Asian American Identity Essay -- Culture Race

Silence as Beauty, Silence as Self The Asiatic American IdentityThe label American encompasses many different cultures and races. However,American golf-club is often guilty of assuming there is only one true, sure as shooting white, Americanface, voice, and behavior. Associate Professor of Sociology, Minako Maykovich, states that thecriteria for physical characteristics are generally situated by the dominant group in society,thus racial rest is the greatest obstacle to the process of assimilation (68). In TraiseYamamotos nonfiction narrative, Different Silences, and Janice Mirikitanis poem, severanceSilence, the authors explore their Asian American identities as defined by American culture.The quest to eliminate stereotypes and expectations through open behavior coincides with anAsian custom that values silence more highly thence North Americans (Donahue 265).Mirikitanis poem, Breaking Silence, focuses on her mothers convey testifying to theCommission on Wartime Relocation a nd Internment of Japanese American Civilians in 1981.Yamamoto, who is also a poet, takes a more assertive and personal position in herautobiographical narrative, Different Silences. These Japanese American authors seek to regaintheir heritage by aggressively confronting their white American audience, while retainingan empowered, able attitude 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 social herita... ...icanssome are shameful silences that need to be broken, as Mirikitani observes, just now the healthysilences are inherently part of the Asian American identity. whole shebang CitedDonahue, Ray T. Japanese Culture and Communication Critical Cultural Analysis. impudent YorkUniversity Pres s of American, Inc., 1998.Espiritu, Yen Le. Asian American Women and Men Labor, Laws, and Love. London sharpPublications, 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. Shedding Silence. Berkeley Celestial Arts, 1987. 33-36.Yamamoto, Traise. Different Silences. Asian American Literature A Brief Introduction andAnthology. Ed. Shawn Wong. New York Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996. 45-50.