What is it like to grow up in the United States Midwest, without an accessible co-ethnic population, as a second-generation Korean American Christian? Drawing from forty-seven in-depth interviews of second-generation Korean American Christians who grew up in the Midwest, an analysis of the data reveals several aspects of their lives. First, Korean American families are moving to the Midwest for educational and economic gain, because of pre-existing networks with friends and family, and through family sponsorships. Second, this data reveals the long-term consequences of racism this population faces, causing some to desire to leave the Midwest, to internalize their oppression, or to work towards changing society through their careers and churches. Religious identity is a key factor in helping respondents process the racism they have faced. Second-generation Korean American Christians in the Midwest also find a sense of belonging, that they did not find in their neighborhoods and schools, through ethno-religious communities: Korean American Christian youth camp and/or organizations during college. Participation in these groups strengthened both their religious and ethnic identities.

Immigration reform in 1965 enabled a large number of Chinese immigrants to settle in the United States. Chinese restaurants expanded quickly both quantitatively and geographically. This thesis researches the interactions between Chinese restaurant employers and employees and their customers. I focus on several Chinese restaurants in a mid-size Southeast U.S. city with a university and I analyze their methods for attracting culturally distinct groups of customers—local Americans and Chinese students or immigrants. I conducted participant observation in two Chinese restaurants and in-person interviews with 14 people from four restaurants whose roles are owners, managers, or servers. I found that Chinese restaurants in my sample shifted their cuisine to accommodate local American customers. I also found that they provided unofficial services for Chinese customers. By operating as quasi cultural centers and information hubs, the restaurants I studied cultivated loyal Chinese customers and maintained their claims to ethnic authenticity.

The growing population of the United States is linked to the increasing migration of individuals from other countries. With migration comes the development of cross-cultural and interracial romantic relationships, many leading to marriages. This qualitative grounded theory study sought to understand how a migrant partner's adjustment process, acculturation, contributes to cross-cultural marriages. The main research question and purpose of this study was to investigate the role of acculturation in marital satisfaction among mixed Caucasian and Asian American heterosexual couples. This study utilized multiple data sources and a purposive sampling of 11 mixed Asian and Caucasian heterosexual married couples, with one partner who identified themselves as being Caucasian and U.S. born, and the other as Asian American and an immigrant to the United States. Data were coded and analyzed to identify themes and patterns that emerged from the participants' experiences. The study revealed the following emergent themes representing the couples' common acculturative stressors: (a) challenges related to English language proficiency, (b) communication styles differences, (c) cultural learning, and (d) difficulties due to the lack of social support. The findings of this study provide marriage and family counselors with important data related to how married couples experience acculturation as well as the unique stressors associated with a migrating partner's process. Implications for positive social change include information related to the development of interventions to address common acculturative stressors identified during this study, as well as data to support clinicians and clients when identifying appropriate coping strategies.

Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz (1998) developed the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a measure of mental associations between target pairs and positive or negative attributes. Highly associative categories yield faster responses than the reverse mental associations, which is thought to reflect implicit attitudes toward stereotypes. The present study investigated the effect of ethnic group on one’s implicit attitudes toward aging and gender stereotypes by comparing two groups of older adults, Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans, that likely hold different culture values. Past qualitative studies have established the existence of mental health stigma in Asian American populations, including negative Asian American perceptions of aging, but have not yet established a quantitative measure of this phenomenon. The age-attitude and gender-science IATs were administered to 20 Asian American and 20 Caucasian American older adults in the Southern California region. The results from the age-attitude IAT found that Asian American older adults demonstrated higher implicit bias toward aging, evidenced by faster responses to the category pairings associating “old” + “bad” and “young” + “good”. In contrast, performance on the gender-science IAT was similar for both groups, showing no strong bias toward gender stereotypes. Potential implications on the wellbeing of older adults, as stereotype threat and other forms of bias are already established harmful constructs in the population, are discussed.

Cambodian Americans' (CAs) children still exhibit the second lowest rate of academic achievement in the United States, despite the tenets of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 that promote equality in American education. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature on the relationship between the academic success of Cambodian American students (CASs) and the parents' and the children's factors. Using a structural strain theory of deviance of functionalism theory, this correlational study (a) explored whether education, income, birthplace, and gender of parents and age at immigration and gender of children the determinants of academic success of CASs and (b) examined the dimension of gender practices in CAs' households that might affect CASs' academic success. Survey data were collected from a purposive sample of 153 CASs' parents in Long Beach, CA, using a researcher-developed survey. Multiple linear regression was run for the correlation questions and frequency descriptive statistics were run for the gender practices. Findings indicated a significant relationship (p < .05) between academic success of CASs and the parents' education in Cambodia and the children's age at immigration to America. The descriptive statistics determined gender disparity in the participant households that might affect the academic achievement of female CASs. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to school administrators, nonprofits, local government, and federal government to collect segregate data on CASs' academic outcomes, develop social policies and programs, and allocate appropriate fund to support programs and cultural humility and competency training enhancing CASs' success and parents' involvement in their children's education.

Cultural identity and resource availability aspects in traditional leadership development literature remain understudied, especially among minority populations like Asian immigrants. This study explores the leadership journeys of 24 United States immigrants from China, India and the Philippines using a phenomenological approach, primarily with semi-structured interviews. Experiences of 18 additional immigrant leaders published in popular media were also analyzed. Data from the study reveals that Asian migrants’ roads to leadership in U.S. organizations are heterogeneous and characterized by either linear or nonlinear, overlapping phases of leader development where migrant leaders overcome assimilation challenges and leverage their unique, individual human capital to intersect with organizational level capital in order to enhance their chances of success. Findings suggestive of a relationship between leveraged or suppressed cultural traits and leadership styles are also explored. Drawing from theories rooted in behavioral economics and psychology, the study demonstrates that Asian leader pathways reflect an adaptation process that appears to interact in complex ways with individual, organizational, and societal resources available to them. Theoretical and practical implications are drawn and future research directions are recommended.

The research in this thesis will look at the lives of a very specific group of Chinese immigrant workers in the restaurant industry, particularly those in the metropolitan city of Los Angeles. While unskilled Chinese workers are popular in the Chinese restaurant business because of the lack of skills required, they are quite mobile between the manufacturing and construction sectors as well. Working conditions are less than ideal for these immigrants, who find that life in America may not be what they expected prior to arrival. Though there are many organizations that seek to improve the lives of immigrants already residing in the United States, better efforts towards coordination could be put forth to ensure the availability and knowledge of these resources. Though Asian immigrants and their children have a reputation as a high-achieving model minority, there still remains a class of people who struggle with the same issues of relocation and assimilation as other immigrants. This research hopes to analyze the patterns of immigration for workers like these, to evaluate whether it is still feasible to achieve the American dream, and, if necessary, re-think U.S. immigration policy by looking to our Northern neighbors Canada and providing some policy recommendations.

This thesis explores the way in which it is possible to undermine dominant colonial power structures through the figure of the organic intellectual. In the context of this work, the figure of the organic intellectual is the Filipino American playwright, who creates characters and worlds that expose the fragmented identities of the postcolonial condition following both Spanish and American occupation. This thesis focuses on Han Ong and Ralph Peña, two Filipino American playwrights who are well suited to the role of instigating change because they embrace the cracks and fissures brought on from years of trying to reconcile disparate identities within an often insecure self and transform those disjointed regions into something beautiful, and above all, worth examining further. By creating works that allow literal embodiment of postcolonial discourse, Filipino American playwrights are able to articulate issues and foster awareness for all involved in the production of the play, whether it be through a performative or spectatorial perspective.

The research in this thesis will look at the lives of a very specific group of Chinese immigrant workers in the restaurant industry, particularly those in the metropolitan city of Los Angeles. While unskilled Chinese workers are popular in the Chinese restaurant business because of the lack of skills required, they are quite mobile between the manufacturing and construction sectors as well. Working conditions are less than ideal for these immigrants, who find that life in America may not be what they expected prior to arrival. Though there are many organizations that seek to improve the lives of immigrants already residing in the United States, better efforts towards coordination could be put forth to ensure the availability and knowledge of these resources. Though Asian immigrants and their children have a reputation as a high-achieving model minority, there still remains a class of people who struggle with the same issues of relocation and assimilation as other immigrants. This research hopes to analyze the patterns of immigration for workers like these, to evaluate whether it is still feasible to achieve the American dream, and, if necessary, re-think U.S. immigration policy by looking to our Northern neighbors Canada and providing some policy recommendations.

In Between: A Journey of Cultural Integration is a multimedia art installation that tells the story of a Korean girl’s cultural integration journey. The story was inspired from my personal experience of moving from South Korea to the U.S. In the 12’ x 14’ room, the narrative was delivered by media. The story was introduced by the projected text of a diary on a book in the middle of the room. The images that were projected on all four walls enhanced the narrative. The each viewer was forced to experience the installation alone and experience the loneliness of the journey. The successful collaboration between scenic and media was important for creating a cohesive design for this project. I worked with several projection designers to create the narrative development. Throughout the process, the boundary between scenic design and media design became blurry and I and my collaborators became a creative team as a whole. This project was intended to share my personal story of cultural integration with a broader audience by inviting them to have a different perspective view towards the immigration community in America. It also became my personal challenge to create a space that could tell a story without an actor. / text