Life of the Mind - 2012 Selection
The Accidental Asian by Eric Liu
Adapted from http://torch.utk.edu/lifeofthemind
Author Eric Liu, a graduate of Yale and Harvard, former Clinton speechwriter, and second generation Chinese American, challenges the reader to look differently at the world. By tracing the historical emergence of the racial category “Asian American” from its original appearance in the 1960s to its present-day linkage with middle-class white America, Liu distinguishes between “whiteness” as a race and as an accomplishment and invites readers to consider the ever-changing meaning of race and what it means to be American, Chinese, Jewish, Hispanic, or any of the multitude of identifying categories that are so engrained, shifting, and seemingly vital to our sense of belonging.
In greeting controversial topics head on, from the stereotype of Asian Americans as “the ideal minority” to the rising fears of “a yellow planet,” The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker presents a concept of "omniculturalism" that will give first-year students a useful tool for understanding as they take their first steps at the University of Tennessee in becoming ready to navigate an increasingly global world.
Web Resources on Race and Culture
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee - http://www.adc.org/
The Arab American Institute - http://www.aaiusa.org/
The Hispanic Society of America - http://www.hispanicsociety.org/
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) - http://www.naacp.org/
The National Association of Asian American Professionals - http://www.naaap.org/
UT - Knoxville Resources
Asian American Association - http://web.utk.edu/~asianaa/about.html
Black Cultural Programming Committee - http://web.utk.edu/~bcpc/
Books & Media Similar to The Accidental Asian
Get DVDs by requesting them by call number (in parentheses) at the Hodges Library circulation desk on the 2nd floor of the library.
Get books by going to the floor that has the call number (in parentheses) you’re looking for:
3rd Floor: A – GF
4th Floor: GN – PR
5th Floor: PS – S
6th Floor: T – V
To borrow books or DVDs, bring your UT ID card to the Hodges Library circulation desk on the 2nd floor of the library.
Selected General Databases
Academic Search Premier
A friendly, multi-disciplinary database used by freshman and graduate students
CQ Researcher
Contains reports about current and controversial issues. Excellent for finding overviews, pros/cons and lists of key resources.
Google Scholar
This database sorts scholarly literature from Google as well as other free databases available on the web. For best results, supplement with other scholarly databases.
JSTOR
A scholarly database covering topics in humanities, social sciences and science
Points of View Reference Center
Provides the pros and cons of general topics ranging from family issues and immigration to race and culture
Project Muse
Full text of over 200 scholarly journals from over 30 publishers.
For a complete list of databases, see http://www.lib.utk.edu/databases/.
Media and Electronic Resources
Butler, S. et al. (2006). Mirrors of privilege: Making whiteness visible [Video recording]. World Trust Educational Services, Inc., Oakland,
CA.
Available in Hodges Library - DVD - Request this Call Number at Circulation Desk - E184.A1 M563 2006
Clift, R. A. (2010). Blacking up: Hip-hop's remix of race and identity [Video recording]. California Newsreel, United States. (Available in Music Library DVD in stacks ML3918 .R37 B53 2010)
Heggen B. et al. (2002). Diversity rules OK!: The changing nature of families. [Video recording]. Insight Media, New York. ( Available in Hodges Library - DVD - Request this Call Number at Circulation Desk HQ706 .D584 2002)
Jhally, S., Killoy, A., Vega, A. The codes of gender: Identity + performance in pop culture. Retrieved from http://portico.lib.utk.edu
Liem, D. B. et al. (2010). First person plural. [Video recording]. Mu Films, Berkeley, CA. (Available in Hodges Library - DVD - Request this Call Number at Circulation Desk HV875.5 .F57 2010)
Miville, M. L. Incorporating race and culture with other aspects of identity: Choices, contexts and strategies. Retrieved from http://portico.lib.utk.edu
Red-Horse, V. et al. (1999). Naturally Native. [Video recording] Naturally Native Productions, United States. Available in Hodges Library - DVD - Request this Call Number at Circulation Desk PN1997 .N376 1999)
Rodriguez, C. & McWhirter, S. (2002). Religious diversity in America. [Video recording]. Educational Video Network, Inc., Huntsville, TX. (Available in the Social Work Library, Nashville - BL2525 .R4697 2002)
Print Resources
Empowerment
American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class, and Gender Within the Ummah
(E184.M88 K37 2009)
Jamillah Ashira Karim
New York: New York University Press, 2009
Asian-American Writers
(PS153.A84 A84 2009)
New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism, c2009
Becoming Bicultural: Risk, Resilience, and Latino Youth
(E184.A1 S6655 2011)
Paul R. Smokowski (Paul Richard) New York: New York
University Press, c2011
Hispanic-American Writers
(PS153.H56 H56 2009)
New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism, c2009
IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas
(E184.A1 I463 2009)
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in association with the National Museum of African American History and
Culture and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, c2009
Learning to be Chinese American: Community, Education, and Ethnic Identity
(E184.C5 D8 2010)
Liang Du
Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, c2010
Rethinking the Asian American Movement
(E184.A75 M343 2012)
Daryl J. Maeda
New York: Routledge, 2012
Twenty-First Century Color Lines: Multiracial Change in Contemporary America
(E184.A1 T94 2009)
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009
Government
Americanism in the Twenty-First Century: Public Opinion in the Age of Immigration
(E169.12 .S345 2011)
Deborah Jill Schildkraut
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011
Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans After 9/11
(E184.M88 P44 2011)
Lori A. Peek
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011
The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart
(E184.A1 B5527 2008)
Bill Bishop
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008
Cannibal Democracy: Race and Representation in the Literature of the Americas
(E184.A1 N86 2008)
Zita Nunes
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2008
Chains of Babylon: The Rise of Asian America
(E184.A75 M34 2009)
Daryl J. Maeda
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2009
The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government
(JK31 .L58 2011)
Eric Liu
Seattle, WA: Sasquatch Books, 2011
Redefining American Identity: From Cabeza de Vaca to Barack Obama
(E184.A1 R335 2011)
Ben Railton
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
The Tribes of America: Journalistic Discoveries of our People and Their Cultures
(E184.A1 C66 2008)
Paul Cowan
New York: New Press, 2008
Immigration
Asian America: Forming New Communities, Expanding Boundaries
(E184.A75 A816 2009)
New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, c2009
Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation
(E184.C5 Z474 2009)
Min Zhou
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009
Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from Colonial Times to the Present Era
(E184.M5 V343 2011)
Zaragosa Vargas
New York: Oxford University Press, 2011
Ethnic Americans: A History of Immigration
(E184.A1 D48 2009)
Leonard Dinnerstein
New York: Columbia University Press, c2009
The Immigrant Divide: How Cuban Americans Changed the US and Their Homeland
(E184.C97 E27 2009)
Susan Eckstein
New York: Routledge, 2009
Latinos in American Society: Families and Communities in Transition
(E184.S75 Z37 2011)
Ruth E. Zambrana
Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2011
Race
Biracial in America: Forming and Performing Racial Identity
(E184.A1 K434 2011)
Nikki Khanna
Lanham, Md: Lexington Boosk, c2011
Natives and Strangers: A History of Ethnic Americans
(E184.A1 D49 2010)
Leonard Dinnerstein
New York: Oxford University Press, 2010
The Paradoxes of Integration: Race, Neighborhood, and Civic Life in Multiethnic America
(E184.A1 O43 2010)
J. Eric Oliver
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c2010
Race and Human Rights
(E184.A1 R223 2009)
East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, c2009
Transcending Racial Barriers: Toward a Mutual Obligations Approach
(E184.A1 E553 2011)
Michael O. Emerson
New York: Oxford University Press, 2011
Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America's Future
(E184.A1 B5545 2010)
Angela Glover Blackwell
New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., c2010
Understanding & Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America
(E184.A1 B249 2007)
Joseph R. Barndt
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, c2007
The Urban Racial State: Managing Race Relations in American Cities
(E184.A1 C39 2011)
Noel A. Cazenave
Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, c2011
Race: Asian
The American Dream in Vietnamese
(E184.V53 L54 2011)
Nhi T. Lieu
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2011
Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture
(E184.C5 C4795 2008)
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008
Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans
(E184.S69 E64 2008)
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, c2008
Ends of Empire: Asian American Critique and the Cold War
(E184.A75 K54 2010)
Jodi Kim
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2010
Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy, and the Forgotten War
(E184.K6 C473 2008)
Grace M. Cho
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2008
How to be South Asian in America: Narratives of Ambivalence and Belonging
(E184.S69 J35 2011)
Anupama Jain
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011
Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA
(E184.K6 K486 2008)
Nadia Y. Kim
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, c2008
The New Chinese America: Class, Economy, and Social Hierarchy
(E184.C5 Z43123 2010)
Xiaojian Zhao
New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, c2010
Race: Arab
Becoming American? The Forging of Arab and Muslim Identity in Pluralist America
(E184.A65 H325 2011)
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, c2011
Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora
(E184.S98 G835 2009)
Sarah M. A. Gualtieri
Berkeley: University of California Press, c2009
A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories
(E184.A65 M35 2009)
Alia Malek
New York: Free Press, 2009
Detained Without Cause: Muslims' Stories of Detention and Deportation in America After 9/11 (E184.M88 S55 2011)
Irum Shiekh
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader's Guide
(PS153.A73 S33 2011)
Steven Salaita
Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2011
Muslims in America: A Short History
(E184 .M88 C877 2009)
Edward E. Curtis
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009
My name is Iran: A Memoir
(E184.I5 A734 2007)
Davar Ardalan
New York: H. Holt, 2007
The Uncultured Wars: Arabs, Muslims and the Poverty of Liberal Thought: New Essays
(E184.A65 S26 2008)
Steven George Salaita
London; New York: Zed Books, 2008
