Neglected Voices in the Multicultural America: Asian American Racial Politics and Its Implication for Multicultural Education

Abstract

The author explores changing representations of Asians in the history of the United States through critical cultural and historical analysis and delineates the underlying power relationships in the racial discourse of the United States. The author argues that the representation of Asians, especially the model minority construct, has been influenced by the domestic and global economical and political milieu. However, the notion of Asian-ness is not a stable and unifying concept. It has changed and it will continue to change. By merely embracing diversity without a critical examination of racial politics in our classrooms and society, multicultural education only reinforces White hegemony.