Browsing by Subject "Asian Americans"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Atomic Hospitality: Asian Migrant Scientists Meet the U.S. South
    (2013-12) Tang, Jasmine
    This multidisciplinary project concerns the racialization of Asian Americans in the U.S. South, especially in the wake of the 1965 immigration act that recruited scientists to the U.S. nation-state. Specifically, the Asian American presence in east Tennessee involves regional, national, and international discourses surrounding two primary sites of tension: the constructs of national security and of spoken accent. Now home of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the "secret city" of Oak Ridge was created in the 1940s to aid the construction of the atomic bomb detonated in Hiroshima. Drawing from interviews with over thirty individuals, I argue that the post-1965 Asian migrant scientists at ORNL are part of what I call "national security migration," which involves individuals recruited to work on projects of interest to the national security of a nation-state not of their birth. Asian national security migrants inherit a particular history in which race, migration, citizenship, and science are inextricably tied, reproducing and complicating the narrative of Asians as perpetual foreigners particularly in the context of the U.S. national security state. HASH(0x7f93a252ca38) This project also features an historical analysis of a controversy in east Tennessee about a public monument, the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell. Revolving around memory and the bomb, the debate was highly racialized, with anti-Asian (particularly anti-Japanese) sentiment front and center. Thus, I contend that discourses of "yellow peril" and national security are historically perpetuated and infused in the South. The second site of tension involves language and accent. If Asian migrants are often perceived to be speaking with a foreign accent, then southerners are marked by their southern accents, too: analyzing the interplay of these accents reveals the way Asian Americans disrupt traditional understandings of the South as a region. This disruption emerges in the experiences of Asian migrant scientists (at work and in the surrounding community) and also in the experiences of the U.S.-born second generation, as seen through my close reading of a performance by comedian Henry Cho, a Korean American Tennessean. HASH(0x7f93a31951d0) Finally, questions around language emerge methodologically as well. Interrupting the organizational writing structure of this project, I insert an extended discussion of the possibility of a feminist, Asian Americanist transcription methodology to be employed when researching multilingual Asian migrant communities in the U.S. nation-state. Taken together, these sites of tension speak to the nuances of the contemporary Asian American South.
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    Foreigner objectification, bicultural identity, and psychological adjustment in Asian American college students
    (2013-08) Pituc, Stephanie
    Asian Americans have historically been subjected to unfair treatment as "forever foreigners," a phenomenon of racial discrimination defined here as foreigner objectification (FO). Recent psychological research corroborates this narrative and suggests that FO is related to negative outcomes (Armenta, Lee, Pituc, Jung, Park, Soto et al., 2013; Q. L. Huynh, Devos, & Smalarz, 2011; S. Kim, Wang, Deng, Alvarez, & Li, 2011). The present study builds upon this nascent research by investigating the construct of foreigner objectification (FO) and its relationship with bicultural identity, psychological distress (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and social interaction anxiety) and subjective well-being (self-esteem, satisfaction with life). The sample consists of 718 self-identified Asian American undergraduate students from multiple sites across the United States. The primary research question asked whether bicultural identity profiles (as indicated by the affirmation/commitment component of both ethnic-racial identity and national American identity) moderate the relationship between FO and psychological adjustment outcomes. Identity profiles were derived using person-centered cluster analytic methods, resulting in a solution of five profiles (Strong Bicultural, Average Bicultural, Weak Bicultural, Strong Ethnic, and Strong American). The moderation model was tested with multiple group structural equation modeling analysis and conducted separately for the U.S.-born and immigrant participants. For the immigrant sample (n = 253), the relations between FO and both psychological distress and subjective well-being were non-significant, and there was no difference in the FO-adjustment relationship between identity profiles. In line with Self-Categorization Theory (Turner, 1985), the results suggest that the potentially negative impact of FO is more relevant to U.S.-born Asian Americans than to their immigrant counterparts. For the U.S.-born sample (n = 465), a significant medium sized effect was found between FO and psychological distress in the expected direction, with no observed moderation by identity. FO was also significantly associated with poorer subjective well-being for the U.S.-born individuals in the Strong Bicultural, Average Bicultural, and Weak Bicultural profiles. This association was not statistically significant for those in the Strong Ethnic and Strong American profiles, indicating a moderating role of bicultural identity.
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    Health Literacy and Associated Factors Among Hmong American Immigrants: Addressing the Health Disparities
    (Springer, 2017-05-20) Khuu, Belle, P
    Hmong Americans face a disproportionate health burden ranging from the high prevalence of diabetes to depressive disorders. Little research attention has been paid toward exploring contributing factors to this disparity. As such, the present study seeks to fill the gap in the literature by examining the health literacy levels in Hmong Americans and its associated factors. The present study employed Andersen’s behavioral model of health service as the theoretical framework. A cross-sectional survey research design was used and information was gathered from 168 Hmong American immigrants. Participants were recruited using a purposive sampling strategy. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors linked to health literacy. Approximately half of the participants had low health literacy and reported that they did not understand health information well. Health literacy levels were found to differ significantly based on the number of years participants have lived in the U.S., their social or religious group attendance, health status, and whether they had difficulties with activities of daily living. Our exploratory findings could be used prompt more research to help inform the development of interventions aiming to improve health literacy levels and address
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    Healthcare providers' perspectives on parental health literacy and child health outcomes among Southeast Asian American immigrants and refugees
    (Elsevier Ltd., 2016-06-08) Khuu, Belle, P.
    Lowhealth literacy has emerged as an important area of research because of its close linkwith health disparities. In this study, we used a qualitative approach to investigate healthcare providers' perspectives on the health literacy of immigrant and refugee parents and its association with children's health. Sixteen health and mental health professionals serving immigrant and refugee parents and children in various clinical settingswere recruited through a purposive sampling method and interviewed. Six broad themes were identified: (1) multi-dimensional components of parental health literacy; (2) parent characteristics and native country experiences; (3) host systems and their interactions impact on parental health literacy; (4) diverse aspects of help-seeking; (5) culture- based parental help-seeking; and (6) child health outcomes. Within these larger themes, the complexity of parental health literacy and its various effects on children's health outcomes among immigrant and refugee parents were evident. Future research includes more population-based quantitative studies of parental health literacy and culturally relevant clinical approaches among immigrant and refugee parents.
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    ReMix Project: Juxtaposition Arts
    (2007) Bell, Joyce