<p> This dissertation explores language as a resource for the formation and expression of ethnic identity among the members of an Asian American college sorority. As a community of practice organized around ethnicity, the sorority provides an excellent site to examine the mutually constitutive relationship of language and ethnic identity. Two features of the sorority members' speech are analyzed in detail: their pronunciation of the mid-back rounded GOAT vowel, and their prosodic rhythm. For both variables, the behavior of the sorority members is compared with that of college peers of both Asian and non-Asian descent. The results indicate that both segmental and suprasegmental features are available as markers of Asian American ethnicity, and that the association of linguistic features with ethnicity is mediated by group membership and region, among other factors.</p><p> The community of study is an Asian-interest sorority at a large public university in New Jersey. The data are drawn from two main sources: participant observation of sorority activities and one-on-one sociolinguistic interviews. The ethnographic observations allow the behaviors and beliefs of the sorority members to be situated in the local context of the school, the state, and the region. The interview data, meanwhile, provide high-quality spontaneous speech data for phonetic analysis. It is argued that it is only through an understanding of the particular social context in which speakers exist that their linguistic behavior can be understood; conversely, examining linguistic behavior can illuminate how identity categories such as "Asian American" are construed and enacted within a given social setting.</p><p> The segmental variable analyzed in this study is the realization of the mid-back rounded vowel in the GOAT class of words. A quantitative analysis shows that the sorority members produce a more backed and monophthongal GOAT vowel than their non-Asian peers. In previous work, the fronting of GOAT has been noted as an ongoing change in certain regional dialects in the United States; however, the present analysis shows that sorority members tend to produce backer GOAT vowels than non-Asian speakers regardless of region.</p><p> The suprasegmental variable analyzed is prosodic rhythm, which refers to the relative length of adjacent syllables in speech. English is typically described as a stress-timed language, with stressed syllables being much longer than unstressed syllables. However, the sorority members' speech shows characteristics of syllable timing, with stressed and unstressed syllables being of roughly equal length. This finding coincides with those for other varieties of English, including Hispanic English and Singapore English. It is argued that syllable timing in English is likely a substrate effect from syllable-timed heritage languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. Individual differences in prosodic rhythm are also examined with respect to age of acquisition and other inter- and intraspeaker factors.</p><p> This dissertation draws on multiple research traditions in the study of language and identity: it is an ethnographic description of a community of practice as well as a sociophonetic study of regionally and ethnically linked variables. It is also a study of young women's language at a critical stage of identity formation&mdash;the college years. Additionally, this dissertation is part of a growing body of sociolinguistic research on Asian Americans, a group that until recently has been drastically understudied. As a group with tremendous internal diversity, Asian Americans present both challenges and opportunities for the study of language and ethnicity. This dissertation thus advances sociolinguistic research in two ways: one, by shedding light on the language practices of this rapidly growing population, and two, by contributing to our overall understanding of how language interacts with various facets of identity, including ethnic identity.</p>

<p> This thesis highlights a method of representation that is critical of both images of Chinese powerlessness and images of Chinese power. In <i> Chan is Missing</i> and <i>The Princess of Nebraska</i>, two films by Chinese American director Wayne Wang, representations of Chineseness and Chinese identity are always determined through the discursive context in which they are enunciated. The films each employ the device of a missing subject, in order to show that its meaning does not refer to the subject itself but rather is determined through the context in which it is talked about. This creates different and often conflicting versions of the same subject, which can only be resolved by seeing that the subjects of Chineseness and Chinese identity are always a response to the contexts out of which they are discussed.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant proposal to fund a support group for Japanese American women survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Los Angeles County. This grant outlines a program non-shelter-based support group for survivors. The goals and objectives of the support group will be to optimize the mental health and social well being of the survivors. It is critical that this support group be located within Little Tokyo in the greater Los Angeles area to provide a degree of familiarity and comfort for the survivors. The best source of funding for the program is the Weingart Foundation because of its expertise in this field and for its ongoing work in this community. Actual submission or funding of this grant was not required for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> This dissertation addresses the formation of scholar identity as informed by an identity- conscious approach to doctoral student socialization, doctoral student development, and racial identity as expressed through the critical narratives of Asian American and Pacific Islander doctoral students in the field of higher education. The study explored the intersections of race, doctoral student socialization, and doctoral student development &mdash; three areas that have been approached as separate entities in existing literature. By using life history methodology and narrative inquiry, this study contributed to a more thorough understanding of racialized experiences in doctoral studies. Critical narrative was used as a methodological approach concerned with power and language in society where individuals can concretely question their own realities and identify the socio-ideological influence of systems on their practices and beliefs (Souto-Manning, 2012). Rather than use terminology of counter-narrative, which positions a narrative as counter to an existing dominant narrative, the use of critical narrative is highlighted as a way to position the stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as their own central story. This inquiry advances our understanding of ways to create and sustain more inclusive and engaging learning environments that support racial diversity in higher education and to better understand the barriers that have socially and historically marginalized Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders both in general and in doctoral education. Recommendations for practice include developing identity-conscious approaches to scholar formation, including but not limited to inclusive pedagogy and curriculum; mentoring and advising; culturally affirming networks; program and organizational orientation; and doctoral student support. A model of identity-conscious scholar formation is presented in which socialization, development, and racial identity must be operationalized as bidirectional and interactional processes.</p>

<p> Cambodian Americans graduate from college at a lower rate than most Asian American groups. This qualitative study involved interviewing five current Cambodian American college students. This study examined how participants' high school experiences contributed to their decisions to go to college and to study STEM fields, how parental influences guided participants to college, and how college experiences influenced their decisions to stay and succeed in STEM fields. Findings from this study suggest: having supportive teachers in high school may have been important in motivating participants to go to college and to study STEM Fields, Cambodian parents tell stories of their lives in Cambodia to motivate their children to go to college, and Cambodian club on campus was a socially and academically supportive place. </p>

<p> This study used grounded theory to understand how the first two generations of Korean- American pastors conceptualize leadership. Interviews were conducted with both first- and second-generation Korean-American pastors both in Northern and Southern California. This study discovered that the first-generation Korean-American concept of leadership is heavily influenced by Confucian thought where the ideal leader is called by God. In response, the leader regularly practices the rites of spirituality, prayer and sacrifice. The practice of these rites gives the first-generation pastor legitimacy in exercising authority over his congregation. In contrast, the second-generation leadership model appears to be influenced by being in the Millennial generation. Two of the key aspects of Millennial desire for their work environment are (a) maximizing the balance of work and life and (b) the strong desire for mentorship. Both of these are highly evident in the second-generation concept of leadership. Legitimacy for exercising authority within the second-generation comes from the sacrifice demonstrated in the mentoring relationship. Comparing both generations concept of leadership to Bass&rsquo; (1999) four aspects of transformational leadership, this study discovered that both generations can fit into Bass&rsquo; model of transformational leadership. Applying Pearce&rsquo;s (2004) coordinated management of meaning to understand the intercultural communication issues present between the two generations, this study discovered that although the terminology of both generations were similar, the undergirding concept was quite different and to some degree opposite.</p>

<p>ATTITUDES OF ASIAN AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WHO LEFT THEIR ETHNIC CHURCHES FOR NON-ETHNIC CHURCHES EZRA JINYONG SOHN Doctor of Ministry May 2017 Advisers: Frank Chan, Milton Eng The author presents the difficulty of retaining younger English-speaking congregants as a ministry problem for Chinese and Korean American churches in New York City. The urgency, in the clarion call of Ken Fong (1990) and Helen Lee (1996), of cultivating healthier churches for second generation Asian Americans remains today. After several decades, the results of all our investment into second-generation Asian American ministries are unclear and questions abound: Does the lack of visible progress among Asian American ministries for over three decades indicate that homogenous church plants are missiologically ineffective? If an effective ministry model was developed for second generation Asian Americans, would there be healthy multiplication (on a national level)? Do the localized nature of fruitful Asian American ministries today point primarily to the individual competence of particular ministers and personalities? Is it too dreamy to envision a ?generational? church or national renewal for second generation Asian Americans? Do the contextual demands for a particular region supersede the general ministry demands of the second generation Asian Americans group? There is no clear indication that Asian American ministries have broken the code to the ?Silent Exodus? phenomenon or if an ethno-generational code even exists. There remains a need for data, exploratory ministries, and results to address the ?Silent Exodus.? The author?s study focuses on a narrow perspective within the ?Silent Exodus? phenomenon of those who actually found a destination and brackets out perspectives such as apostasy, those who stayed in the ethnic church despite grievances, and those who still have faith in Jesus but gave up on institutionalized religion. He recruited 165 Chinese and Korean Americans in six marque non-ethnic churches in New York City who attended an ethnic church for at least three years at some point in their life. He created an Asian American Christian Survey, a 36 Likert Scale and 4 Fill-in questionnaire, which seeks to measure the attitudes of Asian American Christians who left their ethnic churches for non-ethnic churches. The author discovered that the top reasons Asian Americans prefer the non-ethnic church are the same for each of the six marque churches: standard of excellence, their multicultural value, and their non-legalistic culture. The six marque churches surveyed are Trinity Grace Church, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New Life Fellowship, Times Square Church, Hope NYC, and Hillsong NYC. Another 68 respondents in the New York Metropolitan area, not attending these six marque churches, prefer their current churches to an Asian American church for the same top three reasons out of eleven evaluated: standard of excellence, their multicultural value, and their non-legalistic culture. Recommendations for ministry include thoughtfully deconstructing why current Asian American ministries are faltering and theologically constructing healthier Asian American ministries in light of insights learned from ministries creating destinations for the ?Silent Exodus? population, systemic changes regarding core values and practices, and developing leaders who embody these values. Research results overwhelmingly indicate incompetence and immaturity among Asian American ministry leaders.

<p> Researcher surveyed 200 Korean- speaking Korean American Believers in Bergen County of NJ with questionnaire 'ACMRT', Attitude toward Church Membership Retention and Transfer (10-questions questionnaire). Only 24% have remained in their original church and that 76% have transferred churches, many of whom more than once. Church satisfaction is not higher among the transfers in comparison to the retained. Apart from "moving" the most cited cause for leaving a previous church was conflict.</p><p>

<p> Writing about food and eating food are both environmental acts. The ways in which humans conceive of edible material&mdash;by speaking about it and growing it in the ground&mdash;are reflections of their view of the natural world. </p><p> Ecological fiction like Karen Tei Yamashita&rsquo;s <i>Through the Arc of the Rain Forest</i> connects imagined visions of food with the current reality of our agricultural system in the United States. In both the fictitious narratives and lived experience, synthetic polymers overtake almost every aspect of life, including edible matter. The ubiquitous <i> plasticization</i> of food is one of the main causes of the current global environmental crisis. </p><p> Ultimately, the treatment of food in ecological fiction and in practice reveals our mistreatment of the environment and of our own bodies. Employing a systems-based way of thinking ecologically make visible the yet invisible lines of interconnection among the natural world, edible matter, and living beings.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant to propose funding for a mental health outreach program aimed towards increasing mental health awareness in Asian American parents. An extensive literature review was performed to understand the prevalence of mental health related issues in the Asian American community. The goals of the project are to increase mental health awareness in Los Angeles County, increase positive communication between Asian American parents and children, and to decrease mental health stigma. The outreach program seeks to achieve said goals by providing educational and informational seminars to the local schools, businesses, community centers, religious organizations and Asian radio stations. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>