Killing the Model Minority Stereotype

Asian American Counterstories and Complicity

Edited by:
Nicholas Daniel Hartlep, Illinois State University
Brad J. Porfilio, Seattle University

Published 2015

Killing the Model Minority Stereotype comprehensively explores the complex permutations of the Asian model minority myth, exposing the ways in which stereotypes of Asian/Americans operate in the service of racism. Chapters include counter-narratives, critical analyses, and transnational perspectives. This volume connects to overarching projects of decolonization, which social justice educators and practitioners will find useful for understanding how the model minority myth functions to uphold white supremacy and how complicity has a damaging impact in its perpetuation. The book adds a timely contribution to the model minority discourse.

“The contributors to this book demonstrate that the insidious model minority stereotype is alive and well. At the same time, the chapters carefully and powerfully examine ways to deconstruct and speak back to these misconceptions of Asian Americans. Hartlep and Porfilio pull together an important volume for anyone interested in how racial and ethnic stereotypes play out in the lives of people of color across various contexts.” - Vichet Chhuon, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

“This volume presents valuable additions to the model minority literature exploring narratives challenging stereotypes in a wide range of settings and providing helpful considerations for research and practice.” - David W. Chih, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“Asian Pacific Islander adolescents and young adults are especially impacted by the model minority stereotype, and this volume details the real-life consequences for them and for all communities of color. The contributors provide a wide-ranging critique and deconstruction of the stereotype by uncovering many of its manifestations, and they also take the additional step of outlining clear strategies to undo the stereotype and prevent its deleterious effects on API youth. Killing the Model Minority Stereotype: Asian American Counterstories and Complicity is an essential read for human service professionals, educators, therapists, and all allies of communities of color.” - Joseph R. Mills, LICSW, Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Seattle WA

CONTENTS
Advance Praise. Foreword, Stacey J. Lee. Acknowledgments and Dedication. Introduction, Nicholas D. Hartlep and Brad J. Porfilio. PART I: MODEL MINORITY COUNTERSTORIES. Towards the Model Minority: Asian Americanization of Burmese Immigrants as a Model Minority in a High School, Gilbert C. Park. New Starting Points: Becoming Asian Pacific Islander Educators in a Multiracial and Multicultural Society, Thomas M. Philip and Edward R. Curammeng. HAPAS in College: Multiracial Asian Identity and the Model Minority Myth, Amy L. Miller, Thai-Huy Nguyen, and Marybeth Gasman. Defiant: The Strength of Asian American and Pacific Islander Women, Marissa S. Yenpasook, Annie Nguyen, Chia S. Her, and Valerie Ooka Pang. PART II: THE MODEL MINORITY IN NON-U.S. SPACES. Importing the Asian Model Minority Discourse into Canada: Implications for Social Work and Education, Gordon Pon. The Model Minority and Yellow Peril Stereotypes in New Zealand Journalism, Grant Hannis. Model Minority Convergences in North America: Asian Parallels in Canada and the United States, Rob Ho. From Model Minorities to Disposable Models: The Delegitimization of Educational Success Through Discourses of Authenticity, Alice Bradbury. Modern Em(body)ments of the Model Minority in South Korea, Nicholas D. Hartlep. PART III: ASIAN AMERICAN COMPLICITY IN PERPETUATION OF THE MODEL MINORITY MYTH. Korean Newcomer Youth’s Experiences of Racial Marginalization and Internalization of the Model Minority Myth, Yoonjung Choi and Jae Hoon Lim. Primed to be Color-Blind: Asian American College Students, Racial Identity Development, and Color-Blind Racism, Vijay Pendakur. Deconstructing Linsanity: Is Jeremy Lin a Model Minority Subject? Nathan Kalman-Lamb. Pleasing the “Aunties”: Navigating Community Expectations within the Model Minority both in the United States and in India, Amardeep K. Kahlon. Perpetuating the Model Minority Stereotype in the Face of Highly Visible, and Highly Negative, External Events, Daisy Ball. A Few Good Asians: Unpacking Cultural Dimensions of the Model Minority Myth and Deconstructing Pathways to Complicity, Tien Ung, Shalini Tendulkar, and Jocelyn Chu. PART IV: CONSIDERATIONS WHEN CONDUCTING RESEARCH ON THE MODEL MINORITY STEREOTYPE. A Primer on Research Validity for Conducting Quantitative Studies of the Model Minority Stereotype, Grant B. Morgan and Kari J. Hodge. Statistical Procedures for Addressing Research Fallacies Such as the Model Minority Stereotype, Grant B. Morgan and Kari J. Hodge. The “Model Minority” Myth: A Critical Race Theoretical Analysis of Asian Americans in America’s Most Segregated City, Nicholas D. Hartlep and Antonio L. Ellis. An Asian American Subgroup Analysis of the Restricted-Use ELS: 2002 Dataset: Mixture Modeling as a Way to Problematize the Asian American “Model Minority” Stereotype, Nicholas D. Hartlep, Grant B. Morgan, and Kari J. Hodge. Afterword, Greg Tanaka. Biographies.