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Asian Americans are the fastest-growing voting bloc in the United States, with AAPI turnout hitting a record high in the 2020 elections. Yet, as a political cohort, they are also remarkably complex and diverse, encompassing a number of ethno-racial groups with different languages, religions, and cultures. How, exactly, can we define Asian America? And what insight can we discern from their politics?
In The Battle for Belonging, Andrew L. Aoki, James S. Lai, and Okiyoshi Takeda provide the first comprehensive, up-to-date textbook in over a decade that guides readers through the key political issues, beliefs, and activism that shape the lives of Asian Americans today.
Beginning with the first large waves of immigrants, the authors show Asians in America have fought for equal treatment and opportunity, struggling against individual prejudices and systemic discrimination. While this battle for belonging has been a constant, Asian America has changed greatly. The authors look at how the growing diversity has contributed to a wider range of views, and how the changing circumstances of Asian immigrants has helped drive new forms of political engagement. No longer clustered in inner-city areas, Asian Americans today are often concentrated in suburban cities, mobilizing through online platforms that can be overlooked by more traditional political organizing.
Timely topics include the social media activism of unnaturalized Asian American youth; the role that Asian American community-based organizations play as key political actors; the strategies employed by Asian American political campaigns and office-holders; and recent coalition-building with other people of color, including Black and Indigenous communities. Ultimately, Aoki, Lai, and Takeda provide much-needed, contemporary insight into the changing political identity and actions of Asian Americans.
The Battle for Belonging is a comprehensive text that covers key concepts and academic theories with the most up-to-date research on the politics of Asian Americans. It fills a much needed void by connecting together ideas from fields ranging from political science, ethnic studies, Asian American studies and history into a straightforward and approachable discussion useful for both new and seasoned followers of Asian American politics. We learn from this book of the many Asian Americans contributions to American democratic practice as they 'battle for belonging' in the United States. These lessons help us work through the ideals of governance and also help us to answer the question of what it means to be American.
Andrew L. Aoki is Professor in the Department of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies at Augsburg University, and co-author of Newcomers, Outsiders, and Insiders: Immigrants and American Racial Politics in the Early Twenty-First Century.
James S. Lai (Author)
James S. Lai is a Professor in the Ethnic Studies Department with a courtesy appointment in the Political Science Department at Santa Clara University. He is the author of Asian American Connective Action in the Age of Social Media: Civic Engagement, Contested Issues, and Emerging Identities, Asian American Political Action: Suburban Transformations, and co-editor of Asian American Politics: Law, Policy, and Participation.
Okiyoshi Takeda (Author)
Okiyoshi Takeda is Professor in the School of International Politics, Economics, and Communication at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, and author of Asian American Politics.