Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities (Asian American History and Culture)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I had to read this text for an introductory Ethnic Studies course, and I was most impressed by the easy accessibility of her writing and the clear organization of her ideas.

Espiritu gives an excellent history of how racial lumping (passivity) is reconfigured and transformed into collective panethnic empowerment (activism) -- and how this affects the consciousness of a distinct Asian American identity in its ongoing struggle for rights, resources, and recognition in American society.

Highly recommended -- especially as a complement to her Asian American Men and Women. Incidentally, I had the good fortune to have Espiritu as a professor, and I would highly recommend any of her courses as well.

Rating:
Summary: Major source of Asian American panethnic information
Review: Yen Le Espiritu's book is probably the major source of research and theory dealing with Asian American panethnicity. While there are a few other researchers doing panethnicity work with other ethnic groups, this book remains the main source for those studying Asian Americans.

Her summaries of theories of ethnicity are very short and perhaps leave out a little too much. But, the book does a good job of giving the reader an introduction to some major theories in preparation for her ideas. Her main areas are politics, funding, census classifications and anti-Asian violence.

I appreciate this book a great deal in that it brings together some disparate pieces of information and puts it all in the context of panethnicity.