Race and Politics: Asian Americans, Latinos, and Whites in a Los Angeles Suburb (Asian American Experience)
By:
Leland T. Saito
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Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5
Description:
California's San Gabriel Valley has been called an incubator for ethnic politics. Located a mere fifteen minutes from Los Angeles, the valley is a brave new world of multiethnic complexity. Here Latinos and Asian Americans are the dominant groups, rather than the minorities they are elsewhere in the United States. Politics are Latino-dominated, while a large infusion of Chinese immigrants and capital has made the San Gabriel Valley the center of the nation's largest Chinese ethnic economy. The white population has dropped from an overwhelming majority in 1970 to a minority in 1990. Leland T. Saito presents an insider's view of the political, economic, and cultural implications of this ethnic mix. He examines how diverse residents of the region have worked to overcome their initial antagonisms and develop new, more effective political alliances. By tracing grass-roots political organization along racial and ethnic lines, Race and Politics focuses on the construction of new identities, especially the panethnic affiliation "Asian American".
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Diversity in Suburbia - I read Saito's book for a course he taught at UCSD in San Diego. I felt that from his book I was given not only a unique and fascinating sociological examination of the interworkings of perhaps the first Asian suburban neighborhood in America, but I was also enlightened to a relatively new notion of 'whiteness' and its effects on the American scene. This book may be read by high school students or academic scholars, the topics of which address some of the most controversial issues in contemporary society.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Intense, worthy read - I came upon the book in an unusual way. I was having dinner with a group of educators and happened to meet the author. Over dinner he talked about some of the issues he came across in his research and I decided to pick up a copy a few days later. I read the book and it surprised me. It was interesting to me because I'm from Hawaii, and the experiences of Asian Americans there, I think, are different, and the text let me experience a major community outside my own. And while I don't see myself as politically driven, I found myself caught up in the alliances/divisions he sees forming in the San Gabriel Valley. As the text examines the theoretical aspects of the politicking in that community, it also presents detailed accounts of actual events that took place during the various stages of grassroots organizing. The depth of the cross-referencing is impressive, but what strikes me most are the insightful, sometimes very personal observations offered to the researcher by participants as events formed --observations that exist almost as sub-themes to the research. He sifts through then traces back lines of political theory through to actual events as residents began to change their community. A worthy read. It has caused me to look at my own community and makes me want to understand more about the forces and processes of change.
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