Fighting Invisibility: Asian Americans in the Midwest

In Fighting Invisibility, Monica Mong Trieu argues that we must consider the role of physical and symbolic space to fully understand the nuances of Asian American racialization. By doing this, we face questions such as, historically, who has represented Asian America? Who gets to represent Asian America? This book shifts the primary focus to Midwest Asian America to disrupt--and expand beyond--the existing privileged narratives in United States and Asian American history.

Drawing from in-depth interviews, census data, and cultural productions from Asian Americans in Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan, this interdisciplinary research examines how post-1950s Midwest Asian Americans navigate identity and belonging, racism, educational settings, resources within co-ethnic communities, and pan-ethnic cultural community. Their experiences and life narratives are heavily framed by three pervasive themes of spatially defined isolation, invisibility, and racialized visibility.

Fighting Invisibility makes an important contribution to racialization literature, while also highlighting the necessity to further expand the scope of Asian American history-telling and knowledge production.


Author: Monica Mong Trieu
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 03/17/2023
Pages: 184
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.98w x 0.47d
ISBN13: 9781978834286
ISBN10: 1978834284
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | Asian American Studies & Pacific
- Social Science | Regional Studies

About the Author
MONICA MONG TRIEU is an associate professor of American studies and Asian American studies at Purdue University, Indiana. She is the author of Identity Construction among Chinese-Vietnamese Americans: Being, Becoming, and Belonging.