Variation in Asian and Pacific Islander North American English

BackgroundIn meta-analyses of genetic association studies, ancestry and ethnicity are not accurately investigated. Ethnicity is usually classified using conventional race/ethnic categories or continental groupings even though they could introduce bias increasing heterogeneity between and within studies; thus decreasing the external validity of the results. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis using a novel ethnic classification system to test the association between MCP-1 -2518 polymorphism and pulmonary tuberculosis. Our new classification considers genetic distance, migration and linguistic origins, which will increase homogeneity within ethnic groups.MethodsWe included thirteen studies from three continents (Asia, Africa and Latin America) and considered seven ethnic groups (West Africa, South Africa, Saharan Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Persia and Latin America).ResultsThe results were compared to the continental group classification. We found a significant association between MCP-1 -2518 polymorphism and TB susceptibility only in the East Asian and Latin American groups (OR 3.47, P = 0.08; OR 2.73, P = 0.02). This association is not observed in other ethnic groups that are usually considered in the Asian group, such as India and Persia, or in the African group.ConclusionsThere is an association between MCP-1 -2518 polymorphism and TB susceptibility only in the East Asian and Latin American groups. We suggest the use of our new ethnic classification in future meta-analysis of genetic association studies when ancestry markers are not available. This new classification increases homogeneity for certain ethnic groups compared to the continental classification. We recommend considering previous data about migration, linguistics and genetic distance when classifying ethnicity in further studies.

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, November 1998, pp. 125-141 RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION OF ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE ATLANTA METROPOLITAN AREA, 1990 Qian Zhang The residential segregation patterns of Asian Americans in U.S. metropolitan areas have changed over time and have also varied in different urban settings. Atlanta, unlike major immi­ gration centers, has virtually no long-established ethnic enclaves and no traditional immigra­ tion networks. It thus provides a different urban setting for the study of Asian-American residential segregation patterns. The validity of previous conclusions about Asian-American segregation patterns, which are based on studies of traditional immigration centers in earlier time periods, needs to be tested in different urban settings such as Atlanta. In the Atlanta MSA in 1990, the most recently arrived Asian-American group, the Vietnamese, display the highest levels of segregation from Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and other Asian-American groups. The well-established Asian group, the Chinese, are the most integrated with Whites. All AsianAmerican groups are highly segregated from Blacks in the Atlanta MSA; they are also, to a con­ siderable extent, residentially segregated from each other. Their segregation levels from His­ panics are relatively moderate. INTRODUCTION. The 1980 census provided a full set of cross-tabulations at the census-tract level for persons who identified themselves as Asians or Pacific Is­ landers. These data formed the basis for a number of studies of Asian-American residential segregation (Denton and Massey, 1988; Lanberg and Farley, 1985; Massey and Denton, 1987). It was in the 1970s that Asian Americans, as a group, emerged as an important object of the study of urban residential patterns, and some common attributes of Asian Americans, in terms of their residential pat­ terns, were found. Asian Americans display low to moderate segregation from Whites, and the levels of Asian-White segregation have fallen steadily over time (Lanberg and Farley, 1985; Massey and Denton, 1987). However, Asians, like Whites, displayed a high degree of residential segregation from Blacks, which cannot be simply explained by the two groups’ difference in socioeconomic status (Lanberg and Farley, 1985; Massey and Denton, 1987; Denton and Massey, 1988; Massey and Fong, 1990; Fong, 1996). The better established Asian ethnic groups, such as the Chinese and the Japanese, had lower segregation levels com­ pared to more recent immigrants such as the Vietnamese (Denton and Massey, 1988; Massey and Denton, 1992). Asian Americans have also been successful in obtaining suburban residences and are becoming more spatially integrated into the suburbs (Alba and Logan, 1991). In their path from residential segregation to spatial assimilation, and then to economic and cultural assimilation, Asian Mr. Zhang is a doctoral student in the Department o f Sociology at Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520. 126 S o u t h e a s t e r n G e o g r a p h e r Americans have largely conformed to the basic tenets of spatial assimilation the­ ory, 1they have confronted fewer barriers, and they have displayed lower levels of segregation compared to many other ethnic and racial groups (Massey and Denton, 1992). The intergroup difference within the broad category “Asian American,” nev­ ertheless, is notable in two aspects. First, their segregation patterns from AngloWhites , Blacks, and Hispanics are different (Lanberg and Farley, 1985). Each group’s specific history of immigration to the United States has had its impact on residential patterns. Usually, the well-established groups show lower levels of segregation from Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics, while recently arrived groups are more segregated. Second, the residential segregation among different AsianAmerican groups is remarkable (White et al., 1991; Zhou and Logan, 1991). For instance, the three East Asian (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) groups’ segrega­ tion levels from each other are lower than their segregation levels from other Asian groups (Massey and Denton, 1992). Moreover, there is also notable geo­ graphic variation of Asian-American segregation patterns within the United States, as those in metropolitan areas of the Northeast and Midwest differ from those in the West and the South (Alba and Logan, 1991). PURPOSE. The purpose of this study is to identify the Asian-American residen­ tial segregation patterns for 1990 in the Atlanta metropolitan area. This study...

This chapter gives an overview of the socioeconomic situation of Asian immigrants, and their decedents, in Sweden. With the steady growth in the number of immigrants from Asian countries to Sweden since the 1970s, Asians are becoming increasingly visible among the Swedish population. However, they are rarely represented in the public, political, and academic discussions. As a first step to tackle the “narrative scarcity” (Lee and Ramakrishnan, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 7 (2):, 1–20, 2021), we use register data to describe the educational position and employment situation of the 10 largest East, South and Southeast Asian groups in Sweden, in comparison to non-Asian immigrant groups. We found differences based on the regions of origin: East Asian groups are highly educated but have lower employment rates. Once employed, they work in highly skilled occupations. Southeast Asians have lower education and, therefore, are underrepresented in highly skilled jobs but have high employment rates. South Asians stand between these two groups.

This article discusses the phonological and lexical variations of the Javanese language in Batang Regency, focusing on the geographic dialect framework. Using a dialectological approach, particularly within the framework of geographic dialect theory, this article analyzes the phonological variations of Javanese, including local sound variations, consonants, vowel and consonant sound correspondences, and the patterns of syllables formed. The research data consists of oral Javanese speech used by native speakers and residents of Bawang Subdistrict in Batang Regency. Based on data analysis, phonological variations were identified, including sound changes and syllable patterns. Sound changes included free variations such as vowel sound changes in the first syllable, vowel sound changes in the second syllable, vowel sound changes in both the first and second syllables, consonant replacement in the first syllable, and consonant replacement in the second syllable. Additional sounds were observed, including prosthesis and paragogee. Sound reductions, including apheresis and syncope, as well as sound shifts, were also found. Seven syllable patterns were identified, including V, VK, KVK, KKV, KKVK, KKKV, and KKKVK. These phonological variation data are then presented on a language map. Geographic factors are identified as the causes of Javanese language variations in Batang Regency.

Introduction This chapter describes methods of analysing phonetic and phonological variation on the suprasegmental (or prosodic) level. The suprasegmental level comprises all phonological units and processes that are larger than individual speech sounds. Thus, the prosodic features that can be investigated to document language variation and change include: stress placement in words and utterances speech rhythm and intonation. There are a number of widely accepted research methods for studying and describing phonological and phonetic variation on the suprasegmental level. In Section 2, the auditory (Section 2.1) and the acoustic method (Section 2.2) of analysing word stress are discussed. Section 3 presents methods of analysing variation in speech rhythm. The methods of studying variation in intonation are presented in Section 4. This comprises the auditory method (Section 4.1), the combined auditory-acoustic method (Section 4.2) and the acoustic analysis of pitch and intonation (Section 4.3). Word stress Stress is a property of syllables and refers to the relative prominence a syllable has. It is defined as an abstract phonological category that forms part of a speaker’s knowledge: it refers to the speaker’s mental representation of a property of a specific syllable of a word. While in intonation languages such as Mandarin and Igbo stress seems to play a minor role, in other languages words have specific stress patterns. In the case of fixed stress languages, all multisyllabic words of a language have stress on a particular syllable, for example on the last syllable in Turkish or on the penultimate syllable in Welsh. In languages with free lexical stress like English, all content words with two or more syllables have at least one stressed syllable. Which of the syllables is stressed can be at least in part predicted by a set of complex rules (see e.g. Roach 1991: chapters 10 and 11).

BackgroundThe National Children’s Study (NCS) is a prospective epidemiological study in the USA tasked with identifying a nationally representative sample of 100,000 children, and following them from their gestation until they are 21 years of age. The objective of the study is to measure environmental and genetic influences on growth, development, and health. Determination of the ancestry of these NCS participants is important for assessing the diversity of study participants and for examining the effect of ancestry on various health outcomes.ResultsWe estimated the genetic ancestry of a convenience sample of 641 parents enrolled at the 7 original NCS Vanguard sites, by analyzing 30,000 markers on exome arrays, using the 1000 Genomes Project superpopulations as reference populations, and compared this with the measures of self-reported ethnicity and race. For 99% of the individuals, self-reported ethnicity and race agreed with the predicted superpopulation. NCS individuals self-reporting as Asian had genetic ancestry of either South Asian or East Asian groups, while those reporting as either Hispanic White or Hispanic Other had similar genetic ancestry. Of the 33 individuals who self-reported as Multiracial or Non-Hispanic Other, 33% matched the South Asian or East Asian groups, while these groups represented only 4.4% of the other reported categories.ConclusionsOur data suggest that self-reported ethnicity and race have some limitations in accurately capturing Hispanic and South Asian populations. Overall, however, our data indicate that despite the complexity of the US population, individuals know their ancestral origins, and that self-reported ethnicity and race is a reliable indicator of genetic ancestry.

Phonological Variation and Sound Change in Atayal1 Der-Hwa V. Rau Three phonological variables in Atayal, (p), (m), and (l), have been identified by Li (1982) as evidencing sound change in progress. Older people tend to retain word-final [-p], [-m], and [-l], while younger people are replacing them with word-final [-k], [-ŋ], and [-n], respectively. In a recent study of Atayalic dialects, Rau (in press) discovered that new variants that do not seem to be determined by the age factor are present in the patterning. The current study explores how age, gender, social class, and social network are related to the use of these three variables in the Mstbon community. The directionality and implicational patterning of the sound change are also explored. The results indicate that the phonological variation in (m) and (l) is correlated with age, but that word-final [-p] has almost completed its change to [-k] in the community. In fact, a new variant [-t] is emerging, led by the highest social class. The direction of sound change for (p) and (m) shifts towards simplification, while the new variant for (l) arises possibly due to language contact. Furthermore, lexical diffusion plays a role in the change. Some lexical items have completed the change to new forms while others contain residues. 1. Introduction This study investigates how social factors are related to phonological variation and sound change in progress in the Squliq variety of Atayal spoken in the Mstbon community.2 Located in Faxiang village, Ren'ai township, Nantou county, where the Atayalic dialects are most diversified (Li 1993), this community is reputed to be the original home of the Atayal. The population of Faxiang village was 935 in 1996, according to the survey conducted by the Office of Family Registrar. More than one-third of these people are in the Ruiyan community (~350), and the male/female ratio is estimated to be 1.5:1. Li (1982) compared phonological data from 14 Atayalic dialects, not including the Mstbon dialect, and proposed the following four types of linguistic variation for different age groups: [End Page 144] 1. p ~ -k, -m ~ ŋ 2. -g ~ -w or -g ~ -y 3. -l ~ -n 4. -t ~ -c Older speakers retained the forms on the left of the alternation sign( "~"), while younger speakers used the forms on the right. Those in between showed gradual changes and used "free variants." He also observed that gender determined variation in some cases. Males were in the lead in the Skikun dialect whereas females were in the lead in the Inago dialect. Furthermore, the lexical application of a sound change was found to be gradual in the case of Skikun and Inago, where the lexical diffusion was manifested in the speech of different age groups (i.e., "successive generations"), rather than in the speech of the same adult speaker as the speaker gets older. Although Li's methodology is based on historical linguistics and traditional dialectology, he has certainly made several important observations and hypotheses on sound change that await further quantitative analyses based on a methodology of sociolinguistic variation. Among the phonological variation identified by Li (1982), three phonological variables stand out because they have either been cited as a well-known case of sound change in Atayal or observed in studies of other Atayalic dialects. For example, (p) and (m) were cited as an example of sound change determined by age in a basic linguistics text (Ho 1993:110-111) and (l) was observed to vary between different age groups in Pyasan dialect (Papa 1995:6) and Mabalay dialect (Lambert 1999:5). The three variables were identified as undergoing sound change in progress; older people tend to retain word final [-p], [-m], and [-l], while younger ones are replacing them with word final [-k], [-ŋ], and [-n], respectively. The overall direction of sound change in the Atayalic group was found to move towards simplification or "unmarkedness" (Li 1982). Nevertheless, in a recent study of Atayalic dialects, Rau (in press) discovered that new variants that do not seem to be determined by the age factor are present in the patterning. In fact, the change from labials to velars is not completed in Mstbon, contrary to what...

Phonological Variation and Sound Change in Atayal1 Der-Hwa V. Rau Three phonological variables in Atayal, (p), (m), and (l), have been identified by Li (1982) as evidencing sound change in progress. Older people tend to retain word-final [-p], [-m], and [-l], while younger people are replacing them with word-final [-k], [-ŋ], and [-n], respectively. In a recent study of Atayalic dialects, Rau (in press) discovered that new variants that do not seem to be determined by the age factor are present in the patterning. The current study explores how age, gender, social class, and social network are related to the use of these three variables in the Mstbon community. The directionality and implicational patterning of the sound change are also explored. The results indicate that the phonological variation in (m) and (l) is correlated with age, but that word-final [-p] has almost completed its change to [-k] in the community. In fact, a new variant [-t] is emerging, led by the highest social class. The direction of sound change for (p) and (m) shifts towards simplification, while the new variant for (l) arises possibly due to language contact. Furthermore, lexical diffusion plays a role in the change. Some lexical items have completed the change to new forms while others contain residues. 1. Introduction This study investigates how social factors are related to phonological variation and sound change in progress in the Squliq variety of Atayal spoken in the Mstbon community.2 Located in Faxiang village, Ren'ai township, Nantou county, where the Atayalic dialects are most diversified (Li 1993), this community is reputed to be the original home of the Atayal. The population of Faxiang village was 935 in 1996, according to the survey conducted by the Office of Family Registrar. More than one-third of these people are in the Ruiyan community (~350), and the male/female ratio is estimated to be 1.5:1. Li (1982) compared phonological data from 14 Atayalic dialects, not including the Mstbon dialect, and proposed the following four types of linguistic variation for different age groups: [End Page 144] 1. p ~ -k, -m ~ ŋ 2. -g ~ -w or -g ~ -y 3. -l ~ -n 4. -t ~ -c Older speakers retained the forms on the left of the alternation sign( "~"), while younger speakers used the forms on the right. Those in between showed gradual changes and used "free variants." He also observed that gender determined variation in some cases. Males were in the lead in the Skikun dialect whereas females were in the lead in the Inago dialect. Furthermore, the lexical application of a sound change was found to be gradual in the case of Skikun and Inago, where the lexical diffusion was manifested in the speech of different age groups (i.e., "successive generations"), rather than in the speech of the same adult speaker as the speaker gets older. Although Li's methodology is based on historical linguistics and traditional dialectology, he has certainly made several important observations and hypotheses on sound change that await further quantitative analyses based on a methodology of sociolinguistic variation. Among the phonological variation identified by Li (1982), three phonological variables stand out because they have either been cited as a well-known case of sound change in Atayal or observed in studies of other Atayalic dialects. For example, (p) and (m) were cited as an example of sound change determined by age in a basic linguistics text (Ho 1993:110-111) and (l) was observed to vary between different age groups in Pyasan dialect (Papa 1995:6) and Mabalay dialect (Lambert 1999:5). The three variables were identified as undergoing sound change in progress; older people tend to retain word final [-p], [-m], and [-l], while younger ones are replacing them with word final [-k], [-ŋ], and [-n], respectively. The overall direction of sound change in the Atayalic group was found to move towards simplification or "unmarkedness" (Li 1982). Nevertheless, in a recent study of Atayalic dialects, Rau (in press) discovered that new variants that do not seem to be determined by the age factor are present in the patterning. In fact, the change from labials to velars is not completed in Mstbon, contrary to what...

Variability is in the nature of an ever-changing language. The language teacher cannot responsibly dodge variability but must arrive at a realistic strategy for coping with it. Such a strategy is outlined here. Its realism is derived from an understanding of sound change in language and of the language-level (as opposed to dialect-level) goal of the student. Sound change has affected the phonemic inventory, the phonemic word classes, and the phonetic composition of phonemes in every dialect. The teaching strategy developed here achnowledges such sound changes and uses this information to promote the student's language-level goal. This is accomplished by avoiding the dialectal dogmatism which arises out of the phonemic approach to teaching. In place of the phoneme is the language-level concept of contrast unit. In the contrast approach to pronunciation, the teacher eliminates from instructional materials all instances of variability in phonemic inventory and phonemic word classes, that is, all phonological variability. But the teacher does nothing to eliminate or modify his or her allophonic repertoire, or phonetic variability, although tolerance in accepting known variants is encouraged.

Honoring Asian diversity by collecting Asian subpopulation data in health research.

<div>Abstract<p>Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a challenging malignancy with known disparities in outcomes across ethnicities. Studies specifically investigating PDAC in Asian populations are sparse, overlooking the rich diversity within this group. This research seeks to fill that gap by examining survival differences across the broad spectrum of Asian ethnicities, acknowledging the complexity and varied experiences within these communities. Utilizing the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2019, we categorized patients into East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander groups. Non-Asians or Pacific Islanders were excluded. Overall survival was analyzed using a Cox hazards model. The study consisted of 13,254 patients. Most patients were East Asian (59.4%, <i>n</i> = 7,866). Southeast Asians exhibited the poorest survival in unadjusted analysis (HR, 1.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.23–1.42; <i>P</i> < 0.001) compared with South Asians who exhibited the best survival. Multivariable analysis revealed significantly worse survival for East Asians and Pacific Islanders relative to South Asians, whereas Southeast Asians’ results were not significantly different. Asian subgroup differences notably affect PDAC outcomes. Research on genetic and cultural aspects, especially in Southeast Asians, and tackling health disparities are crucial for enhancing survival in this diverse disease.</p>Significance:<p>This study highlights the significant survival disparities among Asian subgroups with pancreatic cancer, utilizing a large national database. By differentiating among East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander groups, it underscores the need for tailored research and healthcare approaches. Addressing these differences is essential for developing culturally sensitive interventions and potentially improving outcomes in a disease that uniquely affects these diverse populations.</p></div>

<div>Abstract<p>Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a challenging malignancy with known disparities in outcomes across ethnicities. Studies specifically investigating PDAC in Asian populations are sparse, overlooking the rich diversity within this group. This research seeks to fill that gap by examining survival differences across the broad spectrum of Asian ethnicities, acknowledging the complexity and varied experiences within these communities. Utilizing the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2019, we categorized patients into East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander groups. Non-Asians or Pacific Islanders were excluded. Overall survival was analyzed using a Cox hazards model. The study consisted of 13,254 patients. Most patients were East Asian (59.4%, <i>n</i> = 7,866). Southeast Asians exhibited the poorest survival in unadjusted analysis (HR, 1.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.23–1.42; <i>P</i> < 0.001) compared with South Asians who exhibited the best survival. Multivariable analysis revealed significantly worse survival for East Asians and Pacific Islanders relative to South Asians, whereas Southeast Asians’ results were not significantly different. Asian subgroup differences notably affect PDAC outcomes. Research on genetic and cultural aspects, especially in Southeast Asians, and tackling health disparities are crucial for enhancing survival in this diverse disease.</p>Significance:<p>This study highlights the significant survival disparities among Asian subgroups with pancreatic cancer, utilizing a large national database. By differentiating among East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander groups, it underscores the need for tailored research and healthcare approaches. Addressing these differences is essential for developing culturally sensitive interventions and potentially improving outcomes in a disease that uniquely affects these diverse populations.</p></div>

Introduction Vancouver Coastal Health Authority’s Healthy Living Program implemented this pilot study to test and validate the Canadian Diabetes Risk Assessment Questionnaire (CANRISK) developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada as a screening tool for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and prediabetes. Key objectives were to test the feasibility and acceptability of screening urban ethnic groups using the CANRISK, increase awareness of risk factors for DM and preDM and develop resources for lifestyle change. Methods The study recruited participants through community groups and churches, intraorganizational emails, primary care clinics and word of mouth. They completed the CANRISK and an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) either individually or as part of a group. Groups received a brief diabetes prevention information session. Documents to support lifestyle change were distributed to all participants. Results Participants (n = 556) were recruited among East Asian, Caucasian, South Asian and Latin American ethnic groups. Of these, 17% had OGTT results in the preDM range and 3% in the DM range. Over 90% of participants reported that the CANRISK wording was clear and that they had received useful information about lowering their diabetes risk. Conclusion The benefit of using an OGTT was in identifying 11% of the sample of participants who had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and did not show abnormal fasting plasma glucose (FPG) results. All participants with abnormal laboratory results were provided with follow-up educational interventions in their own language.

Racial/ethnic disparities mar NSCLC care and treatment outcomes. While socioeconomic factors and access to healthcare are important drivers of NSCLC disparities, a deeper understanding of genetic ancestry-associated genomic landscapes can better inform the biology and the treatment actionability for these tumors. We present a comprehensive ancestry-based prevalence and co-alteration landscape of genomic alterations and immunotherapy-associated biomarkers in patients with KRAS and EGFR-altered non-squamous (non-Sq) NSCLC. KRAS was the most frequently altered oncogene in European (EUR) and African (AFR), while EGFR alterations predominated in East Asian (EAS), South Asian (SAS), and Admixed American (AMR) groups, consistent with prior studies. As expected, STK11 and KEAP1 alterations co-occurred with KRAS alterations while showing mutual exclusivity with EGFR alterations. EAS and AMR KRAS-altered non-Sq NSCLC showed lower rates of co-occurring STK11 and KEAP1 alterations relative to other ancestry groups. Ancestry-specific co-alterations included the co-occurrence of KRAS and GNAS alterations in AMR, KRAS, and ARID1A alterations in SAS, and the mutual exclusivity of KRAS and NF1 alterations in the EUR and AFR ancestries. Contrastingly, EGFR-altered tumors exhibited a more conserved co-alteration landscape across ancestries. AFR exhibited the highest tumor mutational burden, with potential therapeutic implications for these tumors.

A Success Worse Than Failure Minh-Ha T. Pham (bio) I already had failure on my mind when Timothy Yu’s blog post “Has Asian American Studies Failed?” appeared on my Facebook news feed. That was around the same time I bought and began reading J. Jack Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure after listening to a podcast of Halberstam on The Critical Lede. To paraphrase Halberstam, failure is a counterintuitive mode of knowing and doing that refuses the normalizing models of success that often have the effect of disciplining us into heterosexist capitalist structures of knowledge, feelings, and ideas about the world and ourselves. Understood in this way, failure potentially offers a unique set of rewards including “escape [from] the punishing norms that discipline behavior and manage human development,” the preservation of “some of the wondrous anarchy of childhood,” and an “opportunity to . . . poke holes in the toxic positivity of contemporary life” in which promises of happiness and success function paradoxically as implicit threats of personal misery and failure.3 Reading beyond Yu’s blog post title, I soon realized that I had misread failure. Yes, I had failed at “failure.” Yu’s “failure” is a diagnosis of the state of Asian American studies rather than a narrative of Asian Americanist practices. Still, I think my initial misreading of Yu’s title may not be all bad. It might be one of those times in which, in Trinh T. Minh-ha’s words, “the accidental becomes essential.”4 This unintentional misreading, I suggest, begins a long overdue discussion about failure that reaches beyond evaluation toward a more speculative and suggestive inquiry about Asian Americans’ historically fraught relationship to “failure” and “success.” As readers of this journal are no doubt aware, Asians in the United States have long been perceived as failures. In the imperializing logic of nineteenth-century Orientalism, it was the “failure” of Asian cultural and political structures to survive or thrive in the modern age that served as a rationale for the legacy of informal and institutionalized discrimination and exclusion brought to bear on all Asian groups in complex and uneven ways. Such Oriental failures gave rise to an array of other failures: Asians’ failure to assimilate, their failure to learn English, and their failure to achieve the trappings of white American middle-class life including a nuclear family. By the mid-twentieth century, of course, the general perception of Asian Americans had dramatically shifted. Splashy media stories hailed Asian Americans not as failures but as quintessential American success stories. Well-known articles published in 1966 trumpeted Japanese Americans as “better than any other group in our society, including native-born whites” (New York Times Magazine)5 and Chinese Americans as “a model of self-respect and achievement” (US News & World [End Page 330] Report).6 Asian Americans’ putative family values, work ethic, and thriftiness were cited as explanations for their success. By the 1980s, the Asian American model minority stereotype, or what Fortune magazine called “America’s Super Minority,”7 was well established in the popular discourse about U.S. race relations. It served as a liberal alibi for the unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and political power among whites and nonwhites and, in the process, pitted Asian Americans against other racialized minorities. Thus, even “Asian American success” is a kind of failure—what Frank Wu aptly describes as “a race relations failure.”8 The success/failure apparatus of Asian difference operates differently for different Asian ethnic groups. The “success story” of South Asian Americans, for example, is articulated through the construction of the model minority as ideal worker. Vijay Prashad explains in Karma of Brown Folk that the desi model worker stereotype is a double-edged sword that is wielded against South Asian Americans who, as a racial “solution” to a labor problem, must accept that “we are only wanted here for our labor and not . . . our lives” and against African Americans who are blamed for their “inability to rise of their own volition.”9 For Southeast Asian Americans, “success” is bound up with the trauma and disillusionment of the failures of the wars in Southeast Asia and their identity as war’s “losers...