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This dissertation illustrates the cultural dimension of globalization by examining how the ascendance of South Korean popular culture, i.e., the Korean Wave, reshapes the global imagination and transforms the locality of Korean Americans in Philadelphia. As an ethnographic global media study, I conducted in-depth interviews and participated in Korean cultural events/meetings, as well as visited the sites of living for Korean Americans in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. My research finds that advances in the digitalized media environment made my informants consume copious transnational Korean media every day and individualized their media consumption. Accordingly, their perceptions of Korea/Asia/U.S.’s places in the world are complicated and their ethnic identity has become significant. Their global imaginations also intersect with negotiating gender roles, perceiving attractiveness, and planning future paths. This shift contributes to construction of the in-between identities of Korean Americans by denaturalizing ideas and cultural elements in both Korea and the U.S. Most distinctively, the rise of the Korean Wave stimulates global imagination among young second generation Korean Americans to aspire to and operate their agency in a transnational context that their parents’ generation barely anticipated. Finally, the upsurge of the Korean Wave drives Korean Americans to participate in transforming localities rooted in thickened connectivities and activities centering on Korean popular culture across intra/inter-ethnic groups locally and globally. This conversely facilitates intense engagement and belonging in the local spaces of community among Korean Americans. My study shows how transnational media flow under conditions of globalization positively influences immigrants to embrace their own ethnic identities and local spaces. On the other hand, it implies that there should be further examination of different boundaries of global imagination rooted in gender/class differences as well as race/ethnicity. / Media & Communication

My dissertation examines the depression prevalence, symptom patterns and dimension, and mental health service use among Chinese Americans. The purpose of this research is to, 1) provide epidemiological data on the prevalence of depression among Chinese Americans, 2) examine sociocultural impacts on the prevalence and specific symptoms patterns of depression, and 3) generate implications for more culturally-sensitive approaches in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. I use secondary data from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Studies (CPES). The CPES consists of three nationally representative surveys conducted between 2001 and 2003. Each of three substantive chapters attempts to a set of issues, and together they contribute to the literature on generational differences in mental health status and help-seeking behaviors among Chinese Americans. The first substantive chapter examines depression prevalence and correlates among different generations of Chinese Americans, using non-Hispanic whites as a comparison group, using weighted multinomial logistic regression. Results of the study indicate that Chinese Americans in general have a lower risk of depression than do non-Hispanic whites. Moreover, the prevalence and correlates of depression do not show a linear trend of difference from first to second to third-or-higher generation Chinese Americans, and then to non-Hispanic whites; rather, the risk of depression and its associated with social relational factors present distinct patterns for first and second generation Chinese Americans, compared to third-or-higher generation Chinese Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Specifically, friend network and extended family network play different roles in their influence on depression risk for different generations of Chinese Americans. In the Chapter Four, I conduct exploratory factor analysis to examine two subgroups of Chinese Americans, the foreign-born and the US-born, and compare them to the non-Hispanic whites. I also conduct weighted binary logistic regression to examine the patterns of depressive symptoms for Chinese Americans (separate by nativity status) and compare the two groups to non-Hispanic whites. I also examine how demographic characteristics and social factors are related to different dimensions of depressive symptoms for each group. I also find very similar factors structures of DSM-IV depressive symptoms among foreign-born Chinese Americans, US-born Chinese Americans, and non-Hispanic whites. For all three groups, suicidal ideation or attempt is a construct that is distinct from the rest of the symptoms items. The three groups have different social correlates, yet there are only minor differences in the social correlates for each one of the four depression dimensions within each group. Chronic physical condition is the most consistently significant predictor, for the negative affect, somatic symptoms, and cognitive symptoms among the two Chinese groups, and for all four dimensions of depression among non-Hispanic whites. Finally, in Chapter Five, I find significant heterogeneity of exclusive complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by race/ethnicity and generational status, as well as English proficiency, gender, age, marital status, education, employment status, having insurance, and having any probably psychiatric disorder. Specifically, first generation Chinese immigrants lag behind second, third-or-higher generation Chinese Americans, and non-Hispanic whites in the likelihood of using exclusive CAM services, as well as any services in general. In addition, this chapter finds that exclusive CAM service use was more popular than the use of only conventional Western medicine or a combination of both, among all Chinese Americans except for the second generations. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the pattern of mental health service use among Chinese Americans. / Sociology

Acculturation, defined as the process of adopting the behaviors and beliefs of the dominant host culture, is often associated with dietary change and negative health outcomes, such as increased risk for obesity and diet-related diseases. The large and rising immigrant population in the U.S. necessitates a better understanding of the acculturation process in order to design appropriate health and nutrition interventions. It is well established that parents play a key role in child and preadolescent nutrition through parenting style and control of the home food environment. However, little is known about the potential influence of parental acculturation on preadolescent children's dietary patterns and habits, frequency and characteristics of family meals, and parent child-feeding behaviors, particularly among families who have lived in the U.S. for a considerable time and whose children have grown up in the U.S. The objective of this study was to quantitatively examine the association between parental acculturation and parent child-feeding behaviors, family meals, and child dietary patterns and habits in families where the primary food-providing parent self-identified as Asian/Asian American ("Asian") or Hispanic/Latino ("Hispanic"). Nativity was used as a proxy measure of acculturation, with foreign-born (FB) parents assumed to be less acculturated than native-born (NB). Sampled participants from nine states consisted of 74 Asian and 134 Hispanic parents or caretakers and their preadolescent children. Survey questions addressed children's intake of foods considered typical of the American diet to determine associations between frequency of consumption and parental nativity. Parent child-feeding behaviors examined were parental encouragement of milk-drinking and breakfast consumption, and discouragement of soda-drinking. Lastly, associations between frequent family meals and meals away from home and parental nativity were examined. Among Asian participants, no statistically significant associations were found between child intakes, family meals, or parenting behaviors among NB versus FB parents. However, among the Hispanic group, parental nativity was significantly associated with several variables. Children of NB parents were more likely to frequently consume hamburgers or hot dogs with cheese, chocolate bars, cupcakes or cake, and soda. By contrast, children of FB parents were more likely to consume raw broccoli and pancakes, waffles, or French toast frequently. NB parents had greater odds of encouraging children’s milk intake at lunch. Families with NB parents also had significantly greater odds of consuming dinner together five or more days per week. The findings of this study suggest that parental nativity may have some influence on children's dietary patterns and habits, parent child-feeding behaviors, and family meals among Hispanics. More research is needed in larger, more representative, and culturally specific samples. The results of this study suggest that nutrition interventions targeting Asian and Hispanic families with preadolescent children may benefit families with a wide range of parental acculturation, although some interventions may be slightly more applicable to the more or less acculturated. Potential areas for intervention include coaching parents on effective child-feeding behaviors and strategies for fostering healthy eating practices, promoting quality family meals, and educating parents on the health risks and sources of excess sugar. / Graduation date: 2012

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Louise Benjamin / This study examines women’s interpretations of model minority stereotypes of Asian American women in prime-time television. This stereotype depicts Asian Americans as well educated, intelligent, competitive, hardworking and successful career women. Using focus group discussions, this study recalls perceptions and explores potential effects of model minority stereotypes in prime-time television among women of varied racial-ethnic backgrounds. The study finds that both Asian/Asian American women and women from other racial-ethnic groups confirm belief in the model minority media stereotype in prime-time television. The selfperception and others’ perception of Asian American women as a model minority imposes stress on Asian/Asian American women in terms of gender role, academic performance and career achievement. Additionally, perceptions toward the model minority media stereotype among women of varied racial-ethnic backgrounds influence intergroup relations, interracial contact and evaluation of the model minority media image. Implications indicate that the model minority media stereotype has both positive and negative influences on Asian/Asian American women and other racial-ethnic groups. The study suggests that American media can increase the frequency and diversity of Asian American women’s media representation to reduce the negative societal influence of one-dimensional media stereotypes.

La recherche sur la littérature de la diaspora vietnamienne dans une perspective nord-américaine a été longtemps négligée par les critiques littéraires. Aux États-Unis, les écrits des auteurs d’origine vietnamienne sont habituellement inclus dans un corpus appelé « Asian-American literature » alors qu’au Québec, on préfère parler de « littérature migrante ». C’est pourquoi ce mémoire propose d’analyser The Gangster We Are All Looking For (2003), de Lê Thi Diêm Thúy, et Ru (2009), de Kim Thúy. Outre le fait de mettre en scène une protagoniste appartenant à la deuxième génération, les deux romans questionnent le rôle de l’héritage familial et de la mémoire collective dans le rapport à soi et aux autres. Dans The Gangster We Are All Looking For, la quête identitaire se définit par le maintien de l’anonymat et le désir d’incarner la figure subversive qu’est le gangster. Dans Ru, il est plutôt question d’intégration : le parcours de la narratrice est celui d’une ascension vers le « rêve américain ». Les critiques littéraires ont été nombreuses à penser l’exil en termes de culture et d’hybridité, mais peu ont tenu compte de sa dimension juridico-politique. En nous appuyant sur le concept de la « vie nue » de Giorgio Agamben et le texte d’Edward Saïd intitulé « Nationalism, Human Rights, and Interpretation », nous démontrerons que l’exil n’est pas simplement une expérience de déchirure romantique de citoyens privilégiés (écrivains, artistes, poètes, intellectuels). Il illustre aussi la condition précaire de ceux qui ne sont pas reconnus par le pouvoir étatique (réfugiés, apatrides, sans-papiers). / Research on Vietnamese diasporic literature from a North American perspective has long been neglected by literary critics. In the United States, writings of authors who originated from Vietnam are usually labeled as Asian-American literature, while in Quebec we prefer to use the term « migrant literature ». This is why this master thesis proposes an analysis of The Gangster We Are All Looking For (2003), from Lê Thi Diêm Thúy, and Ru (2009), from Kim Thúy. Aside from featuring a second generation protagonist, both novels question the way family and collective memory shape the relation to self and others. In The Gangster We Are All Looking For, the quest for identity is defined by the persistance of anonymity as well as by the desire to become a “gangster”, a rebellious figure. In Ru, the future is more related to the notion of integration : the narrator’s life trajectory can be described as an ascent towards the American dream. Many literary critics understood exile in terms of culture and hybridity, but few of them took into account its juridico-political aspect. Using Giorgio Agamben’s concept of “bare life” and Edward Said’s ideas in « Nationalism, Human Rights, and Interpretation », we will demonstrate that exile cannot be merely reduced to a compelling journey told from the perspective of privileged citizens (writers, artists, poets, intellectuals), since it also reflects the precarious status of those who are not recognized by the State (the refugees, the stateless, the undocumented workers).

This thesis addresses how Japanese and Japanese Americans may have lived and been perceived in Virginia from 1900s through the 1950s. This work focuses on their positions in society with comparisons to the nation, particularly during the “Jim Crow” era of “colored” and “white,” and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. It highlights various means of understanding their positions in Virginia society, with emphasis on Japanese visitors, marriages of Japanese in Virginia, and the inclusion of Japanese in higher education at Roanoke College, Randolph-Macon College, William and Mary, University of Virginia, University of Richmond, Hampden-Sydney College, and Union Theological Seminary. It also takes into account the Japanese experience in Virginia during Japanese internment, while focusing on the Homestead, Virginia, as well as the experiences of Japanese students and soldiers, which ultimately showed Virginia was distinct in its mild treatment towards the Japanese as compared to the West Coast.