UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE LIKE WHITE ON RICE: ASIANNESS, WHITENESS, AND IDENTITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By ANNA WONG LOWE Norman, Oklahoma 2009 LIKE WHITE ON RICE: ASIANNESS, WHITENESS, AND IDENTITY A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION BY Dr. Todd Sandel, Chair Dr. Clemencia Rodriguez Dr. Elaine Hsieh Dr. Jeanette Davidson Dr. Sean O’Neill © Copyright by ANNA WONG LOWE 2009 All Rights Reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have completed this work without tremendous support from a multitude of people. I praise the One who made it all possible, guiding us with love and mercy—God. Jeff, my life partner, stood by me and with me the entire journey as editor and “hero support.” My father and mother prayed tirelessly for Jeff and me every day. Elisabeth Brewer jump-started the rewriting process with her visit and laughter. Phyllis Chen gave me something to look forward to in our weekly pep talks—and took care for me when I could not. Cory Cunningham was my fearless dissertation-writing buddy and gave much needed pep talks. Jodi Wideman gave me perspective on the world with her travel stories. Cheryl Nicholas was an inspiration and mentor. Her tireless efforts in inclusion and acceptance keep me motivated to do the same. Sheryl Crumb provided energy and listening ears when times were good and bad. Amber Neely not only graced me with her refreshing personality, but with invigorating talks on identity. Jessica Bogard called and wrote me—keeping me sane and socially connected to the world. Monica Flippin gently reminded me about the most important things in life and guided me spiritually back to God. RISE provided an impetus and a place to improve my interviewing and writing skills. WHAM, a loving fellowship, kept me grounded in what truly matters in this journey. The information and conversations at NCORE, an annual conference that encourages thoughtful discussions on race and ethnicity, kept me inspired. Kaylene Barbe encouraged me to go through graduate school without stopping and helped me to see true friendship. My dissertation adviser, Todd Sandel, provided writing and conceptual support—I cannot count the number of one-on-one conversations, emails, and phone calls we had to help strengthen my abilities in iv articulating theories and results. Clemencia Rodriguez created a life-changing course on cultural/critical theory—I still refer to the articles and notes from that course. Whenever I write, I hear her comments reminding me to articulate my voice. She also pointed me to another fantastic course with Circe Sturm on identity. Sean O’Neill provided thoughtful comments and advice in ethnography and linguistic anthropology courses. I consider him someone who walks the walk in anthropology, and an advocate for unique and creative ideas. Jeanette Davidson was the reason I got a job at RISE and suggested I attend NCORE. She has been a strong supporter and has provided the right critique to help me form ideas and live them. Elaine Hsieh offered thoughts on ethnography from her learned experience. I am thankful to all the participants, who without much in return, gave their time to the project. I thank all individuals, who with their sacrifice and drive, created the opportunity for people of color to freely learn, live, and work. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLE..........................................................................................................ix LIST OF APPENDICES ...............................................................................................x ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................xi CHAPTER I: ASIANNESS AND WHITENESS: AN INTRODUCTION..................1 CHAPTER II: IDENTITY AND WHITENESS IN SCHOLARSHIP........................12 Negotiating Identity: Constructions of Self.....................................................13 Essentialism.........................................................................................14 Social Constructivism..........................................................................15 Critical Realism...................................................................................16 Central Conceptualizations of Identity................................................17 Culture, Race, and Ethnicity............................................................................25 Culture .................................................................................................25 Ethnicity ..............................................................................................27 Race .....................................................................................................30 Whiteness and Ethnic-Racial Contestations....................................................33 Whiteness ............................................................................................34 Whites and Race..................................................................................36 Interrogating Whiteness: Racial Consciousness..................................37 White Encounters with Whiteness.......................................................42 vi CHAPTER III: SITUATING ASIANNESS IN IMAGES AND TIME .....................50 Public Faces of Asianness: Stereotypes and Images of Asians in the U.S......51 The Model Minority Myth: “Success Stories” and Whiz Kids ...........53 Gendered Stereotypes of Asian/Americans.........................................58 Asianness and the Historical: Immigration to the U.S. ...................................65 Immigration Before 1940s...................................................................67 Chinese Wave..........................................................................67 Japanese Wave.........................................................................71 Korean Wave...........................................................................76 Filipino Wave ..........................................................................78 Asian Indian Wave ..................................................................80 1940s-1964 Asian Immigration and Livelihood..................................83 Post-1965 Asian Immigration..............................................................87 Vietnamese Wave....................................................................89 CHAPTER IV: METHODS AND PROCEDURES....................................................92 Participants ......................................................................................................93 Research Sites: San Francisco Bay Area and Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area .............................................................................................................98 San Francisco Bay Area ......................................................................98 Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area....................................................100 Recruitment and Interview Context...............................................................102 Interview Questions.......................................................................................105 Participant-Observations and Popular Culture ..............................................107 vii Analysis .........................................................................................................109 Situating the Researcher-Participant .............................................................111 CHAPTER V: MODEL MINORITY AND THE IMMIGRANT SPIRIT: RACIAL DIFFERENCES AND FRACTIONS............................................................116 CHAPTER VI: BANANAS, TWINKIES, RICE CRACKERS, AND WHITEWASHED: NEGOTIATING ASIAN AMERICANESS AND WHITENESS ................................................................................................136 Performativity................................................................................................139 Symbolic Structures: Self-Identifications and Disassociations.....................146 Self-Identifications with Whiteness ..................................................147 Disassociations from Whiteness........................................................151 Racial Melancholia........................................................................................157 CHAPTER VII: FOBS, CHINESEY, AND AZIANS: STRATEGIES OF IDENTITY DIFFERENTIATION....................................................................................165 Fresh Off the Boat (FOBs) and Recent Immigrants......................................168 Chinesey ........................................................................................................178 Azians............................................................................................................182 CHAPTER VIII: DISCUSSION ...............................................................................190 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................205 APPENDICES...........................................................................................................231 viii LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Participant Demographic Information...........................................................96 ix LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix