racial formations & asian american identity
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Racial Formations & Asian American Identity. What does it mean to be Asian American?. r ace (n ) :. 1. a local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics 2. humanity as a whole - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Racial Formations & Asian American IdentityWhat does it mean to be Asian American?
race (n):1. a local geographic or global human population
distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics
2. humanity as a whole3. a group of people united or classified together on
the basis of common history, nationality or geographic distribution
race as a modern phenomenon Renaissance colonialism
solidification of the concepts of racial difference and hierarchy
Drawing on previous European encounters with Asia and Africa
Questioning of full humanity of natives of the Americas
Assumption of European proximity to divinity = racial superiority
race as biology? there are no scientific grounds to
prove that there are multiple human races with naturally different capacities; there is only one human race
if racial difference is not real in a scientific sense, then how come we associate certain races with certain characteristics that can come to justify how whole groups of people are treated? Biological determinism vs social
construction!
19th century graph comparing European and African skulls
race as a social concept
“Race is indeed a pre-eminently socio-historical concept. Racial categories
and the meaning of race are given concrete expressions by specific social relations and historical context in
which they are embedded. Racial meanings have varied tremendously over time and between different societies”
(Omi and Winant, 11)
External physical differenc
es
Power relations
in society
Race is constructed in society through relationships of power and privilege, and
power and privilege in society are made possible
through the construction of race.
racialization“We employ the term racialization to signify the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice or group. Racialization is an ideological process, an historically specific one. Racial ideology is constructed from pre-existing conceptual (or, if one prefers, discursive) elements and emerges from the struggles of competing political projects and ideas seeking to articulate similar elements differently” (14) What is an ideology? a systematic
body of concepts or ideas believed to truthfully explain how the world operates or should operate ex: capitalist versus communist
ideology
ideologyracial differenc
e
racial formations“The meaning of race is
defined and contested throughout society, in both
collective action and personal practice. In the process, racial categories themselves are formed,
transformed, destroyed and reformed. We use the term racial formation to refer to
the process by which social, economic and political forces determine the
content and importance of racial categories, and by
which they are in turn shaped by racial meanings.”
(12)
racial meaning
s
social, political, economic forces
Chattel Slavery
Post-EmancipationJim Crow
Post- Race Society?
Legacies of Civil Rights Movement
Tracking
Racial Formations
final pointsAccording to Omi and Winant: ideas of racial difference are not biologically
determined; they are social constructions these ideas of racial difference strengthen and are
strengthened by social, economic and political forces the feedback loop
race is an unstable formation that is constantly challenged but still has serious consequences on the lives of people who are racialized racial formations
race vs ethnicity = imposing of categories vs self-identification Ethnicity can be synonymous with culture
So what does it mean to Asian American then?
If nothing naturally or biologically determines who is an Asian American, then what does?
“it might properly be viewed as a means of achieving political integration. For some, this may simply be situational political mobilization” (Hing 32) A racial formation!
“A less flexible view of Asian American identity is dangerous” (Hing 32) Exclusivity, loss, & dominance
Asian American Racial Formations