The "Rise" of Asian Americans

 Image from the Pew Research Center

This study by the Pew Research Center is two years old, but it's striking in its comprehensiveness and still relevant to the work of researchers today. Among other things, it distinguishes among the 20 largest Asian American groups (the Bhutanese, Mongolian, and Okinawan round out the top 20, if you were curious). 

There are now over 18.2 million Asians in America, making Asian Americans as a group the fastest growing minority population in the U.S. While it's true that, as a group, Asian Americans have the highest median incomes among ethnic groups in the U.S., actual median incomes vary wildly among Asian American subgroups. Thus, the term "rise" is in quotations marks on this blog -- which Asian Americans are "rising"? In what sense? Also interesting is the finding that most Asian Americans don't think of themselves as "Asian American." Rather, they identify with their country of origin (e.g., 62% of those surveyed identified as Chinese American, Vietnamese American, etc., as opposed to the generic "Asian American"). Thus, it is not only inaccurate to subscribe to myths about "Asian Americans" as a homogenous group, but doing so can lead to the implementation of harmful policies in American communities as a whole.

The many differences among Asian American subgroups is all the more reason to gain a fuller understanding of how Asian Americans are integrating with and developing in the larger American context. Thus, the Pew study supports our belief that more granular studies like the ML-SAAF study are sorely needed!