Asian American Race-Making along the Party Line

• In Event: Asia and Asian American Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

In this book chapter, I explain how the racial contexts drive the diverse Asian American partisan political organizers in Houston, Texas, reify the Asian American racial category, and how such categories are intersected with their partisan stances. I argue that these organizers are situated in a highly racialized political field, and they witness racial politics dominate the US politics. Meanwhile, the racism against Asian Americans or policies such as affirmative action create a sense of linked fate among them. These partisan organizers thus believe that Asian American political representation matters, as Asians “understand” Asians better. They suggest that people with diverse Asian backgrounds and heritages should follow this identity-based model, unite as a group for political power, and further change the status quo.

In the second part of the chapter, I will then elaborate on their opinions on how Asian Americans can become a united group, which is aspirational, rather than real. These organizers often frame Asian Americans as a racial group sharing common interests, and they believe it is only through the liberal or conservative agenda, represented by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, that Asian Americans’ interests will be ensured and advanced. I term their efforts as Race-Making along the Party Line to explain how these partisan political organizers view Asian Americans as a racial group with no intrinsic commonalities but shared interests that can only be pursued through partisan politics and the ideologies embedded in political parties. The findings not only expand the literature on racial minorities’ political participation by analyzing how partisan politics are entangled with racial identities when immigrants enter a highly racialized and polarized political field, but also advance our knowledge of conservative racial minorities’ political attitudes and refute the arguments that they are “voting against their interests.”

Author

• Chen Liang, National Taiwan University