Shani Henderson's Week 3 Blog Post A02

Shani Henderson
Week 3
Section A02


In Manee Moua's "Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography", Moua speaks about the oppression as an Asian American woman more specifically as a Hmong American woman in the setting of academia. She also covers the overall struggles of colored people and women or minorities in higher education. Moua spoke about something interesting that striked my attention. She stated the idea of model minorities and stereotypes and how that brought both positive and negative affects on the Asian American community. Manee Moua makes it clear that there are stereotypes on Asian Americans that "they all succeed in school, as well as economically". This may seem like a positive stereotype but it does take a toll on those Asian Americans that can not fit that stereotype. Those who are not doing so well economically or those who are struggling to actually do well academically are one not fully taken seriously or two seen as Asian Americans who do not work as hard or as people who went down the wrong path, living an unsuccessful life, dropouts, or showing low levels of intelligence. This stereotype of model minorities places an image that Asian Americans feel they have to follow or live up to. The idea of the oppression that Asian Americans live with affect me in ways that may not make sense to others. Me being half African American and half Korean, allows me to empathize with the struggles that my Asian American side undergoes. But being African American as well comes with more stereotypes and oppression. Being a biracial student of my mix is hard because I am seen as an overall minority. I also see my Korean mother who struggles with the Asian American stereotypes and it makes me take a step back and really observe the unfairness that other Asian Americans go through. I personally have been through the model minorities stereotype when I was younger. Once people started to understand that I was Asian they automatically assume that I had money and that my success academically came easy. The stereotype really did undermine the effort and work I put into my studies as well as the hard work my mother and father put into giving me the most secure life they could economically!

Question: 
Would those Asian Americans that do not necessarily identify as Asian be affected by the model minority stereotypes?

References:

1. Moua, M. (2018, Jan). Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography. Hmong Studies Journal, Volume 19 (1): 1-25
2. Picture retrieved from: https://visual.ly/community/infographic/politics/breaking-model-minority-myth