Week 9: Mixed-Race Dance with Mixed-Consequences

Joshua Rivera

Asian-American Studies 2 – A01

Week/Blog #9

In the article “Doing the Mixed-Race Dance: Negotiating Social Spaces Within the Multicultural Vietnamese American Class Typology”, Caroline Valverde discusses the Vietnamese community perspective of Vietnamese-Americans in relation to their culture and economic status. While some Vietnamese-Americans are praised for appearing economically wealthy by demonstrating their American culture, others are seen as poor and low class due to their appearance as Vietnamese refugees. I argue that because Vietnamese communities are rejecting Vietnamese-Americans who exemplify Vietnamese traits, they are inadvertently supporting the usage of the model minority myth. As stated in the article, it is frowned upon if Vietnamese-Americans appear to be Amerasians because they are assumed to be of low class with little education. This forces Vietnamese-Americans to try and distance themselves from appearing that way so that they can be more socially accepted within Vietnamese communities. Additionally, by creating this image, they feel like they will have more benefits with regards to how they are treated in society in general. However, by appearing to be more American while simultaneously trying to appear wealthy and educated, these individuals are creating a persona that Americans might rationalize to mean that Asians are competent individuals and that they are able to assimilate into society. As a consequence, this creates support for the model minority myth since Asians are seen as this ideal minority that should be a role model for other minorities.

Question: How can Vietnamese-Americans gain social acceptance within Vietnamese communities while simultaneously not exemplifying the model minority myth?