Connecting Stereotypes of South Asians in the American Media to South Asian Teenagers’ Internalized Racism

2020 put the entire world upside down in its call for racial equity and justice. During these unveiling times, minorities in America have come forward in protest of racial and ethnic stereotypes which Hollywood still plays into. This research paper capitalized on the removal and protest of these characters and dove more specifically into South Asian stereotypes which have been reinforced by television show and movie characters. The claim in these cries of disapproval for these stereotypes was that it caused internalized racism in people who were brought up watching these stereotypes forced upon them. As building a body of knowledge progressed, the unmade connection of stereotypes to internalized racism in formal research became apparent, and therefore the research paper intended to see if there was a correlation between South Asian stereotypes and internalized racism. In order to identify internalized racism among South Asian teenagers, an open-ended survey was used as a method, followed by a mixed analysis to identify self-stereotyping indicators which would denote internalized racism. The research in the end did find a staunch correlation between the South Asian stereotypes and internalized racism in today’s South Asian teenagers. While today’s teenagers cannot rid themselves of the stereotypes already imposed on them, future South Asian children might possibly have accurate and fair representation in subsequent years.

“A Song Calling for You”

Korean pop groups cite the R&B tradition by emulating R&B musical and vocal elements in catchy pop songs and enhance the tradition through Korean music strategies that infuse multiple genres with R&B elements. Korean pop groups emulate the R&B tradition by citing elements of funk, club, and urban R&B. Moreover, Korean and African American producers infuse K-pop with different varieties of R&B. These artists also enhance the R&B tradition by mixing pop genres with R&B within individual songs and over the course of their careers. In music videos, they cite the choreography and styles of African American performance in ways that provide alternatives to Asian stereotypes. This intertextuality is driven by promotions that focus on image and music quality; strategies that mirror those employed by Black American music producers. The combination of dynamic image and quality music production fuels K-pop’s cultural work and global crossover, thereby making it part of a global R&B tradition.

The Breadth of Confrontations as a Prejudice Reduction Strategy

Past research on prejudice confrontations as a prejudice reduction tool has only examined bias that was implicated in the confrontation, such as the use of negative Black stereotypes after being confronted for using negative Black stereotypes. Examining the breadth of prejudice confrontations, we hypothesize that confronted individuals should subsequently use fewer negative and positive stereotypes about other racial minority groups, and fewer stereotypes about groups stigmatized along other identity dimensions (e.g., gender). In two studies, White participants confronted for the use of negative Black stereotypes used fewer negative Latino stereotypes (Study 1), positive Black, but not Asian, stereotypes and fewer gender role stereotypes (Study 2). Additionally, participants confronted for female gender role stereotypes subsequently used fewer negative Black and Latino stereotypes 24–72 hr later due to greater racial egalitarian motivation (Study 3). Thus, prejudice confrontations have a broad effect on reducing bias toward multiple stigmatized groups across identity dimensions.

Soft Power: Hwang and Tesori’s reappropriation of The King and I in representing twenty-first-century diplomacy and the dystopic reality of contemporary America

This article reviews David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s Soft Power. In this ‘play with a musical’, Hwang and Tesori revisit Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I to critique its Asian stereotypes. The genre-bending form is, however, much more than a simple retelling of a flawed musical of the past. As the article demonstrates, the writers question China’s attempts at public diplomacy and its efforts to acquire soft power vis a vis its dismal human rights records. The play does so by not merely reversing the narrative of The King and I but by offering a nuanced take on twenty-first-century politics. In doing so, the writers create a scathing portrayal of American reality set against a backdrop of contemporary events.

“I Can't Afford for You to Flunk”

While self-endorsing positive stereotypes such as high achievement and perseverance could be beneficial to Asian college students, pressures to fit all expectations of the Asian model minority myth could be psychologically damaging. The way we interact with our family and friends is influential in how we perceive ourselves and our ability to cope with life's stresses. The current chapter examines the way distinct types of endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes are related to the quality of family interaction, social support, and coping among 128 Asian college students. Results indicate that family satisfaction and parental perfectionism are positively related to the endorsement of Asian stereotypes at the group level, while family satisfaction, subjective social support, and highly person-centered messages are positively related to self-endorsed positive Asian stereotypes. Family satisfaction, social support, and highly person-centered messages predicted Asian students' ability to cope with their academic problems and stresses.