Asian Americans

Abstract

From the American Civil Rights Movement onward, people (usually whites) have deployed Asian Americans to pathologize Latinx and blacks. Whites as well as some members of other ethnic minorities continue to cite Asian American achievement to dismiss calls to dismantle structural inequities or to exceptionalize Asian Americans. As a result, Asian Americans have a unclear racial identity – not truly “of color,” yet not white – or “the other white meat.” Can Asian American be the other white meat and people of color? If not, what are they? Imitation whites? Asian American females must manage intersecting racial and gender expectations, frequently crafting individual and group identities through negotiation with stereotypes and socially constructed conceptualizations. This chapter excavates how the model minority myth, Orientalism, and non-racialized otherness impact Asian American girls and women. By understanding the tensions between the social construction and lived experiences of “Asian-ness,” sport and exercise psychologists may develop the cultural competence and reflexivity necessary to work effectively with Asian American women and identify ways to encourage Asian Americans to engage with and adhere to physical activity and sports.