Creating Panethnicity: Latino/a and Asian American Identity and Attachment in the United States

• In Event: Racial and Ethnic Minorities Section Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table Six: Racial Experiences and Perspectives of Asian People and Asian Americans

Abstract

Panethnic and ethnonational attachment are two identities that may happen simultaneously. Various ethnonational groups are nested within a panethnic label, and each ethnonational group has a complex history in terms of their experiences of discrimination, immigration, and generational status. I ask the following research question: How do discrimination, incorporation, and demographic characteristics affect panethnic versus ethnonational attachment. For this research project, I conduct a comparative, quantitative analysis of Latino/a and Asian American panethnicity through a U.S. context. I examine publicly available data from the 2016 Collaborative Multi-racial Post-election Survey (CMPS 2016). I predict that discrimination and generational status of Latino/as and Asian Americans have a significant effect on panethnic and ethnonational attachment. My empirical analyses may demonstrate multiple outcomes: (1) Respondents may experience similar effects from both their ethnonational and panethnic attachments. A positive panethnic attachment and a positive ethnonational attachment may lead to a federated panethnicity (i.e., a panethnic label that is strengthened and maintained by ethnonational attachment. (2) Respondents may experience a positive effect on panethnic attachment, and the strength of their ethnonational attachment varies (strong versus weak). This outcome may lead to a diminishing ethnonational identity. (3) Respondents may not experience an effect on panethnic attachment but an increase in ethnonational attachment (i.e., panethnicity is not considered an outcome). (4) A weak panethnic attachment and a weak ethnonational attachment may lead to a lack of consciousness in terms of identity formation.

Author

• Christine Michelle Capili, University of La Verne