The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistence in the 1990s (Race and Resistance) [Paperback]

Karin Aguilar-San Juan (Editor), M. Annette Jaimes (Afterword), David Henry Hwang (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of 18 essays by activists and academics should provoke recognition that discussions of race in the U.S. must go beyond the binary black-white model. Glenn Omatsu contributes a valuable overview of Asian-American activism, dating it to the 1968 student strike at San Francisco State University. In a stimulating essay exploring the Los Angeles riots, Bong Hwan Kim notes that simply trying to foster dialogue between blacks and Koreans to solve racial tension is useless without an agenda for social transformation. Sonia Shah observes that Asian women's groups have yet to develop a specifically Asian feminism, though Asian women are victimized by highly particular stereotypes of dress, beauty and accent. Jessica Hagedorn and David Mura argue that their hybrid identities can be a source of richness. Addressing mainstream politics, Milyoung Cho traces political battles in New York City's Chinatown, warning that race-based voting can be self-defeating. Other essays address protests against the musical, Miss Saigon , domestic violence and the future of Asian-American studies. Aguilar-San Juan is a former editor at South End Press.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This second book in the "Race and Resistance" series is the first collection exclusively devoted to contemporary Asian American activism. It touches upon a range of pressing issues, including the rise in anti-Asian violence, the social construction of race and ethnicity, the politics of Asian American studies, and the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. The contributors reflect the diverse, often radical voices of labor organizers, artists, film critics, lawyers, writers, and historians. The themes covered here explore not only conventional topics of race and identity but also the empowerment of Asian Americans in the 1990s. The book further advocates an end to all forms of discrimination, from class and gender to geography and generation, within Asian American communities. For libraries with Asian American studies collections.
- Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: South End Press; 2nd edition (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896084760
• ISBN-13: 978-0896084766
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,277,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Much Needed Anthology about Acitivism in Asian America, June 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistence in the 1990s (Race and Resistance) (Paperback)

This was very much the first anthology that specifically addressed contemporary grass-roots orientated social movements of the Asian Pacific Islander American community. The essays are diverse and useful, allowing the reader a full picture of the issues that the APIA community have organized around. Glen Omatsu's essay is astounding clear, concise, and his ability to "tell it like it" is gives readers a true sense of what community-orientated leaders have to say. Not only does this anthology address struggles with other communities but also within the diverse APIA community itself. In a nut-shell, this anthology puts it all together.