Rutgers-Camden Anti-Racism Book Study: So You Want to Talk About Race
Chapter 14 - What is the model minority myth?
Model Minority: The Basics
A "model minority" is a minority group associated with positive characteristics such as educational attainment and socioeconomic success. The resources below consider how even seemingly positive stereotypes can be harmful.
Model Minority Myth: Ebooks
The Good Immigrants: How The Yellow Peril Became The Model Minority by ISBN: 9781400866373Publication Date: 2015-04-27Conventionally, US immigration history has been understood through the lens of restriction and those who have been barred from getting in. In contrast, The Good Immigrants considers immigration from the perspective of Chinese elites--intellectuals, businessmen, and students--who gained entrance because of immigration exemptions.
The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority by ISBN: 9780691157825Publication Date: 2013-11-24The Color of Success tells of the astonishing transformation of Asians in the United States from the "yellow peril" to "model minorities"--peoples distinct from the white majority but lauded as well-assimilated, upwardly mobile, and exemplars of traditional family values--in the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Saving Face: The Emotional Costs of the Asian Immigrant Family Myth by ISBN: 9780813569826Publication Date: 2016-09-20Tiger Mom. Asian patriarchy. Model minority children. Generation gap. The many images used to describe the prototypical Asian family have given rise to two versions of the Asian immigrant family myth. The first celebrates Asian families for upholding the traditional heteronormative ideal of the "normal (white) American family" based on a hard-working male breadwinner and a devoted wife and mother who raises obedient children. The other demonizes Asian families around these very same cultural values by highlighting the dangers of excessive parenting, oppressive hierarchies, and emotionless pragmatism in Asian cultures.
