Community, Identity, and Cultural Citizenship: The Rise of Inter-Ethnic/Pan-Asian American Marriages, 2006-2016

• In Event: 2166 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 4: Interracial Relationships

Abstract

Traditional assimilation research predicts that as Asian Americans become more integrated into U.S. society, they are more likely to marry interracially (primarily to White spouses) and this has been a consistent pattern for several decades. Using comprehensive Census data from 2006, 2011, and 2016 and looking at the six largest “U.S.-Raised” (U.S.-born or 1.5 generation) Asian American ethnic groups, this study shows that interethnic or pan-Asian (two Asian Americans of different ethnicities) heterosexual marriages are becoming increasingly common. The increasing prominence of these panAsian marriages challenges the traditional endogamous/exogamous dichotomy that has characterized much of the research on racial/ethnic marriage patterns. I discuss recent societal and cultural trends within the Asian American population and in U.S. society at large to examine potential demographic, sociological, and political factors that might influence this growing trend of pan-Asian marriages and how it might affect dynamics of ethnic identity, group boundaries, and racial solidarity among Asian Americans in the years to come.

Author

• C.N. Le, University of Massachusetts, Amherst