Asianness Under Construction: Negotiation of Ethnic Identity/Culture among Inter-ethnically Married Asian-Americans

• In Event: 392 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Marriages, Markets, and Family

Abstract

Based on life history interviews of inter-ethnically married U.S.-raised Asians, this article examines the dynamics behind Asian American inter-ethnic marriages, and what they reveal about the complex assimilative process of this “in-between” racial minority group. In particular, this article explores the connection between Asian American inter-ethnic marriage and pan-Asian consciousness/identity, both in terms of how pan-ethnicity shapes romantic/marital desires of individuals and how pan-Asian culture/identity are invented and negotiated in the process of family-making, a process sometimes shot through with inter-ethnic power dynamics. My findings indicate that while strong pan-Asian consciousness/identity underlies the connection among inter-married couples, these unions are not simply a defensive effort to “preserve” Asian ethnic identity/culture against a society that still racializes them, but a tentative and often unpremeditated effort to navigate a path toward integration into the society through an ethnically-based, albeit hybrid and reconstructed identity/culture, that helps the respondents retain the integrity of “Asianness.”

Author

• Kelly Haesung Chong, University of Kansas