To highlight the continuing growth and vitality of Asian American Studies, the following is a list of recent journal articles and doctoral dissertations from scholars in the social sciences and humanities that focus on Asian Americans. As you can see, the diversity of research topics is a direct reflection of the dynamic and multidimensional nature of the Asian American population.

The academic journal articles are generally available in the libraries of most colleges and universities and/or through online research databases. The dissertation records are compiled by Dissertation Abstracts International. Copies of the dissertations can be obtained through your college’s library or by addressing your request to ProQuest, 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346. Telephone 800-521-3042, email: disspub@umi.com. As always, works included in this list are for informational purposes only and do not imply an endorsement of their contents.

Farrell, Chad R. and Barrett A. Lee. 2011. “Racial Diversity and Change in Metropolitan Neighborhoods.” Social Science Research 40:1108-1123.

• Abstract: This study investigates the changing racial diversity and structure of metropolitan neighborhoods. We consider three alternative perspectives about localized racial change: that neighborhoods are bifurcating along a white/nonwhite color line, fragmenting into homogeneous enclaves, or integrating white, black, Latino, and Asian residents into diverse residential environments. To assess hypotheses drawn from these perspectives, we develop a hybrid methodology (incorporating the entropy index and majority-rule criteria) that offers advantages over previous typological efforts.

  Our analysis of 1990–2000 census tract data for the 100 largest US metropolitan areas finds that most neighborhoods are becoming more diverse and that members of all groups have experienced increasing exposure to neighborhood diversity. However, white populations tend to diminish rapidly in the presence of multiple minority groups and there has been concomitant white growth in low-diversity neighborhoods. Latino population dynamics have emerged as a primary force driving neighborhood change in a multi-group context.

Reitz, Jeffrey G., Heather Zhang, and Naoko Hawkins. 2011. “Comparisons of the Success of Racial Minority Immigrant Offspring in the United States, Canada and Australia.” Social Science Research 40:1051-1066.

• Abstract: The educational, occupational and income success of the racial minority immigrant offspring is very similar for many immigrant origins groups in the United States, Canada and Australia. An analysis based on merged files of Current Population Surveys for the United States for the period 1995–2007, and the 2001 Censuses of Canada and Australia, and taking account of urban areas of immigrant settlement, reveals common patterns of high achievement for the Chinese and South Asian second generation, less for other Asian origins, and still less for those of Afro-Caribbean black origins.

  Relatively lower entry statuses for these immigrant groups in the US are eliminated for the second generation, indicating they experience stronger upward inter-generational mobility. As well, ‘segmented assimilation’ suggesting downward assimilation of Afro-Caribbean immigrants into an urban underclass in the US, also receives little support.

Robnetta, Belinda and Cynthia Feliciano. 2011. “Patterns of Racial-Ethnic Exclusion by Internet Daters.” Social Forces 89:807-828.

• Abstract: Using data from 6070 U.S. heterosexual internet dating profiles, this study examines how racial and gender exclusions are revealed in the preferences of black, Latino, Asian and white online daters. Consistent with social exchange and group positions theories, the study finds that whites are least open to out-dating and that, unlike blacks, Asians and Latinos have patterns of racial exclusion similar to those of whites.

  Like blacks, higher earning groups including Asian Indians, Middle Easterners and Asian men are highly excluded, suggesting that economic incorporation may not mirror acceptance in intimate settings. Finally, racial exclusion in dating is gendered; Asian males and black females are more highly excluded than their opposite-sex counterparts, suggesting that existing theories of race relations need to be expanded to account for gendered racial acceptance.

Haller, William, Alejandro Portes, and Scott M. Lynch. 2011. “Dreams Fulfilled, Dreams Shattered: Determinants of Segmented Assimilation in the Second Generation.” Social Forces 89:733-762.

• Abstract: We summarize prior theories on the adaptation process of the contemporary immigrant second generation as a prelude to presenting additive and interactive models showing the impact of family variables, school contexts and academic outcomes on the process. For this purpose, we regress indicators of educational and occupational achievement in early adulthood on predictors measured three and six years earlier. The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, used for the analysis, allows us to establish a clear temporal order among exogenous predictors and the two dependent variables.

  We also construct a Downward Assimilation Index, based on six indicators and regress it on the same set of predictors. Results confirm a pattern of segmented assimilation in the second generation, with a significant proportion of the sample experiencing downward assimilation. Predictors of the latter are the obverse of those of educational and occupational achievement. Significant interaction effects emerge between these predictors and early school contexts, defined by different class and racial compositions. Implications of these results for theory and policy are examined.

Tran, Nellie and Dina Birman. 2010. “Questioning the Model Minority: Studies of Asian American Academic Performance.” Asian American Journal of Psychology 1:106-118.

• Abstract: The current paper reviews literature on the academic performance of Asian Americans with a critical eye toward understanding the influence of discrimination on this process. Specifically, this study seeks to understand the extent to which researchers have gathered sufficient knowledge to dispel “conventional knowledge” of Asian Americans as model minorities. We questioned the extent to which studies explicitly measured student performance as a product of individual effort and Asian cultural influences, while simultaneously measuring the impact of exposure to discrimination.

  We present a review of studies on Asian American academic performance published 1990–2008. Our analysis suggests that social science research has continued to perpetuate the stereotype of Asian Americans as a “model minority.” The majority of the reviewed studies did not differentiate among Asian American ethnic and generational groups. These studies also tended to infer culture as an explanation for the high achievement of Asian Americans without examining the impact of sociopolitical factors, such as racial discrimination.

  In fact, many of the reviewed studies reported that Asian Americans were deficient relative to Whites on attributes thought to be related to culture (e.g., personality characteristics, parenting behaviors) while finding that they achieved academically at levels similar to or higher than Whites. Finally, the majority of these studies have not used culturally appropriate methods to test their hypotheses and research questions. Thus, we recommend that studies embrace emic/population-specific and sociopolitical (Sasao & Sue, 1993) approaches to understand and explore factors that contribute to academic achievement in this group.

Dissertation: Relation of Depression to Substance Use, Chronic Illnesses and Asian American and Pacific Islander Adults in Hawaii

Aczon-Armstrong, Marife Celebre (University of Hawai’i at Manoa)

• Abstract: Asian Americans (AA) are often portrayed as the model minority but it is also known that both AA and Pacific Islanders (PI) are least likely to seek help for mental disorders. Few studies have focused on AAPI, and even fewer have reported findings for each AAPI subgroup separately despite the unique characteristics of each subgroup. Using the aggregate group makes identifying actual differences in health and mental health of these subgroups difficult. As a result, little is known about the specific characteristics of APPI subgroups.

  To fill this gap in knowledge, the purpose of this study was to (a) identify the prevalence of current depression, substance use (smoking and alcohol use) and chronic illnesses (diabetes, cardiovascular disease and asthma) among AAPI adults in Hawaii; (b) determine if there are significant differences in the prevalence of current depression, substance use, and chronic illnesses between AA and PI adults in Hawaii, and (c) determine if there is a relationship between current depression, substance use, chronic illnesses and individual characteristics (such as age, gender, employment status, educational level, frequency of emotional support, life satisfaction and healthcare access) among AAPI adults in Hawaii.

  Using the 2008 data from Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (HBRFSS), significant differences in prevalence of current depression between AA and PI were found. PIs in Hawaii were two times more likely to have severe/moderately severe depression compared to AAs. The prevalence of moderate and mild depression, among AA and PI did not differ significantly. Several factors affect these prevalence rates. The results of the multiple logistic regression cumulative model indicated that smoking, chronic illness, gender, level of education completed, employment status, frequency of emotional support, life satisfaction, health care coverage and age were strongly associated with current depression.

Dissertation: Asian American Sexual Politics: The Construction of Race, Gender, and Sexuality

Chou, Rosalind Sue (Texas A&M University)

• Abstract: Why study Asian American sexual politics? There is a major lack of critical analysis of Asian Americans and their issues surrounding their place in the United States as racialized, gendered, and sexualized bodies. There are three key elements to my methodological approach for this project: standpoint epistemology, extended case method, and narrative analysis. In my research, fifty-five Asian American respondents detail how Asian American masculinity and femininity are constructed and how they operate in a racial hierarchy. These accounts will explicitly illuminate the gendered and sexualized racism faced by Asian Americans.

  The male respondents share experiences that highlight how “racial castration” occurs in the socialization of Asian American men. Asian American women are met with an exotification and Orientalization as sexual bodies. This gendering and sexualizing process plays a specific role in maintaining the racial status quo. There are short and long term consequences from the gendered and sexualized racist treatment. The intersected racial and gender identities of the respondents affect their self-image and self-esteem. For the women, femininity has been shaped specifically by their racial identity. “Orientalization” as a colonial concept plays a role in these racialized and gendered stereotypes of Asian American Women. The gendered and sexualized racialization process and “racial castration” has impacted Asian American men in a different way than their female counterparts. Violence is a prevalent theme in their gendered and racial formation.

  Asian American men begin as targets of violence and sometimes become perpetrators. I also analyze how romantic and sexual partners are chosen and examine the dynamics of Asian American intraracial and interracial relationships. While Asian American “success” as “model minorities” is challenging white supremacy, gender and sexuality become “regulating” forces to maintain both the racial and gendered order. Finally, I offer and discuss the resistance strategies against gender and racial hierarchy utilized by my respondents. Asian Americans must be creative in measures that they take for group and individual survival. Respondents resist in intimately personal ways against ideologies.

Dissertation: The Warrior Women of Transnational Cinema Gender and Race in Hollywood and Hong Kong Action Films

Funnell, Lisa (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada)

• Abstract: In The Warrior Women of Transnational Cinema, I consider the significance of transnational Asian action women in the post-1997 Hong Kong cinema; more specifically, I explore how Pan-Asian (e.g. Michelle Yeoh, Pei Pei Cheng, Ziyi Zhang), Asian American (Lucy Liu, Maggie Q, Marsha Yuen), and Asian Canadian (e.g. Francoise Yip, Charlene Choi, Kristy Yang) warrior women function as a source of transnational female identity for local, Pan-Asian (Le. East and Southeast Asian), and diasporic Asian audiences. I argue that the post-1997 Hong Kong cinema — and not Hollywood — has offered space for the development of Pan-Asian and Asian North American screen identities which challenge the racial stereotypes historically associated with the Asian female body in the West.

  In the new millennium, Hollywood has redefined its representation of transnational Asian action women by incorporating Hong Kong choreographers, action aesthetics, and/or female stars into its blockbusters. In these films, however, the representation of Pan-Asian and Asian North American action women caters to the tastes of American/Western audiences and relates American/Western ideals of gender, race, and heroism. Furthermore, I argue that Hollywood’s recent investment in Hong Kong and/or Mainland Chinese co-productions reflects America’s attempt to tap into the burgeoning Asian film market and wield significant political, economic, and social power particularly in Mainland China.

Dissertation: Performance of Japanese Americans on Selected Cognitive Instruments

Kemmotsu, Nobuko (University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University)

• Abstract: There is ample evidence that African Americans and Hispanic Americans demonstrate lower scores on widely used neurocognitive tests, compared to non-Hispanic Caucasians. However, there is a scarcity of empirical data for Asian Americans. This study aimed to examine cognitive test performance of one of the Asian American subgroups: Japanese Americans. Seventy-one Japanese Americans (JAs) and 71 Caucasian Americans (CAs), ages between 45-91, participated in the study. The Boston Naming Test-2 (BNT), San Diego Odor Identification Test (SDOIT), Controlled Oral Word Association test (COWA-FAS), category fluency test (Animal Fluency), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), California Odor Learning Test (COLT), and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) were administered. We collected data on levels of acculturation, quality of educational attainment (Wide Range Achievement Test-4 Reading and Math Computation subtests), bilingual status, and generation status in the U.S.

  There were no significant differences between the two ethnic groups on the battery of neuropsychological tests. However, the two groups showed somewhat different patterns in the associations between the test performance, and age and gender. JAs tended to show a stronger age-score relationship on the BNT, SDOIT, BVMT-R total recall, and COLT total recall. With regard to gender, JA men tended to score lower than JA women and than CA men on CVLT Trial 5. Additionally JA men tended to score lower than JA women on the CVLT Long Delay Cued Recall. When the raw scores of the JAs were converted into demographically corrected scores using the Caucasian norm, JAs had more measures that yielded larger “impairment” rate compared to theoretically driven rate (15.6%) compared to Caucasian Americans. The second-generation JAs showed a much larger proportion of “impaired” compared to the third-generations, on the BVMT-R Total Recall and BVMT-R Delayed Recall.

  The results indicated that some neuropsychological test results need to be interpreted with caution in the older JAs, at least until culturally appropriate norms become available. Future studies are needed to investigate if this pattern would persist in the succeeding generations, and in the descendants of the post-war immigrants from Japan.

To highlight the continuing growth and vitality of Asian American Studies, the following is a list of recent doctoral dissertation from scholars in the social sciences and humanities that focus on Asian Americans. As you can see, the diversity of research topics is a direct reflection of the dynamic and multidimensional nature of the Asian American population. Last but not least, congratulations to my new academic colleagues on being “Ph.inally D.one.”

The records are compiled by Dissertation Abstracts International. Copies of the dissertations can be obtained through your college’s library or by addressing your request to ProQuest, 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346. Telephone 800-521-3042, email: disspub@umi.com. As always, works included in this list are for informational purposes only and do not imply an endorsement of their contents.

We Will Not Be Moved: The Mobilization Against Southeast Asian American Detention and Deportation

Dao, Loan Thi (University of California, Berkeley)

• Abstract: This project will discuss how deportation policies affecting Southeast Asians has catapulted a new generation of community leaders into positions of power in Southeast Asian American communities. The mobilization efforts of three community organizations in particular — CAAAV/YLP, KGA, and PrYSM — have challenged the dominant discourse of Southeast Asian American youth through their organizing and have traced a map for the Asian American movement in the 21st Century. This dissertation examines the organizing efforts of these core organizations in the Southeast Asian Freedom Network from its inception in August 2002 until December 2004.

  How does the shift in leadership and orientation to a Southeast Asian American emphasis affect change and continuity in Asian American social movements in this new historical period? The analysis of the collective identities, tactics, strategies, and cultural productions of these organizations illuminates a nascent era in Asian American movement that continues to challenge dominant narratives about racialized immigrant and refugee urban youth. I argue that the anti-detention and anti-deportation work of the Southeast Asian Freedom Network demonstrates the trajectory of Asian American social movement for several reasons. The impact of a new demographic of Asian American leaders to the movement in general is in itself significant.

  Between 2002-2004, working-class, urban refugee 1.5 to 2nd generation youth took leadership on a national scale in the political framing, strategizing and actions of deportation practice and policymaking. The deportation issue galvanized the Asian American community and Southeast Asian American organizations into the realization that a critical mass of new leaders had equipped themselves to meet the challenges of their peers in light of a power vacuum during a time of collective crisis. This research points to three main shifts in Asian American movements: (1) The conceptualization of an Asian American Left political position that re-aligns “anti-communist” and radical left ideologies; (2) The redistribution of power in effecting social change from legal and service professionals to working-class community members directly affected and with it, grassroots organizing tactics and strategies; (3) New cross-sectional alliances beyond ethnicity speak to the complicated identity formation of this new generation.

Politics Out of Trauma: Asian American Literature and the Subject Formation of Asian America

Kase, Yasuko (State University of New York, Buffalo)

• Abstract: This dissertation unravels the complex relationships between trauma, politics, and the subject formation of Asian America in order to challenge the assumption that the subject’s experiences define the political grounds of representation. The category of Asian American, which was contrived during the civil rights movement, has never produced the homogeneous identity of Asian America as the cultural nationalists imagined. Asian America has repeatedly negotiated both its discrepancy from and interpellation into hegemonic (White) America.

  Traumatic events such as the Philippine-American War, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Los Angeles civil unrest in 1992, and 9/11 have altered the formations of nationhood that redefine the relations among Asia, the U.S., and Asian America. Writers such as Japanese Americans John Okada, Perry Miyake, and Karen Tei Yamashita, Filipino American Jessica Hagedorn, Korean American Nora Okja Keller, and Vietnamese Americans Lan Cao and le thi dien thuy directly or indirectly deal with these historical traumas. These writers’ texts challenge the homogeneous U.S. official memory of the traumatic events through their rewritings.

  This dissertation argues that trauma does not bring a crisis for minority politics by simply destroying the subject. Rather, it offers a dynamic chance to problematize the foundations of politics itself, which has naturalized a uniform subject as the enunciating site for political representation

With and Without the White Coat: The Racialization of Southern California’s Indian Physicians

Murti, Lata (University of Southern California)

• Abstract: This study examines the role of occupational status in the racialization of Indian physicians in Southern California. Since the liberalization of U.S. immigration policy in 1965, the number of first and second-generation Indian doctors in the U.S. has grown to nearly seven percent of the nation’s physician workforce; however, Indians constitute less than one percent of the total U.S. population.

  Overrepresented in one of America’s most prestigious professions, Indians are more visible in U.S. medicine than in the U.S. at large. Previous scholarship in immigration research, Asian American Studies, and the sociology of occupations has paid little attention to these professional non-white immigrants and their racial experience in the U.S. Asian American Studies in particular has focused primarily on the racial-ethnic identity formation of economically disadvantaged non-white groups, under the assumption that professional Asian Americans’ class status and occupations in the sciences effectively shield them from racist harm and preclude their engagement in racial politics. This research shows that Indian doctors’ high occupational status and class privilege provide them only partial, situational protection from racism. They have what I call occupational citizenship — access to most of the same rights and privileges as whites only when perceived as being both professionally successful and economically beneficial to the U.S.

  They are clearly marked as occupational citizens during clinical interactions with patients, when they are in the white coat. But outside of this context, they are subject to racist treatment from colleagues, staff, health care institutions, and the general public. The particular forms of racism these doctors face, as well as how they interpret this racism, have as much to do with their gender, immigrant generation, and perception of others’ race and class, as with their own professional class status. These findings are based on fifty-two interviews with first and second generation Indian doctors in Southern California as well as participant observation at the monthly meetings of two regional Indian medical associations. I also observed seven Indian doctors at work, noting their interactions with patients, staff, and colleagues. Southern California represents an ideal case for understanding the racial formation of Indian physicians in the U.S. because of its large but dispersed population of established Indian physicians, and its overall diversity of race, ethnicity, and class.

Implicit and Explicit Racial Attitudes: Moderation of Racial Typicality Evaluations

Stepanova, Elena V. (Washington University in St. Louis)

• Abstract: Previous research has shown that racial images representing more typical Afrocentric phenotypic characteristics result in more negative evaluations, whether assessed by explicit or implicit attitudes measures. However, the factors that define and moderate the perception of racial typicality have not been sufficiently explored. The current research investigated additive and interactive influences of skin tone and facial physiognomy on racial typicality evaluations, as well as the degree to which those effects were moderated by explicit and implicit racial attitudes, ethnicity of participants, and availability of cognitive resources.

  Using a 6-point scale ranging from very African American to very Caucasian, participants ( N = 250) judged faces varying on 10 levels of facial physiognomy (from very Afrocentric to very Eurocentric) and 10 levels of skin color (from very dark to very light). Additionally, time constraints were manipulated by having participants complete the racial typicality judgments three times–without a response deadline, with a deadline equal to their median response during the no-deadline condition, and with a deadline equal to their 25th percentile response during the no-deadline condition. Skin color and facial physiognomy interacted to influence racial typicality ratings, and this interaction was further qualified by the time constraint manipulation.

  Under time constraints, participants primarily relied on skin color when rating faces of extreme levels of facial physiognomy, whereas they relied on both skin color and facial physiognomy when rating faces of intermediate levels of facial physiognomy. Other results indicated that the relationship between skin color and participants’ ratings of racial typicality was stronger for those with higher implicit racial attitudes. European American and Asian American participants relied upon skin color more than African American participants, and African American participants relied upon facial physiognomy more than European American and Asian American participants. Conceptual, methodological and practical implications for race-relevant decisions are discussed.

Below is an announcement about a research project and online survey in need of Asian American respondents. As always, this announcement is provided for informational purposes only and does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the research project.

I am a Sri Lankan American mom and a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology at Adelphi University, doing a short online research survey on South Asian moms in the US. My research has been approved by the IRB at Adelphi.

Hello fellow South Asian moms:

This is Yas Alahendra, Sri Lankan mom and clinical psychology graduate student at Adelphi University, asking you to please take a little time to participate in my survey about how immigration, race, individualism, and group affiliation affect married moms’ feeling equal and happy in their marriages.

If you complete the survey, you will have contributed to psychological knowledge about motherhood. Also, you will have my many thanks for helping me finish my long Ph.D. journey as well as a chance to win one of several Barnes and Noble gift cards. To participate, you must be: married, have at least one child under 18 living at home with you, and be either:

1. a US- residing, US-born Caucasian woman OR
2. a US-residing South Asian woman who was US-born or an immigrant.

For the purposes of this study, I am defining South Asian as having Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani or Sri Lankan heritage. The study takes about 15 minutes to complete and can be reached by clicking this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/momsurvey1

Thank you very much,
Yas Alahendra, M.A.
yalahendra@yahoo.com

Below is an announcement about a research project and online survey in need of Asian American respondents. As always, this announcement is provided for informational purposes only and does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the research project.

Participants Needed for Study on Biracial Adults of Chinese and White Backgrounds

• Are you 18 years of age or older?
• Are you biracial with a Chinese or Chinese American parent and a White European parent?
• Were you born in the U.S.?
• Would you like to take part in a raffle for 10 Amazon gift cards of $35?

I am a graduate student in clinical psychology and I am currently conducting a study on ethnic identity. For more information and to participate in the study, please visit one of the following websites:

https://www.psychdata.com/s.asp?SID=135507 or www.psychdata.com and type “135507” for the survey # (in the top right corner).

Thank you,
Meilin Mehri, M.A.
Doctoral Candidate
The Wright Institute
Berkeley, CA

To highlight the continuing growth and vitality of Asian American Studies, the following is a list of recent doctoral dissertation from scholars in the social sciences and humanities that focus on Asian Americans. As you can see, the diversity of research topics is a direct reflection of the dynamic and multidimensional nature of the Asian American population. Last but not least, congratulations to my new academic colleagues on being “Ph.inally D.one.”

The records are compiled by Dissertation Abstracts International. Copies of the dissertations can be obtained through your college’s library or by addressing your request to ProQuest, 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346. Telephone 800-521-3042, email: disspub@umi.com. As always, works included in this list are for informational purposes only and do not imply an endorsement of their contents.

• “U.S. Korean Youth’s Ideas and Experience of U.S. Education, U.S. Society, and U.S. History”
  An, Sohyun (University of Wisconsin – Madison)
• “Sharuk and Shylock: The Creation of a South Asian American Aesthetic”
  Bose, Neilesh (University of North Texas)
• “East Asian American Educational Pursuits: Examining Effects of Racial Barriers and Cultural Factors for College Students”
  Chen, Yung-Lung (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee)
• “Episodes in the Life of a Place: Regional Racial Formation in Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Valley”
  Cheng, Wendy Hsin (University of Southern California)
• “The Experiences of Marriage and Family Therapists of Asian Descent and Their Perception of the Practice and Profession”
  Chou, Liang-Ying (Syracuse University)
• “A Study of Success Characteristics of East Asian American Executives in Corporate America”
  Coleman, BaoKim N. (Pepperdine University)
• “‘Funny Asians’: Comedy and Humor in Asian American Literature, Film, and Popular Culture”
  Hong, Caroline Kyung (University of California, Santa Barbara)
• “Identity Integration and Intergroup Bias in the Communication Behavior of Asian Americans”
  Hsu, Ling-Hui (University of Texas at Austin)
• “South Asian American Youth Negotiate Ethnic Identities, Discrimination, and Social Class”
  John, Jaicy M. (City University of New York)
• “Contextual Factors and Interest-Occupation Congruence in South Asian Americans’ Vocational Development”
  Kantamneni, Neeta (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee)
• “Cultural Influences on South Asian American Relationships”
  Kapadia, Malika (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
• “Socialization and Agency of Asian American Doctoral Students in Education: A Grounded Theory Study”
  Kim, Jessica K. (University of Pennsylvania)
• “Understanding How Identity Supportive Games Can Impact Ethnic Minority Possible Selves and Learning: A Design-Based Research Study”
  Lee, Joey J. (Pennsylvania State University)
• “The Career Adjustment of Asian American Males: Perceptions and Reflections of a Glass Ceiling in Corporate Finance”
  Li-Liang, Robin (Fordham University)
• “Gender, Heterosexuality, Sexual Violence and Identity Among Heavy-Drinking White and Asian American College Students”
  Luke, Katherine Pavelka (University of Michigan)
• “Development of the Preliminary East Asian Relationship Norm Scale: Factor Analysis, Reliability, and Validity”
  Park, Yong Sue (University of California, Santa Barbara)
• “Parental Influences on Friendships of Low-Income Ethnically Diverse Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent Perspectives”
  Mukherjee, Preetika (New York University)
• “Opinion Leadership for Ethnic Products Among Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans”
  Richard, Levi (Alliant International University, San Diego)
• “The Immigration Generation: Nativity and the Political Socialization of Filipino and Vietnamese Americans”
  Segui, Alan Serrano (University of California, Santa Barbara)
• “Help-Seeking Values and Attitudes of Indian-Born and American-Born Asian Indians in the United States”
  Shah, Sejal M. (California Institute of Integral Studies)
• “Cultural Influences on Relationships and Well-Being: An Exploratory Study with South Asian American Adults”
  Sobhan, Sabera (University of Houston)
• “Challenges and Privileges, Entanglement and Appropriation: Rhetorical Practices of Asian Americans from Hawai’i”
  Tasaka, Robyn (Michigan State University)
• “Beyond the Railroad People: Race and the Color of History in Chinese America”
  Thompson, Wendy Marie (University of Maryland, College Park)
• “Like White on Rice: Asianness, Whiteness, and Identity”
  Wong Lowe, Anna (University of Oklahoma)
• “Grandparent Perspectives on Raising Their Grandchildren: Protection, Obligation, and Sense of Loss”
  Wooten Thomas, Clara (La Sierra University)
• “An Exploration of Multidimensional Perfectionism, Academic Self-Efficacy, Procrastination Frequency, and Asian American Cultural Values in Asian American University Students”
  Yao, Melissa P. (Ohio State University)
• “East Asian-American College Students’ Attitudes about and Interactions with African Americans”
  Yee, Nicole S. (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

Below is an announcement about a research project and online survey in need of Asian American respondents.

Participants Needed for Study on Sexual Coercion

My name is Krista Hansen and I am a currently enrolled in Florida Institute of Technology’s Psy.D graduate program. I am working on my Doctoral Research Project and am conducting a study in which I am replicating the construction of a new research tool designed to measure sexual coercion. Currently there is no research instrument which solely addresses sexual coercion, perhaps because of the unique and subtle nature of this specific type of sexual experience. I am specifically interested in determining the generalizability of this new measure across Asian American subjects.

It is hoped that through this research this new measure can be validated furthering the research devoted to this area. I am specifically aiming my study towards Asian American participants because of the unique protective and risk factors found within this collectivistic culture. I am hoping that my research can later lead to the implementation of specific interventions aimed to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors of sexual coercion which could hopefully lead to reduced rates of sexual coercion within the Asian American population and worldwide.

I am hoping that your organization will help me in my research, specifically by making the survey link available to your members who are above the age of 18 and who self identify as Asian American. If you fit this criteria and are interested in helping my research please visit my survey site, http://scs.questionpro.com/.

This survey will not take long to complete and the information gathered will hopefully lead to advancements in our understanding of sexual coercion and could perhaps someday lead to interventions that could reduce rates of sexual coercion worldwide. Your confidentiality and safety is of utmost concern and any information obtained through this survey that could identify you will be kept strictly confidential. My study has been approved by my schools Institutional Review Board and my IRB number is 10-022.

Thank you in advance!

Respectfully,
Krista Hansen, M.S.
hansenk@fit.edu

Below is an announcement about a research project and online survey in need of Asian American respondents.

Participants Needed for Study on Biracial Asian-White Family Relationships

I am writing to you from Loyola Marymount University where I am an honors student in the Psychology Department. I am currently working with Dr. Adam Fingerhut on an online survey study about Asian/White biracial individuals. The study has been approved by LMU’s Institutional Review Board (LMU IRB # 2009 F-42).

I am trying to recruit a large sample of Asian/Caucasian biracial individuals for a study on family relationships. Those who participate in this study will be entered into a lottery to win one of 10 $20 iTunes gift cards. To participate, or to learn more about the research, please visit:

www.biracialstudy.com

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Allison McFarland at amcfarla@lion.lmu.edu, or Adam Fingerhut, Ph.D. at afingerh@LMU.edu, 310-258-8637.

Thanks!
Allison McFarland

Below is an announcement about a research project and online survey in need of Asian American respondents.

Seeking Volunteers for Online Survey Study

My name is Nellie Tran, and I am a psychology doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I am conducting a study to understand experiences of discrimination, racial consciousness, and their effects on their mental health for Asian Americans. Your voice and experiences could contribute greatly to an understanding the experiences of different racial/ethnic groups and those of different generational statuses. If you are interested in completing the survey, please access the survey at the following link.

http://survey.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_emsZjJxJJSZuBhy&SVID=Prod

Participation in this survey is voluntary and open to all individuals. The survey will take about 20-25 minutes to complete. You will be asked for an email address at the end of the survey in order to be entered into a random drawing for one $50 Amazon.com Gift Card. This research has been reviewed and approved by the University of Illinois at Chicago Institutional Review Board. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the information below. Thank you so much!

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Nellie Tran, M.A.
Doctoral Candidate, Psychology
University of Illinois at Chicago
Ntran2@uic.edu

Below are two announcements about online surveys in need of Asian American respondents.

Our names are Mindy Markham, Jessica Troilo, Marilyn Coleman, and Lawrence Ganong and we are graduate students and faculty members at the University of Missouri – Columbia. We are inviting you to participate in a research study about how mothers and fathers with different marital statuses are viewed. Participation is voluntary and completely confidential.

The survey is available online and can be accessed at any time that is convenient for you. We would appreciate it if you would take the time to answer this survey in the next two weeks.

If you are uncomfortable with online technology or are experiencing technological difficulties, we would be happy to assist you at any time by talking you through the process. If you have any questions or concerns at any point, please contact us directly by e-mail, umcheshdfs@missouri.edu

Thank you for your participation,
Mindy Markham, M.S.
Jessica Troilo, M.S.
Marilyn Coleman, Ed.D.
Lawrence Ganong, Ph.D.

University of Missouri Institutional Review Board Approval #1061098

The University of Memphis’ Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Research Team is conducting a GLBT-affirmative study on Same-Sex Parenting, and we are looking for participants. The purpose of this study is to learn about the experiences of same-sex parents in relationship to legal parenting rights. We believe this research is important in advocating for parents to be fully recognized in their family role and to not be discriminated against in family concerns.

Participants must be 18 years or older, currently be in a relationship with the same-sex partner with whom they have planned and created a family, and have at least one child under the age of 18 living in their home. The study should take approximately 20 minutes to complete online and meets human subjects approval by our university Institutional Review Board (E10-43).

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jVp53YOXI6tNs1dgubIk_2bg_3d_3d

If you wish to see our past work, please read about our research on the effects of anti-GLBT amendments on GLBT individuals and their families, which is available on the American Psychological Association’s website. An overview of our research areas can be found on our school webpage.

Thank you for your consideration in supporting our advocacy for same-sex parents and their families.

Sharon G. Horne, Ph.D. & Heidi Levitt, Ph.D., Directors
GLBT Research Team
Counseling, Educational Psychology & Research
The University of Memphis
glbtresearch.uofm@gmail.com

As part of this blog’s mission of making academic research and data more easily accessible, understandable, and applicable to a wider audience and to practical, everyday social issues, I highlight new sociological books about Asian Americans and other racial/ethnic groups as I hear about them.

The following two books connect history with the emerging 21st century from the point of view of African American and indigenous groups, respectively.

The End of White World Supremacy: Black Internationalism and the Problem of the Color Line, by Rod Bush (Temple University Press)

The End of White World Supremacy explores a complex issue— integration of Blacks into White America—from multiple perspectives: within the United States, globally, and in the context of movements for social justice. Roderick Bush locates himself within a tradition of African American activism that goes back at least to W.E.B. Du Bois. In so doing, he communicates between two literatures—worldsystems analysis and radical Black social movement history—and sustains the dialogue throughout the book.

Bush explains how racial troubles in the U.S. are symptomatic of the troubled relationship between the white and dark worlds globally. Beginning with an account of white European dominance leading to capitalist dominance by White America, The End of White World Supremacy ultimately wonders whether, as Myrdal argued in the 1940s, the American creed can provide a pathway to break this historical conundrum and give birth to international social justice.

Indigenous Peoples and Globalization: Resistance and Revitalization, by Thomas Hall and James Fenelon (Paradigm Publishers)

The issues native peoples face intensify with globalization. Through case studies from around the world, Hall and Fenelon demonstrate how indigenous peoples? movements can only be understood by linking highly localized processes with larger global and historical forces.

The authors show that indigenous peoples have been resisting and adapting to encounters with states for millennia. Unlike other anti-globalization activists, indigenous peoples primarily seek autonomy and the right to determine their own processes of adaptation and change, especially in relationship to their origin lands and community. The authors link their analyses to current understandings of the evolution of globalization.

As our world becomes increasingly globalized and interconnected in the 21st century, what happens in one country is more likely than ever to affect what happens in other countries. The global recession that started here in the U.S. is direct proof of that. But in addition to political and economic matters, globalization also involves the diffusion of culture, attitudes, and beliefs from one country to another.

Within this context, it’s in everybody’s interests — particularly for Americans — to understand what citizens from people of different countries around the world feel about various global issues. To help in that process, the well-respected Pew Research Groups has released an interactive compilation of their Global Attitudes Project Key Indicators Database that compares international attitudes on a variety of issues:

This interactive database allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes toward the U.S. to people’s assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization, extremism and other important issues.

Data can be searched by question, by topic or by country – and results can be displayed in map, table or chart formats. The findings are from eight surveys conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project from 2002-2009 among a total of more than 200,000 respondents.

Perhaps the most telling result whether citizens around the world have a favorable or unfavorable attitude overall towards the U.S. As shown below, the results show some wide fluctuations between countries and in some cases, within the same country across time (click on the graphic below to see a full-size version):

For example, European countries such as Britain, France, and Germany had high favorable attitudes of the U.S. in 2002, then declined roughly 50% in just a couple of years, then have rebounded to even higher levels in 2009 with the election of President Obama.

On the flip side, three of the U.S.’s key allies — Japan, Pakistan, and Russia — experienced a slight decline in favorable attitudes toward the U.S. between 2007/2008 and 2009 (some of which probably relates to the U.S. plunging the world into a global recession).

So what’s the take-home message here? These particular results (of course, there are many others to peruse) go to show that international attitudes can change rather quickly and can be influenced by a wide variety of reasons.

As part of this blog’s mission of making academic research and data more easily accessible, understandable, and applicable to a wider audience and to practical, everyday social issues, I highlight new sociological books about Asian Americans and other racial/ethnic groups as I hear about them.

This time, I mention three books that focus on the issue of White privilege, an emotional but often misunderstood issue, particularly as it relates to White Americans, many (i.e., a large number but not all) of whom feel that when the topic is mentioned, they are being personally accused of being racist. As the following books describe in detail, it’s much more complicated than that and in fact, White privilege is rooted at the institutional level.

The White Racial Frame: Centuries of Racial Framing and Counter-Framing, by Joe Feagin (Routledge)

In this book Joe R. Feagin extends the systemic racism framework in previous Routledge books by developing an innovative new concept, the white racial frame. Now four centuries-old, this white racial frame encompasses not only the stereotyping, bigotry, and racist ideology accented in other theories of “race,” but also the visual images, array of emotions, sounds of language, interlinking interpretations, and inclinations to discriminate that are still central to the frame’s everyday operation.

Deeply embedded in American minds and institutions, this white racial frame has for centuries functioned as a broad worldview, one essential to the routine legitimation, scripting, and maintenance of systemic racism in the United States. Here Feagin examines how and why this white racial frame emerged in North America, how and why it has evolved socially over time, which racial groups are framed within it, how it has operated in the past and in the present for both white Americans and Americans of color, and how the latter have long responded with strategies of resistance that include enduring counter-frames.

Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama, by Tim Wise (City Lights Publishers)

Wise, a white anti-racism activist and scholar (and author of White Like Me), pushes plenty of buttons in this methodical breakdown of racism’s place in the wake of Barack Obama’s victory. In the first of two essays, the author obliterates the canard of the US as a post-racial society; bigotry and institutionalized discrimination, he contends, have simply morphed into “Racism 2.0,” in which successful minorities are celebrated “as having ‘transcended’ their blackness in some way.”

While racial disparities in employment and income, housing, education and other areas persist, Obama has become an amiable sitcom dad like Bill Cosby, putting whites at ease by speaking, looking and acting “a certain way”-not to mention avoiding discussion of race. In his second, more incendiary essay, Wise concludes that whites must take responsibility for racism.

What the majority of whites fail to grasp, he says, is that they continue to benefit from a system of “entrenched privileges” centuries in the making, and that racism remains a serious obstacle for millions of African Americans. There’s no sugar coating here for whites, nor are there any news flashes for Americans of color, but Wise bravely enumerates the unpalatable truths of a nation still struggling to understand its legacy of racist oppression.

Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide, by Barbara Trepagnier (Paradigm Publishers)

Vivid and engaging, Silent Racism persuasively demonstrates that silent racism – racism by people who classify themselves as not racist – is instrumental in the production of institutional racism. Trepagnier argues that heightened race awareness is more important in changing racial inequality than judging whether individuals are racist. The collective voices and confessions of non-racist; white women heard in this book help reveal that all individuals harbor some racist thoughts and feelings.

Trepagnier uses vivid focus group interviews to argue that the oppositional categories of racist/not racist are outdated. The oppositional categories should be replaced in contemporary thought with a continuum model that more accurately portrays today’s racial reality in the United States. A shift to a continuum model can raise the race awareness of well-meaning white people and improve race relations. Offering a fresh approach, Silent Racism is an essential resource for teaching and thinking about racism in the twenty-first century.

White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism, by Paula S. Rothenberg (Worth Publishers)

Studies of racism often focus on its devastating effects on the victims of prejudice. But no discussion of race is complete without exploring the other side—the ways in which some people or groups actually benefit, deliberately or inadvertently, from racial bias. This is the subject of Paula Rothenberg’s groundbreaking anthology, White Privilege.

The new edition of White Privilege once again challenges readers to explore ideas for using the power and the concept of white privilege to help combat racism in their own lives, and includes key essays and articles by Peggy McIntosh, Richard Dyer, bell hooks, Robert Jensen, Allan G. Johnson, and others. Three additional essays add new levels of complexity to our understanding of the paradoxical nature of white privilege and the politics and economics that lie behind the social construction of whiteness, making this edition an even better choice for educators.

Brief, inexpensive, and easily integrated with other texts, this interdisciplinary collection of commonsense, non-rhetorical readings lets educators incorporate discussions of whiteness and white privilege into a variety of disciplines, including sociology, English composition, psychology, social work, women’s studies, political science, and American studies.