Pan-Asian Identity

Pan-Asianism: Challenges to Its Formation

An impediment to the formation of a pan-Asian American identity is created by the divergent cultural and political identities of those groups labeled as Asian American. The cultural and political identities of Filipino Americans, for example, are influenced by their history of U.S. colonization, as are their patterns of immigration to the United States. In contrast, the Japanese American experience has been shaped by Japan's position as an imperial power in East Asia, a position that led to different types of restrictions on immigration from Japan to the United States during the early 20th century as well as to Japanese Americans' detainment in internment camps during World War II. South Asian Americans, on the other hand, feel excluded from Asian America because their relationship with the United States has been qualitatively different from that of East Asians and Southeast Asians. The case of the Vietnamese refugee movement further illustrates the disparate experiences and interests that inform the lives of individuals defined as Asian American.

Consequently, the development of a pan-Asian American identity is difficult because each Asian group is likely to differ according to the type of racism it has experienced in the United States. During World War II, Japanese Americans, unlike other Asian American groups, were sent to internment camps because they were seen as a national security threat. Similarly, South Asian Americans are alone in their experience of hate crimes and racial profiling as terrorists following the events of September 11, 2001. The “Dotbusters” incident is another illustration; in this case, Indian Americans were subject to a series of hate crimes perpetrated against them in Jersey City, New Jersey.

In addition, hardships faced by Asian groups entering the United States as refugees are likely to be distinctive as well. Such experiences and the respective position of each Asian group vis-à-vis the U.S. nation-state produce different interests and, in turn, limit the possibility of a pan-Asian racial identity. In fact, some Asian groups have distanced themselves from those Asian groups who are subject to racism so as to avoid a similar fate: During the early 20th century, Japanese American leaders condoned the exclusion laws that prohibited Chinese immigration to the United States. Later, during World War II, Chinese Americans desired a distance from Japanese Americans so as to avert internment.

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