Date of Award
11-12-2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Heritage Studies, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Marcus Tribbett
Committee Members
Janelle Collins; Kellie Wilson-Buford
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2021 D66
Abstract
ABSTRACT Yu Dong SWEET AND SOUR: THE REPRESENTATIONS OF CHINESE AMERICANS IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE, 2010-2020 The history of Chinese Americans can be traced back to the 1850s. From “filthy foreigner” to “model minority” to “virus spreader,” White Americans’ attitudes and perceptions toward Chinese Americans have been vague and ambivalent and constantly shifting back and forth in different time periods. However, one thing has never changed – Chinese Americans are perpetual foreigners. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the representations of Chinese Americans in American popular culture (2010-2020) by comparing these images in Americans’ minds with Chinese American literatures by people of Chinese descent. Results find that the representations have been evolving with new characteristics. During the 1882 Chinese Exclusion era, “the Chinese must go” rhetoric was popular and can be found from all sorts of public discourse. From the passage of the Immigration and Nationalization Act of 1965, Chinese Americans entered a liberalized era. But soon after that, Chinese Americans, along with other Asian groups, were labeled as a “model minority.” This so called “good stereotype” ignores the fact that Asian Americans comprise a community of contrasts. This concept has been continuously used by the whites to deny claims of systemic racism as the cause for educational and income gaps between whites and nonwhites in America. While whites use this concept to “discipline” other minority groups, it also creates fear among the whites to think Asian Americans’ success is at the expense of others. In response to white Americans’ attitudes, Chinese Americans have developing different strategies. Some are keeping distance from the main society, some are utilizing the whites’ perceptions, and some are actively fighting for their equal rights.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Dong, Yu, "Sweet And Sour: The Representations of Chinese Americans in American Popular Culture, 2010-2020" (2021). Student Theses and Dissertations. 299.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/299
Included in
Asian American Studies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, History Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons
