The Color of Success tells of the astonishing transformation of Asians in the United States from the "yellow peril" to "model minorities"--peoples distinct from the white majority but lauded as well-assimilated; upwardly mobile; and exemplars of traditional family values--in the middle decades of the twentieth century. As Ellen Wu shows; liberals argued for the acceptance of these immigrant communities into the national fold; charging that the failure of America to live in accordance with its democratic ideals endangered the country's aspirations to world leadership. Weaving together myriad perspectives; Wu provides an unprecedented view of racial reform and the contradictions of national belonging in the civil rights era. She highlights the contests for power and authority within Japanese and Chinese America alongside the designs of those external to these populations; including government officials; social scientists; journalists; and others. And she demonstrates that the invention of the model minority took place in multiple arenas; such as battles over zoot suiters leaving wartime internment camps; the juvenile delinquency panic of the 1950s; Hawaii statehood; and the African American freedom movement. Together; these illuminate the impact of foreign relations on the domestic racial order and how the nation accepted Asians as legitimate citizens while continuing to perceive them as indelible outsiders. By charting the emergence of the model minority stereotype; The Color of Success reveals that this far-reaching; politically charged process continues to have profound implications for how Americans understand race; opportunity; and nationhood.
#2191072 in Books 2013-12-01 2013-12-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.21 x .82 x 6.14l; 1.06 #File Name: 0691162166328 pages
Review
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Dutch Orientalism examined post mortemBy Prof. Dr. Karel SteenbrinkAccording to my memory Ben Boland once wrote that there is no big theory; even not e true general history of Islam in Indonesia; written by a Dutch scholar. Commenting on a book by G.F. Pijper he once wrote that the only result we have to present the scholarly community is Fragmenta Islamic. I could not find the original place of the quote; but I several though about this remark when reading a very important new book by Michael Laffan; The Makings of Indonesian Islam: Orientalism and the Narration of a Sufi Past (Princeton University Press; 2011; 301 pages).The book wants to give two broad histories: 1) a history of Indonesian Islam according to the many written sources consulted by Laffan; 2) a history and critique of Western studies of Indonesian Islam. the book is not about independent Indonesia and not about Indonesian scholars (no Taufiq Abdullah; Deliar Noer; Alfian). It ends with the Dutch scholars of the 1930s; G.F. Pijper and Schrieke. It only has a few remarks about post/1945 giants like Clifford Geertz; not much about Anthony Johns and Merle Ricklefs who both in a very different way supported the thesis of a mystic character of the Islamic past of Indonesia. It is not a book for the beginning student of Islam in Indonesia. It is a long essay on many scholars; officials; missionaries who wrote about Islam and; of course; writes at length about the towering figure of Snouck Hurgronje. I have to admit that I found it very difficult to read: it is a very ideological or abstract theoretical discussion of rather down to earth and sober writing Dutch scholars who did not like too much theoretical discourse. Therefore it seems quite often very generalizing. From time to time; however; he has keen information about concrete facts as well. On p. 69 he criticizes a passage in my Dutch Colonialism and Indonesian Islam; p. 33/34 where I suggest that the Malay text of Book of Thousand Questions was not directly known to Van Eck and his informants in the archipelago. I have to check it with Valentijn; but I suppose that Laffan is right. Karel Steenbrink; Utrecht University
