The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.
Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.
Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.
I’ve written before about almost universal criticism against Japan’s continuing program of hunting whales in defiance of international conventions. However, as National Geographic points out, Japan is not the only country that continues to hunt whales.
Specifically, both Norway and Iceland hunt whales as well, in much the same way that Japan does — for commercial, not “scientific” reasons and in Read More →
In the realm of racial/ethnic relations, sociologists consistently observe that certain beliefs — let’s even call them stereotypes — can take on a life of their own and attain a level of “legitimacy” that defies logic and rational thinking.
In the context of the presidential campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain, one persistent belief/stereotype is that Obama is a Read More →
Regular readers to this blog may have noticed that I have not posted often as of late. As you might have guessed, it’s because I’m on vacation — visiting my parents and friends in southern California. As part of my trip, we also did the Disneyland thing the other day by going there with some friends and their families.
I received the following announcement from a reader who is looking to publicize his video project on Asian American interracial couples and about Asian Americans in the media. As always, links are provided for information only and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of its contents.
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Here are two 30 minute shows I have on YouTube (see link below). I Read More →
I received the following announcement from the well-respected Asia Society about a series of short videos they’ve produced on preferences for the upcoming presidential election among Asian policy leaders:
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At the Asia Society’s 36th Annual Williamsburg policy conference in Bali, Indonesia, key Asia-Pacific leaders were asked to discuss the US elections and to comment on their preferred candidate.
For most academics who study racial/ethnic relations, we almost exclusively focus on civilian society. But what are such relations like in the military? You might recall that the military was one of the first American institutions to desegregate, occurring in 1948 through Executive Order 9981.
To help us compare racial/ethnic relations in the military versus civilian life, as Newsweek magazine Read More →
In the past two days, two news items concerning Asian Americans and higher education have made national news. Regarding the first, as I’ve explained before when it comes to Asian Americans being portrayed as the “model minority,” this image may be intended as a compliment in some ways, but ultimately, such perceptions about universal Asian American success only serve to Read More →
As I’m sure all of you already know, last week Barack Obama officially secured the Democratic Party’s nomination to be the next President of the United States. As many commentators, journalists, and bloggers have been saying, his status as the first non-White Presidential nominee of a major political party is truly historic in many ways.
One of the knocks against academics and professors, especially those who study social inequality issues, is that we don’t do anything with our knowledge. That is, we conduct research and learn about the different ways people are treated unfairly and unjustly in American society, but beyond passing on this knowledge to students in the courses we teach, we don’t use Read More →
The explicit focus of this site and blog has been and continues to be on Asian Americans. Nonetheless, we should not ignore our counterparts up north — Asian Canadians, who share many things in common with us but who also have their own distinct histories and characteristics.
With that in mind, the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper has an article that compares Read More →
I received this announcement from Turner Classic Movies about a retrospective series in June about Asian stereotypes in Hollywood movies:
Turner Classic Movies presents “Race & Hollywood: Asian Images in Film”
This is a groundbreaking festival of 37 films examining the portrayal of Asians in classic movies. The festival is co-hosted by Robert Osborne (TCM’s primetime host) and Dr. Peter X Feng, an Read More →
Previously, I’ve written about the characteristics and attitudes of Muslim Americans and also about what other Americans think about Muslim Americans. To expand this theme ever more, the Christian Science Monitor reports on a new study by the Gallup Organization that illustrates what Muslims around the world think about the West in general:
When asked what they most admire about the Read More →
