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Welcome to Asian Americans.com |
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An Asian American is generally defined as a person of Asian ancestry and American citizenship, although may also be extended to include non-citizen resident Asians as well. The term Asian American was used informally by activists in the 1960s who sought an alternative to the term Oriental, arguing that the term was derogatory, and colonialist. Formal usage was introduced by academics in the early 1970s, notably by historian Yuji Ichioka, who is credited with popularizing the term.[6] Today, Asian American is the accepted term for most formal purposes, such as government and academic research, although the term is often shortened to Asian in common usage.
As with other racial and ethnic groups, formal and common usage have changed markedly through the short history of this term. The most significant change occurred when the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 eliminated highly restrictive "national origins" quotas. The new country-specific quotas enabled significant immigration from every country in Asia, which led to dramatic and ongoing changes in the Asian American population. As a result of these population changes, the formal and common understandings of what defines Asian American have expanded to include progressively more of the people with ancestry from various parts of Asia.
Terminology
The most commonly-used definition of Asian American is the Census Bureau definition of Asian, largely because the Census definitions determine many government classifications, notably for equal opportunity programs and measurements. People with original origins from the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent are included in the Census definition of Asia and not considered Asian Americans. The use of a separate "Asian" category in the Census is a recent addition, beginning in 1990. Since then, the Census definitions have varied over time. Most notably with the 2000 census separated Asian/Pacific Islander and moved Pacific Islander ethnicities into a separate racial group.
Earlier Census forms from 1980 and before listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups along with White and Black or Negro. Previously, Asian Americans were classified as "other". But the 1980 census marked the first general analyses of Asians as a group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry. People of Middle Eastern ancestry are categorized in the white census category rather than Asian.
Finally, the definition of Asian American also has variations that derive from the use of the word American in different contexts. Immigration status, citizenship, acculturation, and language ability are some variables that are used to define American for various purposes and may vary in formal and everyday usage.[14] For example, restricting American to include only U.S. citizens conflicts with discussions of Asian American businesses, which generally refer both to citizens and non-citizens.
Source: Wikipedia
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