I would hope that ethnic studies
programs and departments become more commonplace, and that
some of the subject matter that is now taught mainly in ethnic
studies would be integrated into other parts of the curriculum.
For Asian-Pacific American studies, there will be a shift
as the children of today’s immigrants start having families
and children. In the last census, the overwhelming majority
of Asian-Pacific Americans were either immigrants or the children
of immigrants. I would expect that someone who grows up in
a household where everyone was born in this country will have
a different experience than someone who has come from elsewhere,
or who grew up in a household where “over there”
is as real as your father and mother. So the research questions
might shift away from studying the experience of making a
life in a new country to other questions. What does it mean
to be identified as a “foreigner” if both you
and your parents are U.S.-born, for instance? |