Asian-Americans: The Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Pilipinos, and Southeast Asians

• Author: Harry H.L. Kitano
• DOI: 10.1177/000271628145400111
• Published date: 01 March 1981
• Date: 01 March 1981
• Subject Matter: Articles

125

Asian-Americans:

The

Chinese,

Japanese,

Koreans,

Pilipinos,

and

Southeast

Asians

By

HARRY

H.

L.

KITANO

Harry

H.

L.

Kitano

is

currently

a

professor

of

social

welfare

and

sociology

and

is

academic

assistant

to

the

Chancellor

and

codirector

of

the

Alcohol

Research

Center,

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles.

He

served

as

the

director

of

the

University

of

California’s

Tokyo

Study

Center

in

Japan

and

was

the

first

director

of the

Asian

American

Studies

Center

at

UCLA.

His

books

include

Race

Relations,

Japanese

Americans:

The

Evolution

of

a

Subculture,

and

American

Racism,

with

Roger

Daniels.

Professor

Kitano

earned

his

B.A.,

M.S.W.

and

Ph.D.

from

the

Uni-

versity

of

California,

Berkeley.

ABSTRACT:

The

term

"Asian-American"

covers

over

20

na-

tionality

groups.

It

includes

the

Chinese

and

Japanese

whose

major

immigration

occurred

decades

ago,

and

the

Koreans

and

Pilipinos

whose

major

migration

is

still

in

progress.

It

identifies

voluntary

migrants

from

the

Pacific

Islands

such

as

Guam

and

Samoa

and

the

recently

arrived

refugees

from

Southeast

Asia

who

fled

for

their

lives.

It

covers

a

wide

variety

of

identities

and

a

range

of

languages

and

cultures,

yet

this

diversity

has

been

categorized

into

a

number

of

Asian

stereotypes.

Asian-

Americans

are

expected

to

know

the

language

and

culture

of

their

ancestors

and

to

retain

a

loyalty

to

their

home

countries

in

a

way

that

is

not

expected

of

European

immigrants.

A

nega-

tive

consequence

of

this

stereotype

occurred

during

World

War

II

when

all

persons

of

Japanese

ancestry,

whether

citizens

or

aliens,

were

interned,

presumably

because

of

these

strong

ties.

It

is

incumbent

among

Americans

to

recognize

the

dif-

ferences

among

Asian-American

groups

and

to

acknowledge

that

the

intergroup

processes

that

have

affected

all

immigrant

groups

will

occur

for

Asian-Americans

if

racial

stereotypes

diminish

and

discrimination

abates.

The

more

open

the

system,

the

higher

the

probability

that

the

more

normal

processes

of

group

interaction

will

take

place.

Note:

There

is

no

F

in

the

Pilipino

alphabet,

so

the

current

preferred

spelling

uses

the

P.