Assimilation and Immigrant Acts

Danielle Marie Herrera
Prof. Maira
ASA 4 A04
11 May 2017

Kurup's Assimilation monologue was definitely an interesting satirical take on an immigrant's perspective on U.S. culture. My parents are immigrants and I have heard similar preconceived notions from them about Americans, such as their greed, self-reliance, and materialism. Kurup also seems to have American vulgarity as a common theme throughout this work, which may go to show that America is perceived as relatively more liberal than the rest of the world. This is especially true for predominantly Catholic or Christian countries such as the Philippines. Even now as I share my ideas with them and what I am learning in school and on an everyday basis, my parents express their feeling of America pushing the boundaries of what is socially acceptable.

Lowe's chapter from Immigrant Acts titled "Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity: Asian American Differences" criticizes the depiction of Asian-Americans in media, where the central struggle to the Asian-American community is generational conflict. Although it is beneficial to have a greater presence of Asian-Americans in movies, the focus on generational difference obscures the reality of Asian-American struggle. It fails to depict discrimination of Asian-Americans based on race, gender, and class; rather than focusing on struggles between Asian-Americans and other cultures, such movies only focus on intra-Asian-American struggle. The fight against higher generation conservatism is a very real issue commonly faced by Asian-American youth, but it definitely does not measure up to the issues brought on as youth of color in the U.S.