“WHAT KIND OF ASIAN ARE YOU?”: EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF THE MODEL MINORITY DISCOURSE ON THE IDENTITIY FORMATION
EXPERIENCES OF ASIAN AMERICAN EMERGING ADULTS
by
ALEXA SALSTRAND
B.A., University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 2017
A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts Department of Sociology
ii
This thesis for the Master of Arts degree by Alexa Salstrand
has been approved for the Department of Sociology
by
Stephen Cho Suh, Chair
Esther Lamidi
James Doe
iii Salstrand, Alexa (M.A., Sociology)
“What Kind of Asian Are You?”: Examining the Effects of the Model Minority Discourse on the Identity Formation Experiences of Asian American Emerging Adults Thesis directed by Assistant Professor Stephen Cho Suh
ABSTRACT
This study examines the impact of the model minority stereotype on Asian American college students and emerging adults. Specifically, it explores the impact that media representations of Asian Americans as the model minority have had on ethnic identity formation of Asian American emerging adults. Utilizing data from 19 in-depth interviews with Asian American emerging adults, this project finds that Asian Americans face dominant institutions that present dissonant discourses about Asian Americans, making it difficult to construct one’s own identity. Participants’ answers to identity-based questions were full of contradictions and inconsistencies. Asian Americans live within the dissonant perspectives informed by media and other dominant institutions every day, and this may inform the inconsistency that Asian Americans hold in defining themselves.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. LITERATURE REVIEW 3
Asian Americans as the Model Minority 3
Media Representations of Asian Americans 11
Identity Formation 16
III. RESEARCH QUESTION 21
IV. METHODOLOGY 23
V. FINDINGS 27
Media Representations and Identity 27
Media and Model Minority Identity 30
Foreignization and Ethnic Identity 31
The Model Minority and Ethnic Identity 33
Vessels for Model Minority Discourse 35
Contradictions in Model Minority Discourse 37
VI. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 39
REFERENCES 44
APPENDICES
A. IRB Approval 49
B. Informed Consent 50
1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Asian Americans have been the fastest growing racial group in the United States since the 1960s, currently making up 5.8% of the population.1 Despite this rapid growth, popular representations of Asian Americans remain limited, contributing to the continued use of outdated stereotypes and discourses in their portrayal. One of the most persistent of these, the model minority stereotype, portrays Asian Americans as hard-working, subservient, and academically gifted, among other qualities (Lee 2015). Emerging in the 1960s, the model minority stereotype has been central to the contemporary racial
representation of Asian Americans.
This study examines the impact of the model minority stereotype on Asian American college students and emerging adults. Specifically, it explores the impact that media representations of Asian Americans as the model minority have had on ethnic identity formation of Asian American emerging adults. Arnett (2014) defines emerging adulthood as the period from late teens through twenties (18-29 years old) in which individuals are in a transitional stage of life and are exploring their identities and may experience instability. This period is seen as a time in which adults are still defining themselves and their expectations for life. Though there is considerable research on the model minority stereotype, much of it focuses on its impacts on Asian Americans in the workplace. Research pertaining to individuals in primary school, secondary school, and post-secondary school tends to focus primarily on the interactions that Asian Americans have with their peers, or their internalization of the model minority discourse and its
1 The United States Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2015 the number of Asian Americans in
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potential psychological consequences. Given the way in which media can shape our identities and is often used to reproduce and reinforce the existing dominant systems of inequality and power (Kellner 2011), and the malleability of one’s sense of self during emerging adulthood, it is worthwhile to research how Asian American emerging adults may experience identity formation as a result of model minority media representations. Utilizing data from 19 in-depth interviews with Asian American emerging adults, this project seeks to better understand how Asian American emerging adults construct their identities considering media representations of the model minority.
3 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Asian Americans as the Model Minority History and Origins
Throughout the history of the United States, Asian Americans have often been depicted through a handful of stereotypes. One of the most prominent portrayals of Asian Americans is the ‘Model Minority’ stereotype that paints Asian Americans as submissive, academically gifted, and well-assimilated. Historically, Asian Americans have also been depicted through a lens of ‘Yellow Peril’ that grew from a fear of Asian countries, most notably Japan, gaining global political and economic dominance (Mok 1998). Exclusion laws have prevented Asians from immigrating to the United States and Asian Americans have also faced ‘Forever Foreign’ stereotypes within the United States in which they are often depicted as more ‘Asian’ than ‘American’ and their success within the United States is often seen as a product of an abstracted ‘culture’ (Tuan 1999). Asian Americans are often seen by non-Asian Americans as cultural experts that should live up to certain expectations for all Asian Americans no matter where they are born or how they are raised (Tuan 1999).
Given the Yellow Peril and Forever Foreign stereotypes faced by Asian Americans, the model minority stereotype, on the surface, appears relatively positive because it characterizes Asian Americans as intelligent and as a ‘model’ for other minority groups (Wu 2002). However, the origins of the stereotype problematize this narrative. During World War II, the U.S. sought to reshape the public opinion about its Asian allies, such as China and the Philippines (Lee 2015). As a result, some Asian and
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Asian American ethnicities that had previously been viewed negatively came to embody the “good Asian” figure. For example, magazines such as Time and Life ran stories to help white Americans distinguish between ‘good’ Chinese ethnics and ‘enemy’ Japanese (Lee 2015). This “good Asian” would later serve as the basis for the model minority stereotype that Asian Americans still face today.
The model minority stereotype was further developed and solidified during the Civil Rights Movement and throughout the years that followed (Wu 2002). During the 1980s, countless news outlets ran articles describing Asian Americans as highly educated, with wealthy Asian Americans nicknamed “honorary whites,” a notion that reinforces whiteness as the societal standard and ideal (Lee 2015). Within these articles, Asian American success was often depicted as a product of Asian ‘culture’ and Asian Americans were viewed as valuing ‘hard work’ and education more than other minority groups (Lee 2015). The portrayal of Asian Americans as successful and well-assimilated served to depict the United States as a nation in which minority groups could prosper through hard work and the adoption of “American” values.
Collectively, then, the model minority stereotype has been used as a means to ignore the inequalities faced by racial minority groups in the U.S. historically. Using “culture” to explain Asian American success, conversely meant that the lack of socioeconomic upward experiences by other racial minorities, such as African Americans, were a byproduct of a ‘culture of poverty’ (Lee 2015; Ono 2017). In comparing groups in this way, Asian American success was used as a scapegoat to dismiss systemic barriers to socioeconomic upward mobility experienced by all
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model minority stereotype served to create a separation between Asian Americans and other minority groups during the Civil Rights Movement (Ono 2017). By depicting Asian Americans as especially hardworking, the dominant class can use the model minority stereotype to blame non-Asian minority ethnic groups for their own social problems, rather than addressing systemic oppression (Wu 2002). This portrayal of Asian Americans serves as a tool for conveying to other minority groups that anyone can overcome poverty and oppression and achieve the ‘American Dream’ if they just work hard enough. This ideology removes blame from the dominant class so that they do not need to address systemic oppression and racism, and it can also create resentment towards Asian Americans from other minority groups. Asian Americans serve as a middle layer, similar to the middle class, as a means of protecting the dominant class from revolution by the most marginalized groups of people. By portraying Asian
Americans as a group that has successfully participated in the American Dream, it creates the illusion that any marginalized population could move up in the world if they simply worked harder (Park 2008).
The model minority stereotype has also ignored the plight of Asian Americans who do not experience high wealth and education. By portraying Asian Americans as model minorities, the social problems and discrimination faced by many in the group also become nearly invisible (Ono 2017). Asian Americans who have voluntarily migrated to the United States have historically arrived with some level of capital and education attainment. This has contributed to many Asian Americans being portrayed as wealthy model minorities while those living in poverty are overshadowed and become nearly invisible to the dominant culture. The assumptions made about all Asian Americans has
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obscured the realities faced by several Asian American ethnicities. For example, the model minority has not accounted for the experiences of Hmong, Laotian, and
Cambodian ethnics who often experience lower than average incomes and educational attainment, typically to their detriment (Lee 2015).
Contemporary Effects of the Model Minority Discourse
The model minority stereotype also serves to reinforce the image of Asian Americans as foreigners within the United States (Park 2008). The narrative of the ‘American Dream’ portrays a land of immigrants gaining wealth and finding success within the United States. Through their actual and perceived success, Asian Americans are evidence that this dream can be achieved; however, in order to maintain this model, Asian Americans are repeatedly cast as foreigners and minorities and in this way (Park 2008). As with the model minority discourse, the notion of the American Dream disenfranchises the experiences of impoverished people of color, by ignoring systemic inequalities and placing a high value on individual work ethic (Akom 2008). Park (2008) further argues that the model minority stereotype acts as a disciplinary discourse, that Asian Americans are compelled to strive toward. The notion of the model minority necessitates that Asian Americans act in specific ways in order to achieve “full” U.S. citizenship, but paradoxically, being termed a model minority in itself dictates that foreignization of Asian Americans and makes this “full” citizenship impossible to achieve (Park 2008). In viewing Asian Americans as success stories, the American Dream and the model minority discourse work in conjunction to foreignize Asian Americans and second-generation Asian Americans are forced to justify their very existence in the United States (Park 2008). Asian Americans face questions such as
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“where are you really from?” that continue to label them as outsiders, no matter where they are born.
Much research on the model minority stereotype has focused on its effects in the workplace. Lu and Wong (2013) argue that Asian American men are seen as putting a high priority on work over family, and this aspect of the model minority stereotype implies asexuality in men. For example, some research shows that, Asian Americans are assumed to be hardworking and nonaggressive employees (Dhingra 2007). For this reason, they are often not considered fit for management opportunities, and many Asian Americans find themselves faced with a glass ceiling, or the absence of opportunities to move into higher level positions within a career despite possessing the qualifications necessary to do so (Friedman & Krackhardt 1997). In small business ownership, a U.S. ideal, Asian Americans are overrepresented, a statistic which contributes to the image of Asian Americans as the hard-working, self-sufficient model minority (Ong 2003). By being entrepreneurial and ‘lifting themselves up by their bootstraps’ Asian Americans are viewed as embodying the American Dream ideology. Comparatively less attention is paid to the social processes that both facilitate self-employment among Asian Americans in ethnic enclaves, spatial clusters of co-ethnic residencies and businesses, and ethnic economies, industries with high levels of co-ethnic participation (Light 1984), and exclude their participation in more stable and secure forms of employment (Eckstein & Nguyen 2011).
Given that the model minority stereotype continues to affect Asian Americans today, it is important to note how this discourse may impact the growing population of Asian American emerging adults. Research that focuses on this population tends to
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pertain to the experiences that Asian Americans have with racism and the relationships that they maintain with their peers. Sue et al (2007) examined the ways that Asian American college students experience racial microaggressions, daily, brief encounters that belittle people of color. The researchers conducted focus groups of Asian American college students with questions that asked the students to explain their own experiences with racial microaggressions. The researchers identified several themes from the focus groups that harkened back to the model minority stereotype, such as the students being seen as intelligent and the women being viewed as subservient objects to please white men. The study highlighted the necessity of talking to college students about outdated stereotypes that continue to impact their lives. Besides just being the victims of racial microaggressions, Asian American college students may also be the victims of harassment and violence, but the model minority stereotype may lead to indifference toward victims (Delucchi & Do 1996). Some research suggests that when campus communities accept the model minority discourse as a social reality, it obscures the oppression faced by Asian Americans and acts of violence against Asian American students are less likely to be viewed as racially motivated than when violence occurs against other marginalized groups (Delucchi & Do 1996).
The romantic experiences of Asian American college students at elite universities are also severely impacted by the model minority stereotype (Chou, Lee, & Ho 2015). Romantic experiences of Asian American students are sometimes shaped by the model minority stereotype, with women appearing subservient and hypersexualized and men seeming asexual and weak. Chou, Lee, and Ho (2015) found that men and women both often encountered comments on their sexuality. They contend that it is because the model
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minority stereotype paints Asian Americans as quiet and passive that other people feel comfortable making such forthright comments toward Asian American students (Chou, Lee, & Ho 2005).
Zhang (2010) proposes that prolonged exposure to Asian American stereotypes in the media may lead to acceptance of these stereotypes as a social reality. Zhang (2010) hypothesized that because Asian Americans are racialized as forever foreign and their American identities are routinely challenged, they may experience exclusion by their peers. Due to the model minority stereotype, Asian Americans are more likely to be perceived as academically intelligent but lacking in social skills compared to other ethnic groups. Asian Americans are also perceived as being the most likely to be left out of social situations and people are more likely to initiate friendships with white Americans rather than Asian Americans (Zhang 2010). Whether it be in romantic relationships or friendships, the body of literature pertaining to Asian American college students suggests that students’ ability to form relationships is impacted by this outdated stereotype.
Some authors focus on the mental health implications that internalization of the model minority stereotype may have on Asian Americans. The characterization of Asian American men as lacking masculinity can lead to depression and undue stress for
members of this population (Lu & Wong 2013). Atkin, Yoo, Jager, and Yeh (2018) found that Asian American high school students from predominantly Asian high schools are less likely to internalize the model minority myth than Asian American students from predominantly non-Asian schools. Since the geographic distribution of Asian Americans is highly uneven within the United States, this suggests that people with few
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stereotypes as their only source of knowledge of this population (Zhang 2010). It is possible that Atkin et al.’s (2018) findings are linked to this idea, and that students from non-Asian schools are more likely to have negative interactions with their peers because of the model minority stereotype, leading to its internalization. Interestingly, students from predominantly Asian schools that do internalize the model minority stereotype are more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression than students from non-Asian schools that internalize the stereotype (Atkins et al 2018). The researchers theorize that this may be due to an increased sense of competition in predominantly Asian high schools. In contrast to researchers such as Atkins et al (2018) who warn of the
psychological distress that the model minority myth may invoke for youth, Kiang, Witkow, and Thompson (2016) provide evidence to suggest that the model minority stereotype could possess some advantages for high school students. Specifically, the researchers find that adolescents who interact with the model minority stereotype more often had higher perceived academic performance, self-esteem, and values of school. The authors mention that this study was conducted in emerging immigrant communities, and it is possible that the social context in which the study took place had an impact on the results. For example, in spaces with a large immigrant population and third generation students, being Asian is associated with hard work and academic achievement (Jiménez & Horowitz 2013). However, in these same spaces, the negative influences of
stereotyping are still felt. Asian American students are assessed with higher expectations and local white parents continue to stereotype Asian Americans (Jiménez & Horowitz 2013). An overwhelming body of evidence points to the negative effects of internalizing the model minority stereotype.
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Media Representations of Asian Americans
Interactions with and internalizations of the model minority stereotype are heavily influenced by and primarily disseminated through media representation. Media products such as, television shows, movies, video games, magazines, music, and social networking sites, are influential tools for conveying the norms and beliefs of a society. These same cultural norms and beliefs are imperative in forming meanings in identity (Thai 2002). Cultivation theory proposes that information that one learns through television
consumption can contribute to one’s generalized world view, and media representations can come to be accepted as social truths (Gerbner 1998). While this theory is specific to television shows, the theory can be generalized to other forms of mass media. Some scholars have proposed that Asian American students lacking Asian American role models may develop pieces of their identity based off representations of other minorities (Min & Kim 2002). Rather than just being impacted by representations of Asian
Americans in the media, Asian Americans may be heavily influenced by media representations of other groups as well. Prolonged media exposure to stereotypes has been found to have an impact on many marginalized groups. Burgess et al (2011) warned that when repeatedly exposed to stereotypes of racial groups in video games, white players may believe those players to be reality. Some researchers have also found that people that watch television more frequently are more likely to believe race related stereotypes (Lee et al 2009). In these ways, media is one institution used to maintain white supremacy (Sun et al 2015; Zhang 2010).
Mass media platforms, such as television shows, movies, and even video games, have played central roles in perpetuating singular narratives of Asian Americans, such as
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the model minority discourse. Despite the diversity of the Asian American community, media images have portrayed Asian Americans within just a handful of “exotic,”
“foreign,” and “villainous” stereotypes (Mok 1998). Women of Asian American ancestry have often been painted as treacherous “Dragon Ladies.” This portrayal shows Asian women as malicious and builds upon the yellow peril stereotype, contributing to an image of Asia and Asians as premodern and in opposition to the West. Alternatively, women have also been portrayed as mindless “Lotus Blossoms,” who exist to fulfill the needs and fantasies of predominantly white men, massaging and washing them (Mok 1998; Rajgopal 2010). These men are depicted as Asian women’s saviors from their
‘traditional’ and premodern society. These passive, submissive, foreign, and exotic images of women all support the model minority discourse.
Asian American men are also likely to be portrayed within two distinct categories: as asexual and effeminate or as notorious ‘Fu Manchu’ villains and martial artists (Mok 1998). Asian American women in media are rarely shown in relationships with Asian American men, and this maintains an image of Asian American men as asexual and upholds ideals of hegemonic masculinity2 within the United States. In video games,
Asian characters are often portrayed along the lines of the yellow peril stereotype as martial artists or gang members and are significantly more likely to be represented as violent than white video game characters (Burgess et al 2011). Consistent with the model minority myth, in television advertisements Asian Americans are overrepresented in business and professional settings, continuing to mold the hardworking and driven image
2 Hegemonic masculinity refers to the qualities used to justify the dominion of a specific group within the
society. In the United States this groups consists of straight, wealthy, white men (Connell & Messerschmidt 2005).
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(Taylor & Stern 1997). Similarly, Asian Americans in television advertisements are underrepresented in home and social settings, building on an image that they are cold and lack social skills (Taylor & Stern 1997). Collins (1986) explains that minority groups are subject to many externally-defined ‘controlling images’ such as the media representations that present groups in stereotypical ways. These controlling images serve to ensure that the dominant group comes to see other groups in specific ways. Whether it is in film, television, video games, or even commercials, controlling images of Asian Americans serve to represent them as villainous, dominatable, and exotic or foreign, and these representations persist today.
Given the importance of media representation, many authors have focused on the ways in which the general public accepts depictions of Asian Americans. Focus groups were conducted in 2002 and 2011 in order to ascertain what college students’ perceptions of Asian American media representations were (Sun et al 2015). Despite the two focus groups taking place nearly a decade apart from one another, remarkably similar results were obtained for both. Asian Americans were viewed as nearly invisible in media to the students, and when they were present, they only embodied a handful of stereotypes. More troubling, was the way in which some students came to internalize these representations as factual. Non-Asian American students reported sometimes using media representations as their main source of knowledge on Asian Americans (Sun et al 2015). Portrayals of race and ethnicity shown in television are often integrated into people’s thoughts on various groups. There is a relationship between representations of ethnic minority groups on television and white Americans’ attitudes toward those groups. When minority
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are), white Americans have less favorable opinions of those ethnic minorities, compared to when characters were shown in higher status positions (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi 2015). In line with cultivation theory, individuals that watch more television are more likely to view ethnic minorities in stereotypical ways. Specifically, those with higher levels of television consumption are significantly more likely to believe negative stereotypes about Asian Americans (Lee et al. 2009). Much of the research on how the public internalizes media representations of Asian Americans shows support for cultivation theory. Taking harmful stereotypes as true has an impact on how people interact with Asian Americans.
The little research that has been done on the way in which media representations directly affects Asian Americans has focused primarily on the internalization of white beauty standards. Media is used to perpetuate white racial hegemony and compared to the aggressive dominance depicted as the white standard of masculinity, Asian American men are portrayed by the media as emasculated and with negative body images (Keum 2016). For this reason, Asian American men may experience undue acculturative stress based on their internalization of Western media beauty ideals (Keum 2016). Asian American college females’ body dissatisfaction is influenced by the media, perhaps because of the way that Asian American women are represented in the media as exotic, sexual objects meant to please white men (Javier & Belgrave 2015). While some research has been done on the psychological stress caused by internalizing Western beauty ideals, much less has been done on any other impacts of negative media depictions. Other one-dimensional portrayals of Asian Americans are likely to impact Asian Americans in more ways than just beauty standard internalization, and more research needs to address the
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other negative experiences that Asian Americans may face as a result of media representation.
In attempting to find ways to improve the dominant depictions of Asian
Americans, many authors have pointed to alternative media platforms such as YouTube, for users to create their own diverse portrayals (Ono 2017; Dhingra & Rodriguez 2014). Web-based shows created by Asian Americans can be used as a tool for reimagining Asian American spaces and contesting the hegemonic discourse surrounding Asian Americans (Suh 2016). While YouTube has been used as a space where Asian Americans can create content, YouTube may not serve as the solution to problems with media
representation. The impact of alternative media may only be felt by Asian Americans, while the rest of the public continue to only consume mass produced media images (Sun et al 2015). While this diverse representation may be helpful for Asian Americans experiencing psychological stress, it may not help correct the negative images of Asian Americans that many people may hold. The new content addresses one part of the problem by allowing Asian Americans a space in which they feel that they have normalized representations, but it does not address the fact that most of the population still consumes negative or stereotypical media images of Asian Americans and, as a result, will continue to interact with this population in a detrimental manner.
Furthermore, platforms such as YouTube may not be as ‘alternative’ to mass media as some authors suggest. User-generated content such as YouTube videos are still impacted by the platforms on which they are displayed (Van Dijk 2009). Ultimately, YouTube and other internet platforms are still run by corporations that are looking to make a profit and promote certain ideologies. The creators that receive the most views on these platforms
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are the ones that the platforms choose to promote. The internet can thus become another tool for promoting specific dominant ideologies and patterns of consumption. Some users are selected by the company to stand out and gain an audience, allowing other users to believe that anyone has a chance to be seen on the platform, when in reality companies are likely to only highlight users that are in line with their own messages and beliefs (Van Dijk 2009). While internet platforms may seem like a place for Asian Americans to create and consume alternative representations of themselves, these platforms have their limitations, and the problem of diverse representation within mainstream media still needs to be addressed.
Identity Formation
Identity formation is the process by which individuals shape and learn their identities through interactions with others and with popular culture (Stryker 1992). It has been theorized that one’s sense of self is constantly being reshaped by interactions with “the generalized other” (peers and social institutions) and that people have a variety of different selves that they present in different contexts (Mead 1934). The self that
someone presents at school, for example, may be different than the self that they present at home. Individuals also have different, intersectional identities (Crenshaw 1990). One’s sense of self may be comprised of their racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, among many others. Parts of one’s identity that may feel more salient than others may be shaped by oppressive experiences with these categories. Collins (1990) describes the ‘Matrix of Domination’ in which all of these categories interlock to create one
overarching system of oppression. Given these many identity and oppression categories, individuals are recognized as being both privileged and oppressed in varying contexts
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(Collins 1990). Rather than being static, identity is a malleable construct that is shaped by one’s environment and other external forces (Yeh & Huang 1996). Different aspects of one’s identity may be more salient than others in different spaces.
Some researchers have found evidence that Asian Americans may place more value in social relationships and environmental context in constructing their own
identities than white Americans do (Yeh & Huang 1996). Studies have also found many Asian Americans tend to talk about themselves in reference to “white society” in
discussing their identities (Yeh & Huang 1996), insinuating that Asian American identity may be heavily influenced by assimilation to and contradictions with the dominant society.
Ethnic identity is in part constructed by uncontrollable racial markers, such as face shape and skin color (Kibria 2000), the interactions that one has with their ancestral culture during their upbringing, and the microaggressions and racialized interactions that individuals face on a daily basis (Suh 2019). Since Asian Americans appear
phenotypically Asian, it often impacts their interactions with white Americans and contributes to their identity building process. Asian Americans of various ethnicities are often perceived of as monolithic, and many Asian Americans are expected to have knowledge of cultures that are not their own (Kibria 2000). Asian Americans may be considered experts on all Asian cultures and practices and may often become subject to numerous ignorant questions. This constant expectation of cultural knowledge may play a role in shaping a pan-ethnic Asian American identity. Kibria has also argued that perhaps in correcting white Americans and pointing out their specific ethnicities, Asian
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distancing themselves from white Americans (Kibria 2000). Since Asian Americans are continuously racialized as being foreign and unassimilable, white Americans may interpret a reiteration of ethnic identity as an indicator and acceptance of difference.
The literature on Asian American families often defines three distinct generations. First-generation Asian Americans are those that grew up somewhere in Asia and then migrated to the United States, second-generation Asian Americans are the children of the first-generation but were born in the United States, and the 1.5-generation refers to those who were born somewhere in Asia but migrated to the United States at a very young age, spending most of their formative years within the United States (Danico 2004). Second-generation Americans may find themselves trapped between their own self-identified Americanness and the foreignness applied to them by others, with little room for reconciliation of the two identities. In this way, Asian Americans face paradoxes in identity formation. Asian Americans may also be repeatedly told by the dominant culture that they are not actually American, as being American is often dictated by one’s
whiteness, and Asian Americans are asked questions insinuating their foreignness, such as where they are ‘really from.’ Some Asian Americans have attempted to resist the identities given to them by others by acting as ‘American’ or assimilated to the dominant culture as they possibly can (Kibria 2000). Some Asian Americans have reported looking at the ways in which other Asian Americans act and purposefully trying to act in an opposite manner, while also trying to replicate the actions of white Americans. Second-generation Asian Americans that are continuously foreignized may turn to conspicuous consumption as a means of proving their legitimacy (Park 2005). By purposefully consuming specific popular media products Asian Americans may try to send messages
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to others about aspects of their identity. Asian American identity formation is a complex process that is clearly mediated in part by environmental forces and social interactions. The acceptance from white Americans of Asian American stereotypes, such as the model minority stereotype, as they are presented in the media and the consumption of these media images by Asian Americans both likely play a role in the ways in which Asian Americans come to construct parts of their identities.
While some scholars have previously suggested an assimilation theory (Gordon 1964) in which newcomers to the U.S. continuously become more culturally and economically assimilated within the dominant society, others have proposed Asian American assimilation and identity formation as being far less linear (Thai 2002). Studies of second-generation Asian Americans have found that while Asian Americans may feel pressure to assimilate in high school, they often explore their cultural identities more thoroughly as young adults (Thai 2002). Some students reported feeling pressure from their parents to assimilate into the dominant culture but found that college was a time in which they were able to explore their identities on their own (Min & Kim 2002). It is possible that younger Asian Americans such as high schoolers and new college students will be less cognizant of how the media has possibly impacted them than older college students that have had more time to analyze their own ethnic identities.
Asian American college students that are exploring their own identities may view Asian student groups and a pan-ethnic identity as a powerful political tool, or they may view the term Asian American as a stifling of their individuality (Kibria 2002). Using the label of ‘Asian American’ rather than solely ‘American’ may represent an
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Rather than choosing an ‘Asian American’ label or choosing to participate in a student union, some students have reported going through a process of ‘intraethnic othering,’ purposefully taking steps to establish a distance between themselves and other members of their ethnicity (Abelmann 2009). It is possible that the negative images of Asian Americans in the media and the continuous representation of Asian Americans as model minorities contributes to students distinguishing themselves from other members of their ethnic group.
21 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH QUESTION
Despite the limited research on the ways in which Asian Americans interpret or internalize negative media representations, there is evidence that Asian Americans internalize more than just beauty standards from media. In one study, participants reported taking martial arts classes in order to fulfill the societal expectation of Asian men as Kung Fu masters (Sun et al 2015). There is a gap in the literature in understanding how Asian Americans identities may be shaped by harmful media representation, and specifically how the identities of Asian American youth and young adults may be impacted by media depictions of the model minority stereotype. Consistent exposure to negative imaging can be detrimental to one’s identity formation and can lead to distorted visions of self or can cause difficulty for youth and young adults in grappling with the complex topic of identity, leading to confusion or a sense of lack of belonging. This project will research how the model minority myth as it is portrayed in the media impacts the identity formation of Asian American emerging adults. It hypothesizes that Asian American youth who consume media that perpetuates images of Asian Americans as the model minority will internalize them in a way that contributes to a negative construction of self as emerging adults. Based off of previous works that have found that the model minority myth casts Asian Americans as outsiders to United Sates society (Park 2008), contributes to damaging interactions with peers (Chou, Lee, & Ho 2005; Zhang 2010) and leads to psychological distress for many individuals (Lu & Wong 2013), paired with research that asserts that media representations are often accepted as fact (Gerbner 1998; Zhang 2010; Burgess 2011), I theorize that Asian American participants would express
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feelings of shame, belittlement, or invisibility and distance from the larger population within their self-image.
23 CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN
After receiving IRB approval, this project utilized in-depth semi-structured face to face interviews as its primary data collection method. Interviews are a way to obtain information directly from individuals on their self-identity. Interviews are flexible in that they allow for follow-up questions and clarification questions to be answered. As
interviewees answer open-ended questions, they allow interviewers to uncover new data that they may not have anticipated. Interviews allow researchers to examine nonverbal behaviors as well, as they can spot if a question causes an interviewee discomfort or hesitation, leading to a clearer interpretation of responses. The interview schedule contained questions on one’s upbringing and self-identity, relationships with the model minority myth, and interactions with media, such as television shows, movies, and social media.
Rather than placing specific restraints on the meaning of Asian American or focusing on one specific ethnic group, this study was open to anyone who self-identified as Asian American and was interested in participating. The term ‘Asian American’ has been used as both a racial and political category and encapsulates a highly diverse group of people. This study sampled members of the Asian American community from the 1.5- and second-generation, as well as some transnational adoptees. Asian American emerging adults that are first-generation migrants are likely to have a different experience with the model minority stereotype in media than emerging adults of the 1.5- and
second-generation, who have grown up surrounded by popular forms of mass media, and thus are more likely to have had their identities shaped by it in a significant way.
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Sampling was not completed randomly. Participants were recruited from the researcher’s personal contacts. Some participants were friends of the researcher, some were previous work colleagues, and some were acquaintances, but all had met the
researcher prior to ever being engaged in the research. All participants were either current students or recent alumni of institutions of higher education within the El Paso County region. Most, though not all of the participants were met by the researcher through involvement with the campus clubs, such as the areas Asian Student Union, as well as through work and other campus-related institutions.
Baker and Edwards (2012) compiled statements from qualitative research experts about the number of cases that researchers should aim for, and ultimately suggested that due to time and monetary constraints, graduate researchers should aim for 20-30 cases. Researchers agree, however, that in qualitative research, the correct number of interviews to strive for is often not known until after the interviews have taken place and saturation is reached and no new information is being gathered (Baker & Edwards 2012; Small 2009). This study recruited 19 participants. Interviews typically lasted 20-30 minutes, with the shortest interview lasting just 12 minutes, and the longest interview lasting 45 minutes. Each interview was audio recorded on a Microsoft Surface computer after obtaining informed consent from participants. Most interviews took place on the UCCS campus in private, reserved study rooms and one interview took place over a video call. Interviews were transcribed by hand and then reread over several times with new comments made in the margins with each read. Instances of recurring phenomena were counted throughout the interviews and commonalities and dissimilarities between participants were assessed. The data was then analyzed for themes and regularities, first
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generally, and then in relation to the specific research question. Rather than looking for specific, preconceived elements within the data, open-coding methods let all data to be viewed as important and allow for anything to potentially become a product of interest (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw 2011). All names of participants were changed to maintain the participants’ anonymity and were picked arbitrarily. The genders of the participants reflect their self-reported gender and were not changed, as the model minority discourse has been shown to have varying impacts on men and women ((Chou, Lee, & Ho 2015; Sue et al 2007).
This study included 19 participants in total, who self-identified as Asian
American. The participants included 11 women and 8 men that ranged in age from 19 to 25 years old. The participants in the study represented 4 members of the 1.5 generation, 9 members of the second generation, two members of either the third or fourth generation (however they stated that they were unsure) and 4 adoptees. Most participants spent the most of their adolescent and teenage years in Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas, however some participants mentioned splitting their childhood between one or many places for the first half of their childhood and then moving to Colorado for the other half, and a few participants had grown up entirely elsewhere and only come to Colorado for college. The other cities and states that participants mentioned growing up in included, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Akron, Ohio, Houston, Texas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and unspecified cities in Wisconsin, Mississippi, Hawaii, Utah, and Florida. The participants identified their ethnicities as Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Okinawan, and Japanese. Some participants reported being half-white or half-Hispanic,
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and participants from Hawaii reported their ethnicity being mixed among some combination of Filipino, Japanese, Okinawan, and, in their own words, “more.”
As a white American, I approach this research as an outsider. I am not Asian American, and I do not share the experiences of being an Asian American. That said, I have taken steps to safeguard against the white gaze and avoid interpreting situations in an Orientalist manner (Said 1978) by way of critical self-reflection of my positionality. Baca Zinn (1979) discusses the advantages of minority scholars in studying minority groups, but also maintains that any researcher may study a marginalized group as long as the research is conducted in an ethical and logical manner. I strove to follow previously established procedures and ethics in conducting my own research. Additionally, I have two Asian American members of my thesis committee that were able to offer insight as the project progressed. Furthermore, I have been a member of the UCCS Asian Pacific Islander Student Union for over three years, which fueled my interest in this area of research. Having been in the club I have been able to witness firsthand the constant negotiation with typical stereotypes and the effects they can have, as well as the unequal power relations that continuously impact the Asian American community.
27 CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS
The findings for this study have been organized to most saliently present the various ways that media and the model minority myth engage with Asian American emerging adult identity formation. The beginning sections cover the information that relates specifically to the hypothesis, the assumption that media representations of the model minority would directly impact the identity formation of Asian American emerging adults. The latter sections contain findings that do not directly address the hypothesis but emerged from this research and were still relevant to the topic of ethnic identity formation.
Media Representations and Identity
In discussing their relationships with media, participants voiced nearly unanimously that they did not feel represented in popular media they viewed while growing up. Liam, a 21-year-old, 1.5-generation Korean American, joked about why he felt that media never accurately represented him, saying with a laugh, “I didn’t know any sort of martial arts.” In spite of the joking nature, Liam appeared resentful when
discussing how he felt about the lack of accurate representation that he was exposed to growing up. He explained, “In any high school teen white movie it’s just like a basic kid going through girl troubles or something, right? I think that could be applied to literally any other race. It doesn’t have to be solely just Americans.” Liam was one of many participants that felt that their stories were not being told because they did not fit into specific Asian American stereotypes. Similarly, some participants felt that they could not relate to the Asian American characters that they saw in popular media, because the
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characters were rarely specific to any ethnic group. Camilla, a 22-year-old, second-generation Filipino American conveyed, “seeing a generic Asian, it still didn’t speak to me because they’re not like as specific to my identity as I would like them to be.” Camilla shared that she thought most Asian ethnicities were underrepresented in media and that she primarily saw, “Chinese or Korean or Japanese. They don’t really go for Filipinos and stuff like that, or sometimes they even do Indians, but I never really saw, like Filipinos largely represented.”
Some participants noted that they tried to make what limited media representation that they did have applicable to themselves. Michelle, a 19-year-old, second-generation Japanese American said of the lack of diverse representation, “It’s not like there were no characters like me, but the ones that were, I had to make them like me, if that makes sense. Like Mulan, I had to look up to her even though she was Chinese, and I didn’t really have any idea about Chinese culture or anything, but I was like oh she looks like me too. She has, you know, squinty almond eyes.” Alternatively, some participants could not make the representations that they saw work for themselves the way that Michelle tried to. Sun, a 22-year-old Asian American of mixed ancestry said of seeing Asian characters represented in popular media, “I could like see that it was there but knew deep down that it wasn’t really for me.” Being from Hawaii and of a variety of ethnic
backgrounds, Sun felt that the media that she saw was never indicative of her experiences.
Some participants felt that the lack of accurate representation made it difficult for them to form their identities or have role models to look up to. Aleah, a 19-year-old, Chinese American, transnational adoptee expressed that if she had seen more Asian
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Americans in the media, then she may have had an easier time selecting a career path, “It was really hard to like kind of have an idea of what I wanted to grow up to be because I didn’t have the set example of like oh this Asian person is this, this Asian person is this it was like no this white person is and actor, this white person is a doctor.” Similarly, Damian, a 23-year-old Filipino American expressed that he felt that broader
representation was extremely necessary, and he explained, “Asian Americans who have a role model that is also Asian American, it makes them realize they could be like them. They have someone to aspire to bigger than themselves. Having representation helps to encourage people.” Damian’s comments, like Aleah’s, convey that without seeing media representations, people may not be aware of the paths in life that are open and available to them.
Liam, noted that popular media played a definitive role in his interactions with others, and thus, his feelings of self. When asked what role his ethnicity played in his identity during his adolescence, Liam revealed, “I felt ashamed to be Korean because of the level of racism that I was subjected to.” He then went on to explain that his
experiences changed as he got older, stating, “Recently when the whole K-pop surge happened, suddenly it was cool to be Korean and sometimes there’d be just like very strange interactions with people of other races trying to act Korean towards me and that was very off-putting.” Liam’s experiences with people that were not Asian American were directly influenced by the standing of Koreans within mass media. Once Korean pop music found a growing foothold within the U.S., Liam reported being treated differently than before. Camilla also expressed feeling that her interactions with other individuals were influenced by media, and she explained, “I just feel like a lot of people
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had their prejudice against me because of what they’d seen in media and stuff like that and so like I said like going back to the example of thinking I should get an A on a math test because I’m Asian they just would make microaggressions towards me because of what was represented.” Camilla believed that people made racial comments toward her because of the stereotypes that they learned in watching the media.
Media and Model Minority Identity
One way that the media can be suggested as a possible influence for Asian American identity formation is evident in the experiences of Asian American adoptees. The adoptees in the study had very specific ideas about what it meant to be Asian. Images about what it meant to be Asian were important for some adoptees and they reacted to this information by either striving for it or strongly pushing back against it. Shane, a 24-year-old Chinese American transnational and transracial adoptee expressed that he longed to find a sense of belonging among other Asian Americans and his ideas of what it meant to belong were informed by the model minority discourse:
On some levels I still feel pressured to like be good and conform to the smart role and also, I’ve seen a lot of people from Asian descent going into business and things and for some reason I feel, I don’t know, I don’t know what the feeling is but the urge to do the same and follow that same path. I don’t [know why] other than maybe just a sense of belonging and trying to find the one group I can associate with the most and try to make that connection with people.
Another transnational Chinese American adoptee, Bailey, a 25-year-old woman, also carried specific images about what it meant to be Asian American. But unlike Shane, Bailey experienced a sense of distaste toward these notions:
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I’ve always almost had like an adverse reaction to any, this is gonna sound bad but, any people that are not only Asian but almost like stereotypically Asian where they like can speak the language,… the food, just anything where you’d be like, ‘that person is certified Asian,’ their family’s Asian, they can speak an Asian language, like they’re Asian. And I’ve always almost, I don’t know if annoyed is the word but almost stayed away from those people.
Bailey’s negative reaction toward other Asians ethnics seems to be influenced by
expectations that accompany the model minority discourse. Bailey explains that when she is asked about her ethnicity by others, she feels that, “They just wanna see like if I can perform in any way as a Chinese person and I cannot.” Bailey clarifies that when people learn that she cannot speak Chinese, she feels that she is viewed as a, “broken Asian.” For some adoptees, standards set by the model minority stereotype, and perhaps learned through media consumption, outline very specific meanings for how Asian Americans are expected to behave.
Foreignization and Ethnic Identity
Participants in this study often noted that they began thinking about their ethnic identity once their difference was pointed out by their white peers. In this way, other children served as a mechanism for policing and reinforcing the model minority myth. The most common avenues through which participants faced foreignization by other children were in the form of either ‘jokes’ or straight-forward comments on the
participants being Asian. Multiple men commented that they faced comments about the size of their penises. When discussing his interactions with other children, Taylor, a 23-year-old second-generation Vietnamese American remarked, “Other kids would be like,
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‘Is it true that you have a small penis?’” Later, Taylor commented on the abnormality of such direct questions, adding, “They would literally ask me upfront, like who the fuck asks that?” Damian also expressed resentment at the notion that Asian men have smaller than average penises. While discussing that he had learned many prominent Asian stereotypes through humor, Damian commented, “You know Asians are known to have tiny you-know-what because *exaggerated laugh* it’s funny.” His tone was dripping with sarcasm, and it was made clear by both men that they did not appreciate these comments on their bodies. Jokes about the size of Asian men’s penises further the narrative that Asian men are effeminate and do not embody hegemonic notions of masculinity. These comments are put forth by children at a young age, and they begin teaching Asian American men that they like desirability with the dominant culture at a very early age.
Other bodily features were put to judgement by the children as well, and many participants made comments about eye shape or skin tone. Shane remembered the first time he became aware of his difference from other children was when he was in the third grade, “There was this kid who, he was making fun of the typical, you know, Asian eyes- how they’re slanted more and that was the first time that a characteristic in myself made me feel bad because you could just tell he was making fun of me. So, it was that
characteristic, the eyes, that was the first time that it became an issue.” Similarly, Colleen, a 20-year-old second-generation Korean American said that she was not aware that she possessed any striking differences from other children until they were pointed out to her as well, “The first thing was like my eyes they would like try to imitate the way my eyes looked and the way like that typically the Asian way Asians speak like the ‘ching chong’ kind of thing was another thing they brought up… It was terrible. I didn’t
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really know what to do because I was younger at the time, so I just laughed along with them, but it didn’t feel good at all.” Like Shane and Colleen, many of the interviewees expressed that their physical appearance was often the butt of a joke or brought up as the subject of conversation for being different or even wrong. Park (2008) asserts that the model minority myth necessitates reasserting that Asian Americans are minorities in order to reinforce social inequalities. The practice of Asian Americans being re-foreignized and treated as outsiders, sometimes in their country of birth, is maintained from as early as elementary school for some.
The Model Minority and Ethnic Identity
Not only did children serve to uphold the foreignizing aspects of the model
minority myth, but they policed the behaviors that label Asian Americans as a ‘model,’ as well. One of the ‘jokes’ that was most commonly retold by participants was of
expectations of academic success. “I know it was very early on probably like elementary school or middle school when people started making race jokes. People always expect me to be good at math or like oh you should get an A on this test because you’re Asian or something like that,” explained Camilla. Similarly, Jessica, a 22-year-old
second-generation Filipino American, explained the reaction she received for not fitting into the expectations set for Asian Americans, “I’m terrible at math and because of that I was made fun of throughout elementary school, throughout high school, throughout middle school all of it… [kids] would be like ‘aren’t you Asian?’ and I would be like ‘yes, I’m Asian’ and they would be like ‘well why aren’t you good at math?’ and I would be like ‘because I’m just not.’” Jessica explained not just being teased for not doing well in math, but the fact that she was questioned on it, and pushed to come up with a
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justification for this inability. Many interviewees shared stories like this one and every single participant was aware of the expectation that Asian Americans are ‘supposed’ to perform well in school. From early on, white students held their Asian American peers to the expectations and standards set by the model minority myth.
While some participants like Taylor and Colleen expressed feeling frustration or insecurity and discomfort, others reacted to the comments from their peers with
indifference. Brielle, a 21-year-old 1.5 generation Chinese American said that she wasn’t affected by racial jokes the way that some of her friends were, “I guess like with all of my other Asian friends whenever we talk about Asian jokes or whatever that other people have told us, they’re always like, well they’re always saying like ‘that’s so offensive, there are other jokes you can make’ or whatever. For me, I guess my perspective is they’re just trying to get to know you better and that they’re trying to get you to like them.” She determined that the jokes were part of a ‘getting to know you’ process and should not be seen as offensive. A 21-year-old 1.5-generation Vietnamese American, Aria, echoed a similar nonchalance toward jokes about Asian Americans, “There’s always like jokes…but it never like made me feel bad in a way, a lot of people will tell you this but you just kind of laugh along with it and so a lot of people will feel like it’s like bad but I honestly just don’t mind.” For these women, and other participants, the comments made by other children were normalized and non-offensive. However, these same women also explained a feeling of distance from the United States in some ways. When asked if she referred to herself as Asian American, Brielle replied that she did not use the label and then explained, “The American part never really comes up in
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else they’re always just focused on ‘what type of Asian are you’ like ‘what is your ethnicity?’ Those type of things, they’re not focused on like the ‘American part’ I
guess… people are just like focused on my race and not me as an individual.” Despite her previous comments that she did not take offense to jokes about her race or ethnicity, the foreignization effect that those jokes have was felt in other ways. Similarly, in discussing the differences between living in the United States and visiting Vietnam, Aria
commented, “Back home [in Vietnam] I feel more timid because I can’t speak the
language as well as I used to, but back home it feels like home and here [in the US] it just feels like I just live here.” While some participants brushed off the comments and jokes made by other students, the effects of white children emphasizing their status as the model minority created feelings of a lack of belonging within the United States for some participants.
Vessels for Model Minority Discourse
While it is unclear where exactly the children that served as vessels for continuing the model minority discourse gained their knowledge of Asian American stereotypes from, participants in the study indicated that for especially young children, their parents were at fault. Taylor told a specific story that had informed this line of thinking for him, of a time when he was at a park and encountered a white child, “We were just playing together and all of a sudden his mom came up and like grabbed his arm and like pulled him away from me and was like, ‘why are you playing with that chink?’” In this story, the mother, rather than the child, made Taylor aware of his ethnic identity, but in that moment the white child was being taught that Asian Americans are foreignized as well. In another story that Taylor told, he assumed that a child’s parents had informed that
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child’s reaction to Taylor’s ethnicity, “I remember just standing there and I think he asked me like what my ethnicity was specifically, he knew I was Asian. And I told him I was Vietnamese and he was like ‘You’re Vietnamese? Ew.’ I think he said that because like his parents or his grandparents were like in the Vietnam War so I think there could have been some like stigma that came with when he said that.” Taylor assumed that since the child was so young, his beliefs were likely instilled by older relatives. Camilla
expressed a similar sentiment in a story about a child that she interacted with, “There was one time where I was in middle school and we were supposed to read to like fourth graders and then those fourth graders sent us thank you letters and in the thank you letter, which I kept by the way, it said, ‘I’m glad we have so many similar interests even though we’re of different colors’ so just like reading that and thinking like the teacher if she read over that and thinking like that’s how, a kid is brought up to think about it kind of just like was disappointing to me that like this is how parents in that area are raising their children.” Camilla clearly blamed the child’s parents for the child’s focus on Camilla’s difference in ethnicity.
After media representations and the influence of older relatives, another theory that was brought up as a place where stereotypes were learned was from other children in schools. Many participants remembered hearing prominent Asian American stereotypes for the first time within their early schooling. Shane explained he learned some
stereotypes this way as well, “You know comments from students just like the prejudice and stereotypes that students hold and the jokes that they make and the assumptions that they have just like in those social circles you get to learn the stereotypes and things.” While this knowledge is likely coming from outside of the school first from maybe
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parents or media, once one child is engrained with these beliefs, schools become a breeding ground for stereotypes to spread and be learned by many other students.
Contradictions in Model Minority Discourse
One prominent theme that ran throughout the interviews was that of contradiction. In a similar manner to the way that Aria and Brielle expressed not caring about the jokes that their classmates made but then later indicated that they did feel distance from the United States, participants would often convey inconsistent sentiments throughout the course of the interviews. Examples of the ways in which participants were able to hold opposing views were common when answering questions on model minority stereotypes. Allison, a 22-year-old Vietnamese woman, described the model minority as follows, “The model minority, I would define it as the assumption of others that Asian Americans have it all or like are successful in everything they do, but it’s just like all minorities are looking up to them, we are an example to all other minorities. But I kind of have a negative connotation on it… just because it makes it seem like Asians are the perfect minority and that’s just not true because I feel like that’s just a stereotype.” In her definition, Allison states that Asian Americans being viewed as the “perfect minority” is “not true,” and after this she went on to describe the image of a model minority as, “a nerdy guy with glasses doing like the computer work.” Despite her claims that these images are just a stereotype, just moments later when asked if she believes that Asians really are the model minority, Allison answered, “I think there’s a stereotype or society thinks that Asians are the smarter ones and like successful but we are a minority and that’s where it’s hard like I don’t believe in the model minority but out of the others even I see, like if I see an Indian they’re usually like really smart you know so sometimes I
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make that assumption too like to an extent, but yeah because I’m thinking of other minorities.” In relying on stereotypes of other Asian ethnicities and other races, Allison draws the conclusion that Asian Americans are the model minority in the same breath that she states that she does not believe in it. These types of answers were frequent throughout interviews. When asked about the model minority generally, some
participants would draw on the logic that stereotypes are often negative and untrue in answering questions, however when asked about Asian Americans specifically, participants seemed to draw on their knowledge of cultural stereotypes to answer the question.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Shane commented that he did not believe that Asian Americans were the model minority explaining, “It kind of goes back to overgeneralizing and one type of sample group,” but he then went on to say that he is a model minority. When asked why he thought himself to be a model minority, Shane expanded, “I would say because I do fit a lot of the Asian stereotypes of you know being, or at least I justify myself as being smart and successful and again going back to the things that I mentioned earlier about not being threatening to the American culture and I conform a lot and I don’t bring up a lot of issues. This reliance on stereotypes as
knowledge in answering questions was common, and for both participants that felt they were a model minority and those that felt that they were not, they often used the same logic as Shane to come to these conclusions. Participants would repeatedly give
39 CHAPTER 6
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This study sought to understand Asian American emerging adult identity
formation as it is informed by model minority discourse in media. It predicted that Asian Americans would internalize the portrayals of this discourse in a way that would manifest negative self-images. Instead, the findings indicate that interpersonal interactions
primarily with other children contributed to negative self-images and that media representation served to complicate the identity formation process of participants. Participants in this study nearly unanimously agreed that growing up they had seen very limited media representations of Asian Americans, and some participants were explicitly conveyed that this representation mattered. Aleah and Damian remarked that the lack of representation made it difficult to envision the paths that they could take in life.
Popular media becomes a means for people to develop an understanding of the way the world works and individuals’ places in it. Michelle remarked that she tried to adapt the media representations to fit to her life. Similarly, Sun et al (2015) found that participants tried to learn skills and embody media representations. The absence of representation may make it difficult for Asian Americans to define their identities and develop plans for their futures. Some Asian Americans try to develop their own identities around the limited representations that they have. This may lead to a disjointed or
ambiguous sense of self and may contribute to the contradictions that were seen throughout participants’ responses. Participants also seemed to engage with questions about their identities in a superficial way, with many participants claiming that they did embrace the term Asian American, but they often lacked ideas on what exactly this meant
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to them. The poor and lacking representations of Asian Americans hurt the development of the identity formation of emerging adults, because the only representations that participants have are, as Aleah put it, “just a caricature.”
In addition, participants pointed to media as impacting their daily interactions with others. Participants faced frequent racialized comments that they sometimes
believed were the direct result of media influence. While there are a variety of ways that information can be learned, white children and their parents appear to have developed their ideas about Asian Americans through media consumption. As Zhang (2010) noted, people that live in areas with fewer Asian Americans are more likely to rely on media as their primary source of knowledge on this population. Given that the ethnic makeup of Colorado includes just 3.5% Asian Americans, compared to 87.1% of the population identifying as white only3, it is possible that white Americans in Colorado use media in this way. Some participants even acknowledged using media as their only source of information on ethnic groups that were not their own. Additionally, media is not an isolated institution. Mass media is interconnected with other institutions and it is rare for people to pick up information from just one source without interacting with any others.
Consistent with Park (2008) and Tuan (1999), in conjunction with being painted as model minorities, Asian Americans faced recurrent foreignization by their peers. The daily comments that participants faced succeeded to exclude many from feeling
‘American.’ This was portrayed clearly through Brielle’s comments on the ways in which others focused on her race and not her individuality. Feelings of separation could be seen in more subtle ways as well. Participants frequently used the terms, ‘white’ and
3
