Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?: The Asian Ethnic Experience Today

by Mia Tuan

Book Overview

What does it mean to be an Asian-American in the United States today? Are Asian-Americans considered "honorary whites" or forever thought of as "foreigners?"

Mia Tuan examines the salience and meaning of ethnicity for later generation Chinese- and Japanese-Americans, and asks how their concepts of ethnicity differ from that of white ethnic Americans. She interviewed 95 middle-class Chinese and Japanese Californians and analyzes the importance...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813526248
• ISBN13: 9780813526249
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

forever foreigner > honorary white

as a forever foreigner born in this country, i could identify with a lot of the stuff in the book and i liked it a lot. It would be great if she writes another book with the same debate since the make-up of Asian Americans changed quite a bit (at least the ethnic ratio). Majority of her respondents are post-WWII generation Chinese and Japanese Americans in Cali area so their experiences are kind of different from what the younger generation and Asian Americans from other ethnic origins would go through nowadays. for example, most young Asian Americans in college now are not likely identify with the psychological damages of internment. if she comes up with another book, I'll probably buy it.

Makes me wonder.

It was a very interesting read. In terms of society and personal experiences with Asians, I can say that I have normally assumed that they are foreigners. Though, now thinking back on the relationships and encounters that I have had with Asians, I now realize how incorrect that assumption was. While the previous poster would be happy in being wrong 34% of the time, I don't see that as an option (using that example, it would say that most of us would have been content earning a D average all through grade school). They clearly missed a very key element of the book. That is, while someone may be American, the overwhelming portion of the population will make a rush judgement based on superficial characteristics (of interesting note, that 66% was down to 45.5% in 2003). Overall, it was an interesting book, detailing how similar and different growing up "Asian-American" can be. Would have earned 5 stars had it not been dry in some spots.