• Race as social construction
    • Asian Americans are thought of to have less artistic value as a result of their STEM stereotyping
    • Stereotypes are similar to Halloween costumes
      • Firms (institutions) decide which costumes to create and how to market them
      • Customers (society) purchase the most popular costumes without a care about if the costume is racist or not
    • Two main stereotypes for Asian-Americans: model minority and yellow peril
  • Orientalism
    • Orientalism by Edward Said is the main text regarding orientalism
      • Focuses on the Middle East, but all of Asia is typically included in the idea of Orientalism
      • Tracks the fantasy of Orientalism in literature and academic history
      • Orientalism defined as the belief that the West and East are inherently different, but the West has a distinct superiority over the East
    • The idea of the Orient became a career as opposed to a culture, a topic to become an expert in rather than a human story
      • “The Orient can never understand their own culture, so the West must understand it for them”
    • Can be thought of as a B story; career, all show, no substance
  • Stereotypes and historical variability
    • Originally created by white liberals to understand minorities
    • Historical variability references the idea that stereotypes regarding Asians have changed over time
    • The model minority
      • Academically focused, career focused, successful
      • Economically stable, heterosexual, have children
      • Obedient and passive, making them easy to manage and hard workers
      • Conceived by a writer tryinvg to understand why Japanese-Americans were so successful despite being placed in internment camps
        • Used to distinguish “friendly” Asians from “enemy” Asiansm especially during the Cold War and era of Maoism
        • Racism is not a barrier for minorities, as they can still succeed (as evidenced by Japanese-Americans)
        • Despite the apparent racism, this view was inherently leftist; the success is based on culture rather than race
      • Moynihan Report was the first to discuss the model minority stereotype; emphasized how black people were less moral than other races, causing their failure
      • Today, the stereotype is thought of as a myth and is used by Asian-American intellectuals to fight against racist stereotypes
        • Focuses more on economic success
        • Disingenuous to think of it as a myth; certain Asian-American groups are hyperselected which causes the model minority stereotype to be true in a sense
        • Important to ask: Why is considering the model minority a myth advantageous? How is its existence as not being a myth important?
    • Yellow peril: then and now
      • Conceived in the 13th century and continued until the mid-20th century
      • Belief that Asians are not individuals but a mob of “worker bees” that work towards conquering the world
      • Labor Unions were supportive of the Chinese Exclusion Act despite the immigration of Chinese workers to the US for work on the Transcontinental Railroad during the Gold Rush
    • Jack London, “The Unparalleled Invasion”
      • London was a Socialist who emphasized his identity as a white man (was a white supremacist)
      • Tried to write fiction regarding economic uncertainty
      • In Invasion, Chinese efficiency is thought of as a threat compared to Japanese ingenuity as a model minority
      • After the destruction of China in Invasion, London realized a socialist utopia where whites were at the top of a racial hierarchy and Chinese were at the bottom
        • Hypocrisy; elimination of economic classes, but reinforcement of racial classes
    • Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)
      • After the winning the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was almost considered a Western country due to its military strength and ability to best a European country
      • Japan is shown as both the model minority and the yellow peril; thought of as a threat to the West, but also considered the “most intelligent” Asian country
      • Important to note that Russia was considered a hybrid of East and West
      • London’s interpretation of the war was that Japan’s victory could awaken China’s power as another “yellow peril” power
    • US colonization of the Philippines (1899)
      • Reverse of the yellow peril; Philippines were thought of as an endless supply of steady labor
      • Idea of the White Man’s Burden and the responsibility of Americans to bring civilization to the Philippines