From: ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Alan Hu)
Subject: Re: FAQ for soc.culture.asian.american
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 21:57:29 GMT

In article <1993Jan3.143900.22289@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> webihara@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Wataru Ebihara) writes:
>
>> Here's a somewhat revised version of the draft FAQ I posted two or three
>> weeks ago.  As before, comments and questions are welcome.
>> 
>> --
>> Frequently Asked Questions for soc.culture.asian.american
>
>Thanks for attempting this FAQ.  I have a few comments or possible
>modifications.
>
>> 1.  What's an Asian-American?
>
>I think it sounds a bit better to say "Who's an Asian American?"
>
>> An American of Asian ancestry (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani,
>> Korean, Vietnamese, etc.).
>> 
>> Immigrants are "first-generation"; their children are "second-generation";
>> their grandchildren are "third-generation"; etc.
>> 
>> There's often a big cultural difference between the first generation
>> (who grew up overseas) and the second and later generations (who grew
>> up in America).  Sometimes "Asian-American" is used to refer only to
>> the second and later generations.
>
>You might want to include more Asian ethnic groups just to make
>people more aware of the diversity of Asian Americans.  Also,
>I'm not sure if Pakistan is included in the defintion used in the
>U.S..  Does anyone know?  Also, the grouping is sometimes "Asian
>and Pacific Islander" American.

From the US Comission on Civil Rights report "Civil Rights Issues
Facing Asian Americans in the 1990s", Feb 1992, p. 1, footnote 4:
	Asian American groups considered in this report are persons
	having origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian
	subcontinent.  At times, the report also includes information
	about Pacific Islanders, but limited resources precluded a
	systematic investigation of the civil rights issues facing
	Pacific Islanders.
A class handout citing the US Census Bureau includes stats on Pakistani
Americans.  I think it's pretty clear.  In general, seems like Asian-American
political groups tend to draw broader boundaries, to widen their
constituencies, whereas culturally-based social groups tend to narrow
boundaries (e.g. "The Second-Generation Taiwanese-American Adult Children
of National Taiwan University Alumni Ski Club, Silicon Valley Chapter" :-))
to simplify social interaction.

>
>Also, I think we should include people who are of
>bi-racial/bi-cultural backgrounds.  They're included in the
>definition we use at Ohio State.

Definitely!  Explicitly mentioning them is especially important, IMHO,
since they are frequently excluded or ignored.
>
>The use of the "hyphen" is somewhat controversial.  I prefer to
>leave it out, since we don't want to be any less "American", but
>rather "Asian" is a modifier to "American".  But it's ok to use
>the hyphen when it's used to modify something else, like
>"Asian-American history, or Asian-American population, etc.."

I have a separate FAQ file on the hyphen issue, if people care.
But, yes, in this question of the FAQ, "Asian American" shouldn't be
hyphenated.
						--Alan Hu

>
>You might want to say something like...
>
>"Asian Americans are citizens or permanent residents of the
>United States (or North America, including Canada?) who have at
>least one parent of Asian decent.  Asians are a diverse group of
>Asian nationalities that include -- Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
>Indian, Filipino, Indonesian, Malaysian, Cambodian, Vietnamese,
>Singaporian, Thai, Laotian, and others."
>
>


Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american