Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity and Ethnicity
The Asian American population of the United States has grown exponentially over the last couple of decades. Yet the state of scholarly and popular knowledge of the Asian American experience remains scandalously superficial--with facile old clichés still dominating the cultural imaginary. Drs. Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou do us all a great service by producing an interdisciplinary and comparative volume that is not only state-of-the-art social science but will push us to re-think basic ideas about the rich variety of experience and condition of a growing sector of the American mosaic.–Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, Steinhardt School of Education, New York UniversityThis lively and multifaceted collection of essays reintroduces the sociology of youth into the field of race-and-ethnicity; it sheds light on ethnic practices and institutions that have remained invisible in the study of (adult) immigrants; informs us about how the children of East and Southeast Asian immigrants are becoming Asian Americans.Asian American Youthis also a good read about a very active bunch of young people.–Herbert J. Gans, Columbia UniversityThe editors of this collection start from the paradox of presence/absence--Asian American students are the fastest growing ethnic group across many college campuses, and yet popular characterizations of young Asian Americans are so often off the mark, rendering Asian American youth cultures invisible. This book is an answer back to the paradox--and provides readers with a fuller view of the main currents of Asian American youth issues, cultures, and dilemmas.–Dana Y. Takagi, Co-Director, Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community, University of California, Santa Cruz