These tabs offer a small selection of resources on race, culture, and ethnicity. For more recommendations see this list of more resourcesor explore the NU Libraries website.
Minor Feelings: an Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong"[A] formidable new essay collection . . . I read Minor Feelings in a fugue of enveloping recognition and distancing flinch. . . . [Cathy Park] Hong is writing in agonized pursuit of a liberation that doesn't look white--a new sound, a new affect, a new consciousness--and the result feels like what she was waiting for."--Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror "Minor Feelings is a major reckoning, pulling no punches as the author uses her life's flashpoints to give voice to a wider Asian American experience, one with cascading consequences."--NPR "Hong dissects her experiences as an Asian American to create an intricate meditation on racial awareness in the U.S. Through a combination of cultural criticism and personal stories, Hong, a poet, lays bare the shame and confusion she felt in her youth as the daughter of Korean immigrants, and the way those feelings morphed as she grew older. From analyzing Richard Pryor's stand-up to interrogating her relationship with the English language, Hong underscores essential themes of identity and otherness."--Time "Cathy Park Hong's new memoir confronts the tough questions of Asian American identity. Drawing its title from Hong's theory regarding the impact of racial stereotypes and lies on ethnic minorities, this memoir-in-essays is a must-read at a time of rising racist violence and distrust."--Bustle "An incendiary nonfiction book about a pressing social issue of the day . . . With its mix of the personal and political, Minor Feelings is the kind of trenchant social critique that's bound to get people talking."--BuzzFeed "Hong busts out of the closed loop of Asian American discourse and takes off at a run. It's not that she doesn't address the model minority myth, the brutality of casual racism, or the mortifications of a first-gen childhood; she writes passionately about how Asians are dismissed, the lowly 'carpenter ants of the service industry.' It's just that she also makes every 'immigrant talking point,' as she calls them, viscerally specific. . . . Hong's essays make a case for solidarity that begins at self-awareness."--GEN "At-times funny, often deeply thought-provoking work . . . Minor Feelings is an urgent consideration of identity, social structures, and artistic practice. It's a necessary intervention in a world burgeoning with creativity but stymied by a lack of language and ability to grapple with nuance. Hong takes a step in remedying that."--Chicago Review of Books "Self aware and relentlessly sharp essays. Nimble, smart, and deliberate, Minor Feelings is a major conversation starter."--Marie Claire "With radical candor, Cathy Hong Park critically examines what it means to be Asian American today and challenges herself and her readers to abandon the idea of a monolithic Asian American experience and instead acknowledge a range of racialized emotions which have been heretofore dismissed."--Ms. "Part memoir, part cultural criticism, the poet and essayist's Cathy Park Hong's first book of prose had me underlining and annotating nearly every page."--R. O. Kwon, Electric Literature
ISBN: 9781984820372
Publication Date: 2020-02-25
- Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Gomez, Laura E.
Latinos are the second-largest demographic in the United States, but is “Latino” an ethnic identity or a racial one? How can Latino be a race if Latinos themselves can be various races? In her book, Inventing Latinos, UCLA Law professor Laura E. Gómez makes the case that Latinos are both. She does so by examining the ways that American colonialism in Latin America and laws in the United States have led to the racialization of Latinos by denying them “full and equal participation in American life.”
ISBN: 9781620971789
Publication Date: 2020
- The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD * "Karla's book sheds light on people's personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard."--Selena Gomez NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VULTURE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Book Review * Time * NPR * The New York Public Library * Book Riot * Library Journal Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she'd tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer's phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants--and to find the hidden key to her own. Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented--and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the singular, effervescent characters across the nation often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects. In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited into the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami, we enter the ubiquitous botanicas, which offer medicinal herbs and potions to those whose status blocks them from any other healthcare options. In Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for state ID in order to receive life-saving clean water. In Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, finds family in two teenage girls whose father is in sanctuary. And through it all we see the author grappling with the biggest questions of love, duty, family, and survival. In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.
ISBN: 9780399592690
Publication Date: 2020-03-24
The standing rock saga -- Environmental justice theory and its limitations for indigenous peoples -- Genocide by any other name, a history of indigenous environmental injustice -- The complicated legacy of western expansion and the industrial revolution -- Food is medicine, water is life, American Indian health and the environment -- (Not so) strange bedfellows, Indian country's ambivalent relationship with the environmental movement -- Hearts not on the ground, indigenous women's leadership and more cultural clashes -- Sacred sites and environmental justice -- Ways forward for environmental justice in Indian country."Interrogating the concept of environmental justice in the U.S. as it relates to Indigenous peoples, this book argues that a different framework must apply compared to other marginalized communities, while it also attends to the colonial history and structure of the U.S. and ways Indigenous peoples continue to resist, and ways the mainstream environmental movement has been an impediment to effective organizing and allyship"--
ISBN: 9780807073797
Publication Date: 2019
In Envisioning Religion, Race, and Asian Americans, David K. Yoo and Khyati Y. Joshi assemble a wide-ranging and important collection of essays documenting the intersections of race and religion and Asian American communities--a combination so often missing both in the scholarly literature and in public discourse. Issues of religion and race/ethnicity undergird current national debates around immigration, racial profiling, and democratic freedoms, but these issues, as the contributors document, are longstanding ones in the United States. The essays feature dimensions of traditions such as Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism, as well as how religion engages with topics that include religious affiliation (or lack thereof), the legacy of the Vietnam War, and popular culture. The contributors also address the role of survey data, pedagogy, methodology, and literature that is richly complementary and necessary for understanding the scope and range of the subject of Asian American religions. These essays attest to the vibrancy and diversity of Asian American religions, while at the same time situating these conversations in a scholarly lineage and discourse. This collection will certainly serve as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and general readers with interests in Asian American religions, ethnic and Asian American studies, religious studies, American studies, and related fields that focus on immigration and race.
ISBN: 0824884191
Publication Date: 2020
Explore these databases to find articles and other resources:
Ethnic NewsWatch (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) full text newspapers, magazines and journals of American ethnic, minority and indigenous communities. Offers additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream press.
Historical Black Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A rich collection important to a full understanding of Unites States history. Includes the Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chicago Defender (1910-1975),Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), and the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database of books, articles, and dissertations in sociology and related disciplines, from 1952 to the present. International in scope, links to full text.
Selected journals:
SAPIENS-- open access anthropology magazine. Articles include
- The Census Bureau collects race data according to U.S. Office of Management and Budget guidelines, and these data are based on self-identification. People may choose to report more than one race group. People of any race may be of any ethnic origin.
- Office of Minority Health (OMH) Resource Center provides minority health literature, research and referrals for consumers, community organizations and health professionals.
Racial Identities
American Indian or Alaska Native
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
- Alaska Native Heritage Center - site for cultural center located in Anchorage, Alaska that promotes active observance of Alaska Native culture and traditions. Cultural Knowledge videos including History and Heritage, Storytelling, and Native Language.
- Living Nations, Living Words - Library of Congress projectcreated to introduce people to Native American poets. Features a sampling of work by 47 Native Nations poets through an interactive ArcGIS Story Map and a newly developed audio collection.
- Native Hope - organization working to addressinjustice done to Native Americans by sharingNative stories, providingeducational resources, and assisting Native communities. Site includes the Native Story (past, present and future) and Native voicesincluding a blogandpodcast.
Asian Americans
earlier designation as Asian American and Pacific Islander; some resources may still use this older category
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- Asian American Resource Workshop - member-led organization committed to building grassroots power for pan-Asian communities in Greater Boston through political education, creative expression, and issue-based and neighborhood organizing. Learn more about the history of violence in Boston towards its Asian communities from this AARW report.
- Pew Research Center: Asian American-- click on Fact Sheets about this diverse and growing population.
- TED Talk: I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype -eighteen-year-old Canwen Xu shares her Asian-American story of breaking stereotypes andreaffirming stereotypes
Black or African American
A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
- I Am Not Your Negro -Using James Baldwin's unfinished final manuscript, Remember This House, this documentary follows the lives and successive assassinations of three of the author's friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., delving into the legacy of these iconic figures and narrating historic events using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material.
- Code Switch -Podcast series of conversations about race and its impact on all aspects of society, hosted by journalists of color.
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
- Mokuola Honua -mission is "to reestablish the prominence of indigenous perspectives in modern contexts, in our homelands and globally, from a strong foundation of fluency in our mother tongues."
- Off Shore: Far From Home - special project from Honolulu Civil Beat that explores the Native Hawaiian diaspora and painful questions about identity, family and culture. The Civil Beat websiteincludes a wide variety of local journalism about current issues impacting native Hawaiian people and culture.
White
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
- Talking About Race: Whiteness - overview of whiteness, related concepts and implications by the National Museum of African American History & Culture's Talking about Race project. Includes videos of prominent scholars explaining their work.
- TED Talk: How to Recognize Your White Privilege - talk by Peggy McIntosh, author of the seminal piece "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" examines her own journey in understanding whiteness and the privileges it affords.
- Whiteness Project - a collection of interviews withAmericans who identify as white, or partially white, about how they understand and experience their race.
Ethnicity
U.S. federal government agencies must adhere tostandards issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which specify that race and Hispanic origin (also known as ethnicity) are two separate and distinct concepts.
Hispanic or Latinx
- Boston's Latino Community History -The documents, images, and posters in this digital archivedocument public policy formation, community relations, affordable housing, urban planning and housing rehabilitation, cultural and educational programming, violence prevention, and minority rights in Boston during the last decades of the 20th century.
- Pew Research Center: Hispanic TrendsPew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.
- When Labels Don't Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity -This report from Pew Research Center explores Latinos’ attitudes about their identity; their language usage patterns; their core values; and their views about the U.S. and their families’ country of origin.
Looking for a topic?
Consider one of these:
- cultural appropriation
- colonization or imperialism
- discrimination or racism
- biracial or multiracial identity
