Asian American Identity Essay -- Culture Race

Silence as Beauty, Silence as Self The Asian American IdentityThe articulate American encompasses many different cultures and races. However,American society is often guilty of assuming there is only one true, certainly white, Americanface, voice, and behavior. Associate prof of Sociology, Minako Maykovich, states that thecriteria for physical characteristics are generally determined by the dominant group in society,thus racial difference is the greatest obstacle to the process of assimilation (68). In TraiseYamamotos nonfiction narrative, Different Silences, and Janice Mirikitanis poem, BreakingSilence, the authors explore their Asian American identities as defined by American culture.The quest to carry away stereotypes and expectations through visible behavior coincides with anAsian custom that values silence more highly then North Americans (Donahue 265).Mirikitanis poem, Breaking Silence, focuses on her mothers experience testifying to theCommission on Wartime Relocation and I nternment of Japanese American Civilians in 1981.Yamamoto, who is also a poet, takes a more assertive and personal place in herautobiographical narrative, Different Silences. These Japanese American authors seek to reclaimtheir heritage by aggressively confronting their white American audience, while retainingan empowered, wise situation that uplifts the seemingly invisible and silent Asian Americancommunity.Yamamotos Different Silences and Mirikitanis Breaking Silence both recognizehow Asian Americans in the away and present have used, or use, silence for protection. AsJapanese Americans of the third generation, or Sanseis, Yamamoto and Mirikitani both reflect ontheir ethnic herita... ...icanssome are opprobrious silences that need to be broken, as Mirikitani observes, but the healthysilences are inherently part of the Asian American identity.Works CitedDonahue, Ray T. Japanese Culture and discourse Critical Cultural Analysis. New YorkUniversity Press of American, Inc., 1998. Espiritu, Yen Le. Asian American Women and Men Labor, Laws, and Love. London SagePublications, 1997.Leitner-Rudolph, Miryam. Janice Mirikitani and Her Work. Austria Braumueller, 2001.Maykovich, Minako K. Japanese American Identity Dilemma. Tokyo roadside University Press1972.Mirikitani, Janice. Breaking Silence. Shedding Silence. Berkeley Celestial Arts, 1987. 33-36.Yamamoto, Traise. Different Silences. Asian American Literature A Brief Introduction andAnthology. Ed. Shawn Wong. New York Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996. 45-50.