilize mental health resources. With Asian Americans being the largest and fastest-growing racial group in the United States, mental health research is essential to improving the well-being of future generations of Asian American generations. Having a better understanding of the determinants for poor mental health in Asian American communities is critical for effective public health interventions. This qualitative study examined how cultural and social expectations, gender roles, intergenerational trauma, and evolving attitudes influenced the mental health outcomes of six second-generation Asian Americans, one White American, and one Latinx American. Our findings suggest that Asian Americans have a greater burden to succeed academically compared to their white and Latinx counterparts....

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

List of all works.

Settler Colonialism by Settlers of Color: Understanding Han Taiwanese Settler Colonialism in Taiwan through Japanese American Settler Colonialism in Hawai’i

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

My paper evaluates the United States settler colonial framework in relation to Han Taiwanese citizenship, independence, and rights to the island now called Taiwan. I use parallels from the Japanese American occupation of Hawai'i to investigate how white settler colonial logics, such as multiculturalism and the settler-colonial Unconscious, are instilled in East Asian settlers through the promise of democratic rights and sovereignty. Settlers of color, therefore, complicate the binary between the “colonizer” and “colonized” as demonstrated through the simultaneous oppression of people of color by the white settler state and the oppression of Indigenous peoples by settlers of color. With this, I reflect on the following questions: What does it mean to claim independence on land that is stolen Indigenous land, and how is this narrative further complicated when these settlers are people of color? Similar settler colonial tactics and commitments to capitalism are utilized by both...

COVID-19 is a “Yellow Peril” Redux: Immigration and Health Policy and the Construction of the Chinese as Disease

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans have endured a stark rise in discrimination, harassment, and violence. Public discourse regarding COVID-19 has also been filled with anti-Asian and xenophobic rhetoric, including former President Donald Trump’s usage of racially charged epithets like “China Virus” and “Kung Flu.” However, this is not the first time that Asian Americans, and specifically Chinese Americans, have been condemned as a public health threat. In the late 1800s, Chinese immigrants were stereotyped as the “Yellow Peril” and dirty disease carriers amidst growing anti-Chinese sentiment, culminating in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Additionally, San Francisco Chinatown was intentionally and unfairly targeted by public health officials in attempts to purge the bubonic plague at the turn of the century. While court cases like Wong Wai v. Williamson (1900) and Jew Ho v. Williamson (1900) determined that such public health campaigns...

The Punjabi Pioneers

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

On a warm day in Imperial Valley California, visitors and residents alike can indulge in a fascinating cross-cultural dining experience: chicken curry enchiladas. The only aspect of this dish more enticing than its expert mix of flavors lies in its rich cultural history. Each bite conveys a story, stories of enterprising migrants from Punjab who married Mexican-American women and fiercely defended their ability to establish roots in their new homeland, despite a host of discriminatory legislation and the barriers of a foreign legal system. Building on primary source material uncovered by renowned anthropologist Karen Leonard in her book “Making Ethnic Choices,” I argue that the Punjabis achieved their success by pulling from a host of familiar strategies, including litigation, marriage, and cross-cultural networking, all learned from their interactions with the British Raj. I chart a path through historiography by examining how Punjabi farmers navigated a unique system of land...

Contributors

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Names and biographies of everyone who made this journal possible.

The Auntie Sewing Squad and Asian American Women’s Craftivism

Sat, 7 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Auntie Sewing Squad, founded in March 2020 by Kristina Wong, sews cotton masks to help those in need during the time of COVID-19 and follows a legacy of “craftivism,” or craft activism, being used for health justice in the United States. In the age of COVID-19, crafts, particularly the sewing of masks, have served a purpose for not only political health justice work, but for survival. For the Auntie Sewing Squad, their work in seeking to provide proper PPE, or personal protective equipment, to vulnerable communities is necessarily political due to the failure of the United States government to provide basic health equipment for all individuals during this global pandemic. This paper explores the ways in which the Auntie Sewing Squad’s work connects to the narrative of Asian American women participating in craftivism during the current health crisis of COVID-19 to not only provide masks to communities in need but also to create a collective network grounded in ideas of care....

Faculty Editors' Note

Fri, 9 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

When Richie, Austin, Anh-Tu, and Gabby first approached us about their interest in initiating an undergraduate e-journal with a focus on Asian American issues, we were thrilled to learn of their vision for the project and offered our unqualified support. A student-led initiative, the multi-disciplinary Asian American Research Journal (AARJ) with a focus on Asian American experience is the first of its kind at UC Berkeley! Over the course of 15-plus months of incubation, the team worked with us to think through the structure of the editorial board, the disciplinary parameters of the journal, the copyright issues of publishing, and the editorial process. From the outset, the team worked fastidiously and methodically, ensuring the timely publication of their first issue at the end of the academic year 2020-2021. They did all this remotely, amid the shelter-in-place orders and on top of their own academic and extra-curricular responsibilities. Their herculean efforts to make this...

Fri, 9 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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Contributors

Thu, 8 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Names and biographies of all the folks who made this journal possible

Chief Editors' Note

Thu, 8 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

To the community,

As mass media showcased the increasing instances of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia towards the Asian diaspora, the chief editors saw that there was a lack of research literature on the Asian American experience, both before and during the onset of the pandemic. By providing a platform that empowers students to share their academic work, the AARJ continues the vision initiated by student activists in the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes by de-centering academic gatekeeping against people of color and reinforcing the importance of Asian American and Asian Diasporic studies as a scholarly field. We are proud to announce the publication of this first issue of the Asian American Research Journal (AARJ) at UC Berkeley. We created this journal because we saw that UC Berkeley lacked a platform for undergraduate and graduate students to publish their research and scholarly work centered on Asian American and Asian Diasporic experiences, identities,...

Prevalence of Traditional Asian Postpartum Practices at a Federally Qualified Health Center

Mon, 5 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of, participation in, attitudes towards, and experiences with “doing the month” (DTM), a traditional Chinese and Vietnamese postpartum practice, at a federally qualified health center that serves predominantly Asian immigrants. DTM practices revolve around the balance between yin and yang and include practices such as the mother remaining on bed rest for as long as possible, restricting diet to certain foods, and avoiding visitors and social activities.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey in Chinese, Vietnamese, and English was developed to determine the prevalence of women who have heard of and participated in DTM.

Results: One hundred fifty-four respondents participated. The mean age of respondents was 40.1 years. Without prompting of what DTM was, 58 (37.7%) responded that they had heard of DTM. After an explanatory paragraph, this increased to 117 (76.6%) participants. Out of 107 patients that have children, 65 (60.7%) “did...

Conversations on Mental Wellness in Vietnamese American Community

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Stigma is one of the major barriers to seeking mental health services among Vietnamese Americans. This barrier is even more prominent spanning different cultures and different generations. The present study examines the following hypothesis: when first-generation, immigrant parents are willing to talk about mental health to their second-generation, US-born children, their children are more open to seeking mental health services as adults. An online survey consisting of quantitative and qualitative questions was administered to 63 people. The results suggest that students are more likely to talk to their peers about mental health issues compared to their families. The results indicate that there should be an increase in accessible services for students and educational workshops for parents and faculty to promote understanding and destigmatize mental health and mental illnesses.

Asian American Perceptions of Affirmative Action

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Confusion regarding affirmative action programs combined with ambiguous and secretive college admission processes have generated a growing resentment amongst the Asian American community specifically in the ways that they view other racial and ethnic minorities. Although affirmative action is popularly believed to disadvantage Asian Americans, this paper makes the case that the false narrative of affirmative action is more harmful to Asian Americans than affirmative action programs themselves because of how these misconceptions generate intense divisions within the Asian American community. After a brief personal preface, this paper establishes the historical origins of the affirmative action myth as well as introduces research that shows how negative portrayals of affirmative action are misleading. After discussing the current consequences of repealing affirmative action in college admissions, the second part of this paper investigates contemporary views of affirmative action...

Generational Differences Between Asian American Women and their Mothers and its Effects on Sexual and Reproductive Health Communication

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The study examined generational differences between Asian American daughters and their mothers to assess the degree in which these differences have on the quality of their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education. The participants of this study aimed at individuals identifying as college-aged Asian American women. Each participant took an online survey and voluntary interview regarding their experiences navigating their sexual and reproductive health in close reflection of their quality of SRH education from their mothers. The results show that most participants recalled getting little to no communication with their mothers on sexual and reproductive health, and indicated that they have some degree of reservation when it comes to discussing these topics with their mothers presently. Upon consideration of these findings, maternal communication of sexual and reproductive health topics should be destigmatized in order for their daughters to have a more comprehensive education...

Involuntary Immigrant: The Story of a Vietnamese Refugee

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Hoang Minh Phan never wanted to leave Vietnam. After his father was shot and killed by the Viet Cong, he vowed that he would stay by his mother's side and care for and protect her. However, one fateful morning, Hoang finds himself in a boat with other refugees looking to escape Vietnam. Realizing the situation he was in too late, he journeys to Malaysia, Greece, and finally settled in Texas, where he begins to rebuild his life. This paper explores not only Hoang's story, but the complicated history of many Southeast Asian refugees who escaped Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam after the American Wars in Southeast Asia.

Chosen Pamilya: Student-Based Retention Programming for Queer Pilipinx American College Students at UC Berkeley

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This paper is concerned with the experiences of LGBTQ Pilipinx American undergraduate leaders who are in charge of developing retention programs and resources for fellow queer Pilipinx American students at UC Berkeley. Using semi-structured interviews, this research draws upon the personal experiences of queer Pilipinx American undergraduate at UC Berkeley who been involved in student organizing and retention event planning. As descendants of immigrants, uprooted and diasporically displaced by centuries of colonial and imperial regimes, and as members of the pan-ethnic “Asian American” category, observing the existence of queer Filipinx Americans may allow us to further unpack and disaggregate underlooked AAPI experiences. Thus, I interrogate how queerness, gender, and sexuality inform the ways queer Pilipinx Americans navigate higher education, how the experiences they faced as queer subjects growing up, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in between, affected...

Tracing War Bride Legislation and the Racial Construction of Asian Immigrants

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Many historical studies of Asian immigration in the United States focus on the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965, since this Act led to a dramatic increase of Asian immigration and significantly revised former immigration policies. However, war bride legislation—laws governing the immigration of the foreign-born wives of American servicemen—represents an interesting area of political and legal analysis. Between the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act which established highly restrictive national-origin quotas and the 1965 INA, thousands of Asian women immigrated to the United States as war brides, unrestricted by quotas. Their immigration represents a complex period of history during which the category of “immigrant” was consistently revised, racialized, and expanded. My paper surveys the history of these Acts and Amendments and argues that this legislation aimed to replace the perpetual foreigner myth with a gendered and “colorblind” myth about immigrant spouses—a precursor...

Vietnamese America: On ‘Good Refugees’, Fake News, and Historical Amnesia

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Vietnamese Americans are at a crossroads: the rise of mainstream misinformation and pro-Trump sentiment in their communities is not a historical aberration, yet attempts to explain it draw exclusively upon the good refugee narrative and fail to interrogate the legacy of imperialism and liberalism that all Americans inherit.

The Model Minority Myth on Asian Americans and its Impact on Mental Health and the Clinical Setting

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The false perceptions from the "Model Minority Myth" mask the reality of the myth’s harm in obscuring racism that is seen through forms of microaggressions, lack of representation in American political leadership, and implementation of a racial hierarchy. As the model minority myth continues to be embodied, Asian Americans face generalizations that invalidate the individual experience. Although the myth of the model minority is perceived as a “positive” stereotype, the myth causes high mental health issues among Asian Americans and obscures the inaccessibility to healthcare services, especially in light of COVID-19. Because the myth has become ingrained in American society, a racial hierarchy continues to establish social norms that silence the voices of all minorities. In order to change the positive perceptions surrounding the myth, researchers and healthcare practitioners must be wary of the way in which stereotypes influence diagnoses as well as understand that culture...

The Path to Asian American Representation

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Asian Americans have made substantial progress from being seen as a foreign threat during times of high anti-Asian sentiment to their current image as legally recognized U.S. citizens that can vote and run for office; however, there still exists significant representation challenges created from electoral policies and politics that pose barriers between Asian Americans and elected office. This article will analyze the progress and struggle of Asian American political representation through a legal, political, and electoral lens and support solutions that break down these barriers to Asian American political power. Much of this discussion about obtaining Asian American political power requires familiarity with the racial stereotypes of Asian Americans such as the “perpetual foreigner” and the “model minority” stereotypes, since many voters often incorporate stereotypes into the evaluation of their candidates. Three strategies (multiracial campaign platforms, panethnic...

"Know History, Know Self:" Coming Home for Formerly Incarcerated Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

During the prison boom of the 1990s, the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) prison population in the U.S. exploded by 250 percent. Although they occupy a relatively small portion of the total prison population, AAPIs are one of the fastest-growing groups of incarcerated peoples nationwide. Yet, the experiences of this racial “Other” in the carceral system remain marginalized within the canonical studies of mass incarceration and Asian America. Using 20 in- depth interviews, this research seeks to understand how formerly incarcerated AAPIs experience reentry into their families and communities. Drawing upon carceral and critical refugee studies, I adopt the militarized refugee to reveal the ways in which the legacies of U.S. militarism and transpacific displacement constitute the conditions of reentry for formerly incarcerated AAPIs. I highlight three key aspects in their reentry that demonstrate the ongoing presence of militarism in their lives – living in...

Miss Saigon: The Asian Experience in the Perspective of the White Man

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000
Stuart Hall defines stereotyping as a way in which mediamakers separate and excludegroups of people, a hegemonic practice that works to maintain a social order (Hall, 1997). Theproducers and writers of the musical film Miss Saigon aim to show a tragic love story between aVietnamese woman and a white GI soldier during the Vietnam War; however, the mediamaker’snarrow perspective on the war causes the musical to feel limited in showing and understandingvarious experiences of Asian immigration. While mediamakers believe that Miss Saigonencourages Asian representation, by framing the immigrant experience through the perspectiveof white male producers, the musical film depicts Asians as exotic and inferior and createslasting stereotypes. This form of “othering” creates and maintains fixed differences between the“insiders” and “outsiders” as the experiences of minorities are told by people in positions ofpower.

Cultural Affiliation and Mental Health Disruptions of Second Generation Asian Americans in College

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The subject of mental health is something that is often stigmatized and overlooked in conversations, and this holds especially true for people of immigrant backgrounds coming from places and cultures in which mental health is a topic that is not discussed and has not been widely recognized and regularly treated in the mainstream, such as in many Asian cultures. In my research, through literary analysis and four qualitative interviews, I delve into how the cultural identity of Second Generation Asian Americans (SGAA) plays a role in their mental health states as well as in their mental health care as they go on their journey in higher education in pursuit of “the American Dream”. Without proper recognition, prioritization, and treatment of mental health issues and without ways to find the root of a problem and address it in order to find better ways to cope, 2nd generation immigrant youths are at large risk to fall into harmful cycles that can be detrimental and injurious to...

Bilingual Education for Asian Americans

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Since the 1960s, Asian American children often face unequal access to American schools as a result of their lack in English proficiency. Despite this recurring phenomenon, American schools continue to push for a primarily English education system. In my research, I searched the archives for information on race, language, and education in the United States, the experience of Asian Americans in an English based education system, and the emergence of limited English proficiency and bilingual education programs. Through my analysis, I argue that an English based education privileges English speaking Americans over non-English speaking minorities, and that American education should offer limited English proficiency and bilingual education programs for all non-English speaking children to level the educational playing field.

The Need for Asian American Data Disaggregation

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000
What would data disaggregation for Asian Americans look like, and why does it matter? Disaggregating the broad category of “Asian” or “Asian American” into subgroups which take national or ethnic origin into account can help to illuminate the disparities present between different Asian American communities. This would allow for a more accurate assessment of need and thus equitable resource allocation for historically disadvantaged groups, for instance Southeast Asian refugee populations such as the Lao, Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese. In this paper, I will discuss the concept of Asian American panethnicity and how it negatively impacts marginalized subgroups by perpetuating the “model minority” myth, masking the disparities revealed in disaggregated data on educational attainment, for example. I will then use Rhode Island’s 2016 “All Students Count Act” as a case study to explore the debate surrounding this issue, arguing that data disaggregation to substantiate the need for...

Conversations of Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression Among Iu-Mien High School Students and their Parents

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

There is a lack of research that focuses primarily on the Iu-Mien population in America. With the lack of scholarly work comes consequences in understanding the needs of these communities. Furthermore, the studies that were conducted on the Iu-Mien caters toward the first generation, many of whom had fled from the Secret War in Laos. The first generation who came to America faced difficulty in expressing mental health concerns due to linguistic barriers and a differing cultural understanding of mental health. This research seeks to explore whether Iu-Mien youth, or the second generation and the generations after, are able to have conversations of their symptoms of anxiety and depression with their parents when they learned English as their first language. It was found that despite speaking English as their first language, many of the respondents (n=13) still struggled to speak about their symptoms due to the fear of being judged and having different beliefs as their parents.

Determinants of Use For Traditional Medicinal Practices Within the Vietnamese American Community

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: This study aims to identify potential reasons Vietnamese Americans continue to use traditional medicine and explore the relationship between balancing Western care and traditional medicinal care. The study’s main hypothesis is that Vietnamese Americans partake in traditional medicinal practices due to five reasons: it is more accessible, there is a cultural significance to the practice, there is a credibility of traditional practices, participants are more comfortable with the practice, and it is more effective than Western medicine. Furthermore, this study hopes to categorize and understand what traditional medicinal practices are used for as supplemental information.
Methods: A digital Google survey was sent out to Vietnamese Americans based on personal connection and word-of-mouth. A sample of 107 responses were obtained within a two week collection period.
Results: Based on the responses, the results supported only part of the hypothesis in...

Examining the Limits of Filipinx Enrollment in Selective Postsecondary Public Institutions Within the U.S.: A study on the University of California, Berkeley

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

California's Filipinx population is one of its largest Asian American subgroups with an extensive history of socioeconomic accounts, although higher education in the state has shown a drastic lack of underrepresentation for Filipinx and Filipinx Americans. This study focuses on the University of California, Berkeley, a selective public institution, and the disparities in effectively reaching parity within admissions applications and enrollment rates among California's significant Filipinx population. According to 2019 data published by the University of California Infocenter, more than 87,000 high school students applied to Berkeley with a 16% admit rate. Filipinx/Filipinx Americans accounted for only 3,468 (3.9%) of Berkeley's applications with only 489 (14%) admitted. When we keep in mind that Filipinxs identify as the largest Asian American subgroup of California, we see a huge discrepancy in numbers. In this paper, I utilize a variety of different resources that encapsulate...

Multiethnic Asian American Identities in Asian American Spaces

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000
This paper seeks to address the ways in which multiethnic Asian American voices have been marginalized in Asian American spaces. I conducted interviews with three participants who self identify as multiethnic Asian Americans and discuss how language, phenotypic features, and family play a role in the multiethnic Asian American experience.

Making Korean-Canadian Representation Convenient: Remediating Kim’s Convenience from Stage to Screen

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This analysis of Kim’s Convenience as both a theatrical text and televised sitcom examines the growing trend in diverse representations of daily life in Western media, and the successes achieved by these multicultural media texts. By focusing on a Korean-Canadian immigrant family, Ins Choi seeks to normalize the experiences of the Asian diaspora in North America. In a time of growing Asian representation in the West, this paper advocates for increased presentation of these stories in the media.

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