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Research Proposal

By ttong
September 15, 2015 - 20:57
ttong's picture
Research Project

Tong Tong

360s Program: Arts of Resistance

Research Proposal

09/15/2015

 

Starting Questions:

            Through my two years learning of Education and a semester long experience with incarcerated women, I have been looking for the place in this white-dominant society for Asians to fit in. Interestingly, through examining issues in both educational and justice system, Asians seem to be forgotten by this society and are especially under-represented or even misrepresented in academic works related to these issues. In this 360s, I would like to further learn about the correlations between the fact that Asians being portrayed as quiet, excellent academic performance and “privileged” by the educational system and the fact that Asians disappearing from the conversation over social justice system, especially the dialogue about massive incarceration. I wonder what roles do Asian cultural values, genes and other factors play in shaping the stereotypical image of Asians, and even leading to the disappearance of Asians in the larger conversation.

 

Source Searching Process:

            I was not very sure if I really wanted to do my research project on this topic until I started my preliminary research. When I typed “Asian, Incarceration” into the search column, the results were very limited and even not relevant. Then I typed “Asian, social justice” and “Asian, Crimes”, and everything showed up was about Asians being the victims of crimes, and even the system. And because of these very limited academic research works on Asian/Asian-American, I decided I would at least try to answer these questions for the sake of further understanding my own identity and what does it mean to be an Asian in a white society.

 

Major Sources:

1. Boeckmann, Robert J., and Jeffrey Liew. "Hate Speech: Asian American Students' Justice Judgments and Psychological Responses." Journal of Social Issues J Social Isssues 58.2 (2002): 363-81. Web.

2. Byun, S.-Y., and H. Park. "The Academic Success of East Asian American Youth: The Role of Shadow Education." Sociology of Education 85.1 (2011): 40-60. Web.

3. Johnson, Brian D., and Sara Betsinger. "PUNISHING THE “MODEL MINORITY”: ASIAN-AMERICAN CRIMINAL SENTENCING OUTCOMES IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURTS." Criminology 47.4 (2009): 1045-090. Web.

4. Oh, Angela, and Karen Umemoto. "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: From Incarceration to Re-Entry." Amerasia Journal 31.3 (2005): 43-60. Web.

5. Vazsonyi, Alexander T., and Pan Chen. "Entry Risk into the Juvenile Justice System: African American, American Indian, Asian American, European American, and Hispanic Children and Adolescents." Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 51.6 (2010): 668-78. Web.

 

Major Questions:

  1. How does Asian culture influence academic performance of Asian students?
  2. How does the academic performance of Asians influence their future life? Does their academic performance increase or decrease the chances of being incarcerated?
  3. How does Asian culture alters the ways Asian express angry or hostile? And how does that influence the chances of incarceration?
  4. What is special about incarcerated Asian and their re-entry into the larger society that they do not appear to be “criminal” and are not usually brought up in the conversation of social justice? Is it simply because of the smaller percentage of Asian in American incarcerated population or other reasons?

 

Possible Adds-on Research:

  1. Interview with Asian students on and off Bryn Mawr campus about their attitudes towards Education system and Social Justice system and their thoughts on joining the larger conversation.
  2. Interview with non-Asian students about their image and thoughts about Asians in American society and where do those image come from.

 

“Purpose” of the project:

            I guess the aim of this project is a very ideal one, that is to address the existence of Asians in this society, and they are NOT just people of color. I am still thinking about the ways I would present this project and the connection with arts. I personally really like photography as a technique to present things, but I would also like to explore other means of expression. However, I am almost certain that I would write a paper on this, and possibly integrate this into my senior thesis.

Comments

jschlosser's picture

Submitted by jschlosser on September 16, 2015 - 08:19

Hi Tong:

You might look at a classic of Asian American history for some more context: Ronald Takaki's "Strangers from a Different Shore." I've had it on my list for a while so I'd love an excuse to look at it with you.

Also: Two historical events that Takaki discusses that speak to your questions and which might give you some perspective on how Asians appear in America:

1) Violence and racism around Chinese immigrant labor in the 19th Century.

2) The dispossession and internment of Japanese Amereicans during WWII.

These each have complicated histories but ones that continue to influence the politics of Asian Americans today. And they also speak to the particular, specific experience of two large Asian American groups in the US -- experiences that are distinctive and not shared by all people of color.