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The American ideal of health, social, economic, and political reform is largely an oppressive force when confronting those that do not fit the typical traits of an American. In “Contagious Divides” by Nayan Shah, the public health reform is seen and most likely used as a way of governing the Asian American community and thus establishing its hegemonic place above these communities, as if the traditional values that many Asian American communities had were unhealthy and had to be changed in order to become more American.
The topic of assimilation continues with Zhou et al.’s “Rethinking Residential Assimilation”, as the ethnoburb of the San Gabriel Valley is in itself assimilating into American society, but because it is densely Chinese, it does not allow other ethnic groups to assimilate. It is an irony that mirrors the anti-assimilation sentiment Americans imposed on the newly-immigrated Chinese of days past.
Maram’s “Creating Masculinity” features one of the most successful ways of assimilating, creating a culture that gets adopted into American culture. However, this runs parallel to something like jazz introduced by African Americans, although it is emulated by white American culture, its founders are not given the respect for it- at least for a long time.
Having read Milton Murayama’s All I Asking for Is My Body, I understand the class war that was initiated by the white presence over the Filipinos and Japanese. For instance, the young main character, a Japanese, befriends an older boy from the Filipino camp. This friendship is not allowed only due to the camp from which he belongs. Ronald Takaki’s “Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii” examines the new culture that emerged in America’s new state at the time, Hawaii. The extralegal activities performed by these communities became a long-standing tradition that defines said community. In the process, however, the state of Hawaii also became defined as the home to this community and their agency.
The topic of assimilation continues with Zhou et al.’s “Rethinking Residential Assimilation”, as the ethnoburb of the San Gabriel Valley is in itself assimilating into American society, but because it is densely Chinese, it does not allow other ethnic groups to assimilate. It is an irony that mirrors the anti-assimilation sentiment Americans imposed on the newly-immigrated Chinese of days past.
Maram’s “Creating Masculinity” features one of the most successful ways of assimilating, creating a culture that gets adopted into American culture. However, this runs parallel to something like jazz introduced by African Americans, although it is emulated by white American culture, its founders are not given the respect for it- at least for a long time.
Having read Milton Murayama’s All I Asking for Is My Body, I understand the class war that was initiated by the white presence over the Filipinos and Japanese. For instance, the young main character, a Japanese, befriends an older boy from the Filipino camp. This friendship is not allowed only due to the camp from which he belongs. Ronald Takaki’s “Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii” examines the new culture that emerged in America’s new state at the time, Hawaii. The extralegal activities performed by these communities became a long-standing tradition that defines said community. In the process, however, the state of Hawaii also became defined as the home to this community and their agency.
