Asian American Identity Essay -- Culture Race

pipe down as Beauty, Silence as Self The Asian American indistinguishabilityThe label American encompasses many different cultures and races. However,American society is very much guilty of assuming there is only one true, certainly white, Americanface, voice, and doings. Associate Professor of Sociology, Minako Maykovich, states that thecriteria for physical characteristics are generally determined by the dominant group in society,thus racial difference is the superlative obstacle to the process of assimilation (68). In TraiseYamamotos nonfiction narrative, varied Silences, and Janice Mirikitanis poem, BreakingSilence, the authors explore their Asian American identities as specify by American culture.The quest to eliminate stereotypes and expectations through visible behavior coincides with anAsian custom that values silence more highly then sum Americans (Donahue 265).Mirikitanis poem, Breaking Silence, focuses on her mothers experience testifying to the boot on Wartime Relo cation and Internment of Japanese American Civilians in 1981.Yamamoto, who is overly a poet, takes a more assertive and personal stance in herautobiographical narrative, antithetical Silences. These Japanese American authors seek to reclaimtheir inheritance by aggressively confronting their white American audience, while retainingan empowered, wise posture that uplifts the seemingly invisible and silent Asian Americancommunity.Yamamotos Different Silences and Mirikitanis Breaking Silence both recognizehow Asian Americans in the past and present have used, or use, silence for protection. AsJapanese Americans of the third generation, or Sanseis, Yamamoto and Mirikitani both reflect ontheir ethnic herita... ...icans somewhat are shameful silences that need to be broken, as Mirikitani observes, but the full-bloodedsilences are inherently part of the Asian American identity.Works CitedDonahue, lance T. Japanese Culture and Communication Critical Cultural Analysis. New YorkUniversity call down of American, Inc., 1998.Espiritu, Yen Le. Asian American Women and Men Labor, Laws, and Love. London SagePublications, 1997.Leitner-Rudolph, Miryam. Janice Mirikitani and Her Work. Austria Braumueller, 2001.Maykovich, Minako K. Japanese American Identity Dilemma. Tokyo Wayside University Press1972.Mirikitani, Janice. Breaking Silence. cast off Silence. Berkeley Celestial Arts, 1987. 33-36.Yamamoto, Traise. Different Silences. Asian American Literature A draft Introduction andAnthology. Ed. Shawn Wong. New York Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996. 45-50.