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This comparative study of the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American communities in Philadelphia shows that each Asian American community maintains its own internal cultural boundaries, which are used to cultivate differences that become institutionalized over time. Socially constructed boundaries, such as ethnicity, gender, class and generation, intersect within and among ethnic groups. Based on a social anthropological framework, this study describes the mechanism of ethnic and class identity formations, and shows how identities are institutionalized through various organizations. By unraveling the complexity of Asian American communities and their boundary strategies, this study provides a look at the new political processes which Asian Americans are creating in a variety of social settings. Also includes maps. (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1994; revised with new preface, introduction)
List of contents
1: Introduction; I: Three Asian American Communities; 2: Ethnicity: Basic Constructions; 3: The Process of Research; 4: Historical Aspects of Asian Americans; 5: The New Asian American Communities; II: The Dynamics of Identity; 6: Capturing Ethnicity; 7: Boundary Maintenance and Reproducing Culture; 8: Ideology and Ethnicity; III: Reassessing Asian American Identity; 9: Conclusion
About the author
Jae-Hyup Lee
Summary
This comparative study of the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American communities in Philadelphia shows that each Asian American community maintains its own internal cultural boundaries, which are used to cultivate differences that become institutionalized over time. Socially constructed boundaries, such as ethnicity, gender, class and generation, intersect within and among ethnic groups. Based on a social anthropological framework, this study describes the mechanism of ethnic and class identity formations, and shows how identities are institutionalized through various organizations. By unraveling the complexity of Asian American communities and their boundary strategies, this study provides a look at the new political processes which Asian Americans are creating in a variety of social settings. Also includes maps. (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1994; revised with new preface, introduction)
