Description
Book SynopsisEnvisioning America is a revealing ethnographic portrait of how naturalized Chinese in Southern California have pursued the democratic ideals of participation through political empowerment and community recognition despite impediments to their full inclusion as American citizens.
Trade Review"
Envisioning America is an insightful study of the emergence of immigrant Chinese American activists as a new, unheralded political force in the Los Angeles suburbs. Cultural anthropologist Tritia Toyota's compelling story deals with up-to-the-moment issues of race, civil rights, Asian American politics, immigration, language identity, home country political heritage, transnational institutions, new social structures, and political succession. A must read."—Bill Lann Lee, Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C.
"By documenting the complex and changing political dynamics of Chinese Americans in compelling detail,
Envisioning America explodes widely held myths about immigrant communities. Toyota's insights on race, ethnicity and movements for positive social change are essential to understanding American democracy and demographics."—Helen Zia, author of
Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People"This is a captivating study of the politicization of Chinese American immigrants in Southern California. What is particularly exciting and unique about this fine piece of research is the attention paid to reconstructing the process of dialectical negotiations between the foreign- and the U.S.-born activists for alliance building and strategic planning."—Pei-te Lien, University of California, Santa Barbara
