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.
You might recall that last year, a South Korean scientist was disgraced after he admitted that he fabricated some breakthrough stem cell research. As it turns out, that particular incident was only the beginning — as the Associated Press/Salon.com reports, there’s been a recent wave of scandals involving fabricated diplomas and other educational credentials among prominent South Koreans:
The historical rivalry between China and Japan has existed for centuries, perhaps even millennia, whether it relates to military power back in feudal times or political and economic superiority today in the 21st century. Now, as the Associated Press/Salon.com reports, their rivalry has literally been taken to a new level as both countries compete to launch space missions to the Read More →
You may have heard that President Bush recently tried to use the legacy of the Viet Nam to his advantage by saying that if the U.S. would have stayed in the Viet Nam War longer then it perhaps could have even won or at least prevented the rise of communist regimes such as the Khmer Rouge. Clearly this is his Read More →
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year or so, you know that China is all over the news lately. And almost all of that media and public attention has not been flattering. To add more fuel to the fire, the Washington Post has an article describing the controversy surrounding the upcoming memorial to Martin Luther Read More →
All around the Internet, the topic of interracial dating and marriage among Asian Americans is a hotly-debated topic. There are lots of strong opinions on both sides and discussions on blogs and message boards can get pretty hot rather quickly on this topic. Within this context, as a sociologist, I try to contribute valid and reliable research and data Read More →
As another interesting example of my recent focus on new forms of assimilation, in which Asian Americans increasingly combine elements of mainstream American society with their traditional ethnic culture in an transnational and globalized context, New American Media has an article about a new movie that includes this theme and connects Vietnamese with Vietnamese Americans:
In the movie, Cuong (Johnny Nguyen), a Read More →
A reader from KQED Public Broadcasting in San Francisco emailed me to let me know that their station has a regular reading series called “The Writers’ Block” that showcases writers and performers reading the latest short fiction, non-fiction, theater and poetry. A recent podcast features author Min Jin Lee reading from Free Food for Millionaires, a novel about a Read More →
As almost everyone knows by know, China has been in the news a lot recently, for many different reasons — unsafe goods imported into the U.S., continuing economic growth and competition with the U.S., and its upcoming hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympics, to name just a few. Not surprisingly, within this context, such issues involving China have become hot Read More →
The New York Times has an interesting article about the recently concluded Miss New York Chinese Beauty Pageant. The article illustrates on the individual level many of the sociological issues involved in the process of assimilation and community influences on one’s ethnic identity:
As one contestant put it, “The Chinese pageant is the perfect combination of East and West.†. . Read More →
Demographers tell us that it is an indisputable fact that American society is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. In fact, current projections state that if current patterns continue, somewhere around the year 2050, Whites will cease to be a numerical majority in this country — that for the first time since the Native American Indian population gave way to Read More →
As my article on Asian American Ethnic Communities and Enclaves describes, predominantly Asian neighborhoods in the U.S. referred to as Chinatown, Little Tokyo/Japantown, Koreatown, Little India, Little Saigon, and Filipinotown/Little Manila have been around for a long time and offer many benefits to not just the Asians and Asian Americans who live or work there, but also to surrounding non-Asian communities Read More →
One of the consistent themes of this particular blog is how elements of traditional Asian culture are increasingly becoming integrated into mainstream American culture. As New American Media report, the latest example of this is the increasing popularity of Vietnamese food around the country:
[W]hen my family arrived in America in 1975, when fish sauce wasn’t on any mainstream supermarket shelves. Read More →
