A feeling of belonging : Asian American women's public culture, 1930-1960 / Shirley Jennifer Lim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lim, Shirley Jennifer, 1968-

Series:

American history and culture (New York University Press)

American history and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asian American women--Social life and customs--20th century.

Asian Americans--Cultural assimilation--History--20th century.

Young women--United States--Social life and customs--20th century.

Single women--United States--Social life and customs--20th century.

Leisure--United States--History--20th century.

Popular culture--United States--History--20th century.

Popular culture.

Leisure.

History.

Single women.

Manners and customs.

Young women.

Asian Americans--Cultural assimilation.

Asian Americans.

Asian American women.

United States.

United States--Social life and customs--1918-1945.

United States--Social life and customs--1945-1970.

Physical Description:

ix, 241 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2006]

Summary:

When we imagine the activities of Asian American women in the mid-twentieth century, our first thoughts are not of skiing, beauty pageants, magazine reading, and sororities. Yet, Shirley Jennifer Lim argues, these are precisely the sorts of leisure practices many second generation Chinese, Filipina, and Japanese American women engaged in during this time.

In A Feeling of Belonging, Lim highlights the cultural activities of young, predominantly unmarried Asian American women from 1930 to 1960. This period marks a crucial generation-the first in which American-born Asians formed a critical mass and began to make their presence felt in the United States. Though they were distinguished from previous generations by their American citizenship, it was only through these seemingly mundane "American" activities that they were able to overcome two-dimensional stereotypes of themselves as kimono-clad "Orientals."

Lim traces the diverse ways in which these young women sought claim to cultural citizenship, exploring such topics as the nation's first Asian American sorority, Chi Alpha Delta; the cultural work of Chinese American actress Anna May Wong; Asian American youth culture and beauty pageants; and the achievement of fame of three foreign-born Asian women in the late 1950s. By wearing poodle skirts, going to the beach, and producing magazines, she argues, they asserted not just their American-ness, but their humanity: a feeling of belonging.

Contents:

"A feeling of belonging" : Chi Alpha Delta, 1928-1941

"I protest" : Anna May Wong and the performance of modernity

Shortcut to glamour : popular culture in a consumer society

Contested beauty : Asian American beauty culture during the Cold War

Riding the crest of an Oriental wave : foreign-born Asian "beauty".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-230) and index.

ISBN:

0814751938

0814751946

OCLC:

61204311

Publisher Number:

9780814751930

9780814751947