{"product_id":"passing-for-perfect-9781439920510","title":"Passing for Perfect","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her engaging study, \u003ci\u003ePassing for Perfect,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eerin Khuê Ninh considers the factors that drove college imposters such as Azia Kim—who pretended to be a Stanford freshman—and Jennifer Pan—who hired a hitman to kill her parents before they found out she had never received her high school diploma—to extreme lengths to appear successful. Why would someone make such an illogical choice? And how do they stage these lies so convincingly, and for so long?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese outlier examples prompt Ninh to address the larger issue of the pressures and difficulties of striving to be model minority, where failure is too ruinous to admit. \u003ci\u003ePassing for Perfect \u003c\/i\u003einsists that being a “model minority” is not a “myth,” but coded into one’s programming as an \u003ci\u003eidentity\u003c\/i\u003e—a set of convictions and aspirations, regardless of present socioeconomic status or future attainability—and that the true cost of turning children in\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“As an Asian American daughter of immigrants, reading \u003c\/i\u003ePassing for Perfect\u003ci\u003e, I felt my life understood. erin Khuê Ninh has explained our plight—the mad scramble for refuge, the guilt over our parents’ sacrifices, and our trust that education will save us. This book will give us strength against the attackers who blame us for what’s wrong with America. We shall overcome violence with knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e.”—\u003cb\u003eMaxine Hong Kingston\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003ePassing for Perfect\u003c\/i\u003e is lively, timely, and smart. It engages intriguing case studies of Asian Americans who maintained the charade of being admitted to elite colleges in order to expose the tolls surrounding racial stereotyping. Ninh conveys the significance of these impersonations without giving in to their salacious details. Rather, she seeks systemic explanations for individual behaviors while providing keen insights into the ways that racialization works as a form of psychic conditioning.”—\u003cb\u003eLeslie Bow\u003c\/b\u003e, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of English and Asian American Studies and Draheim Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“In \u003c\/i\u003ePassing for Perfect\u003ci\u003e, Ninh has written an important and provocative book about Asian American college imposters that implicates the aspirational nature of the model minority identity within some Asian American communities. Writing against scholars who argue that the model minority is a myth, Ninh asserts, ‘That which is partially true is not a myth (problematic or inconvenient, yes; uncalibrated or misleading, quite possibly; roundly deniable, no).’ This book should be read by scholars in ethnic studies and education, Asian American parents, and Asian Americans who have struggled to achieve model minority success.”\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cb\u003eStacey J. Lee\u003c\/b\u003e, Frederick Erickson Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Faculty Affiliate in Asian American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"In a publishing environment where scholars are encouraged to imagine an audience beyond their field of specialization, Ninh’s conceit of a specifically Asian American reader challenges the conventions of the scholarly monograph. Her study seeks neither to spurn a stereotype nor to offer a truer alternative but to solicit a readerly reckoning. Instead of assuming a solidarity predicated on the mutual rejection of the model minority’s inauthenticity and complicity, Ninh binds scholar and reader through a mutual recognition of the emotional yearnings, social expectations, and family dynamics that motivate seemingly preposterous acts of passing.\"\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmerican Literary History\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Ninh examines the pressures of perfection and addresses the more significant issue of the 'model minority' as an identity. This engaging text offers readers a passing view of life for Asian Americans and provides a glimpse into why this phenomenon occurs.... \u003c\/i\u003ePassing for Perfect\u003ci\u003e tells a remarkable story full of cultural complexities that examines case studies and concludes with introspection.... Summing Up: Recommended.\"\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChoice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Ninh convincingly argues that it is not pathological tiger parenting at the root cause of such inward- and outward-directed model minoritarian violence but the ideology of neoliberalism, which developed concurrently with the contemporary model minority. Altogether, Ninh has given us astonishing particularities to illustrate an uncomfortable universal, theorizing the college impostor as a figure inseparable from contemporary Asian America, and challenging us to find the college impostors that lurk within us and to treat them with compassion rather than disavowal.\"\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eJournal of Asian American Studies\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Temple University Press,U.S.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408321880407,"sku":"9781439920510","price":73.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781439920510.jpg?v=1730502434","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/passing-for-perfect-9781439920510","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}