Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on San Diego in the post-Civil Rights era, Linda Trinh Vo examines the ways Asian Americans drew together despite many differences within the group to construct a community that supports a variety of social, economic, political, and cultural organizations. Using historical materials, ethnographic fieldwork, and interviews, Linda Trinh Vo traces the political strategies that enable Asian Americans to bridge ethnicity, generation, gender, language, and class differences, among others. She demonstrates that mobilization is not a smooth, linear process and shows how the struggle over ideologies, political strategies, and resources affects the development of community organizations. Vo also analyzes how Asian Americans construct their relationship with Asia and how they forge relationships with other racialized communities of color. Vo argues that the situation in San Diego illuminates other localities across the country where Asians face challenges trying to organize, find sufficient resources, create leaders, and define strategies. Linda Trinh Vo is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine; she is the co-editor with Rick Bonus of "Contemporary Asian American Communities: Intersections and Divergences" (Temple). She also co-edited with Marian Sciachitano "Asian American Women: The 'Frontiers' Reader" and co-edited with Gilbert Gonzalez, Raul Fernandez, Vivian Price, and David Smith "Labor Versus Empire: Race, Gender, and Migration".
Trade Review"Linda Vo makes a timely and original contribution to the literature on Asian American activism and also to the sociology of social movements and mobilization. She provides a nuanced and fine-grained analysis of the mobilization of Asian Americans in San Diego during a crucial period of demographic change in the Asian American population."-Evelyn Nakano Glenn, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor "Linda Trinh Vo's study offers a powerful critique of simplistic notions of assimilation by demonstrating how race is understood and used as a basis for political mobilization among both immigrants and native-born Asian Americans. Rather than simply disappearing as economic and social status increase, Vo demonstrates how and why racial identities continue to have significance in their everyday lives."-Leland T. Saito, Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California "Innovative, well written, and accessible...Vo meet[s] the challenges of Asian America in the twenty-first century, incorporating both the new theories and methodologies coming out of ethnic studies as well as the dynamic new characteristics of this now largely immigrant community, with its rapid growth in size and complex internal diversity."-Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Professor of History and Ethnic Studies, and Director, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University "Remarkable as research and explanation, Mobilizing an Asian American Community demystifies the exhilarating processes of intellectual labors and identity formations as they engage interactively shifting demographies, racializations, political economies, and representations. A singular achievement."-Gary Y. Okihiro, author of Common Ground: Reimagining American History "[The book] provides a fresh perspective of the Asian-American issues to the reader... Vo re-enforces the need of continuing changes in a community with new or different demands."-Korean Quarterly "[T]he book is positive, coherent, and strives mightily to be non-judgmental. Vo's book would prove especially valuable to the API community's younger members..."-Asia "If you are interested in non-fiction and the process of mobilization, whether you are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hispanic, African American, Caucasian, all or none of the above, Mobilizing An Asian American Community will shed some light on this continual process of community kinship, and perhaps inspire the activist in you."-ChopBlock.com "[Vo] has written an important book that explores the complicated processes of community organization and identity formation. Written in an accessible style, Vo's book makes important contributions to understanding the Asian American movement outside larger cities and to countering misconceptions of Asian Americans as apathetic and apolitical. Summing Up: Highly recommended."-Choice
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1. Introduction: Paths of Resistance and Accommodation for Asian Americans2. Asian Immigration and Settlement in San Diego3. The Politics of Social Services for a "Model Minority": The Union of Pan Asian Communities4. Cultural Images and the Media: Racialization and Oppositional Practices5. Economic Positioning: Resources, Opportunities, and Mobilization6. "Where Do We Stand?" Politics, Representation, and Leadership7. Mapping Asian America: In Search of "Our" History and "Our" Community8. Ambiguities and Contradictions: Narratives of Identity and Community9. Conclusion: Milestones and Crossroads for Asian AmericansList of IntervieweesNotesReferencesIndex
