ASIA AM 20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Panethnicity, Model Minority, Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother
8 Jun 2018
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Department
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Professor
Panethnicity, “Model Minority”, and Brain Drain
● How did Asian Americans go from “Yellow Peril” to “Model Minority?
● What do Asian Americans think about the model minority concept?
● Yellow Peril
○ Racist color metaphor for Asians; zenophobic term for the influx of Asians,
portraying them as this yellow hoarde of people coming in and encroaching
○ Fu Manchu stereotype:
■ “The Insidious Doctor”, the embodiment of the sneaky Asian that will trick
and cheat you; linked to ideas of immorality, filth, sneakyness
○ Kamikaze stereotype:
■ Another negative stereotype
○ Loyal Sidekick
■ Sexless (never getting the girl), assisting the white man, feminine,
buffoon…
■ Basically, not really any positive portrayal of Asians until until Bruce Lee
comes along
● Stereotypes of both sexes of Asians: shows that there are monoliths esp. Gender
monoliths, classifying all Asian Americans into certain groups under certain stereotypes
○ Idea that the Asian American community is a monolithy is FALSE!
○ Characteristics of Asian men: either hypermasculine (kung fu/yakuza) or
asexual/androgynous (passive roles)
■ Stoic Kung fu masters (wise old man character)
■ Chinese medicine healers
■ Good at math, computer nerds, geeks (gamers, etc)
■ Weak, unmasculine (smart, witty, but physically weak)
■ Socially awkwar, passive, sexless
■ Small genitalia (or even racially castrated)
■ Secondary supporting character
○ Characteristics of Asian women
■ “Dragon Lady” or “tiger mom”
■ Exotic temptresses (fetishized and hypersexualized)
■ Submissive, docile, “oriental” women
■ Bad drivers
■ Good cooks
■ Secondary supporting character
● Asian American Panethnicity
○ Coined by Yen Le Espiritu (1992)
○ Asian America was a particular group that was not officially formed until coming
to the US, a political idea that emerged out of an Asian American coalition: giving
a group a name to unionize them for political strength (larger voice)
■ “Self determination”: image of self created by self and society
Document Summary
Racist color metaphor for asians; zenophobic term for the influx of asians, portraying them as this yellow hoarde of people coming in and encroaching. The insidious doctor , the embodiment of the sneaky asian that will trick and cheat you; linked to ideas of immorality, filth, sneakyness. Sexless (never getting the girl), assisting the white man, feminine, buffoon . Basically, not really any positive portrayal of asians until until bruce lee comes along. Stereotypes of both sexes of asians: shows that there are monoliths esp. Gender monoliths, classifying all asian americans into certain groups under certain stereotypes. Idea that the asian american community is a monolithy is false! Characteristics of asian men: either hypermasculine (kung fu/yakuza) or asexual/androgynous (passive roles) Stoic kung fu masters (wise old man character) Good at math, computer nerds, geeks (gamers, etc) Weak, unmasculine (smart, witty, but physically weak) Self determination : image of self created by self and society.
