| “The People United: Cultural Work and the Making of Asian America, 1968–1985” examines a key moment in the development of an Asian American identity: the earliest years in the Asian American Movement when participants defined the meanings of Asian America and integrated that identity into a political movement of social change. Cultural works—specifically Asian American Movement publications, political posters, music and performance—illustrate the process by which Asian American identity unfolded and was negotiated in this period. “Cultural workers,” defined in this project as artists and intellectuals, were central to the Movement through their representational and ideological contributions, and their development of new institutions, resources and communities built around culture. Culture was a source of power, and the representations and strategic positions of cultural work were integrated with Movement efforts to oppose oppressions and fight for livable communities. Cultural representations are discussed in relationship to practices of political strategies of outreach, education and advocacy, and the material resources necessary for any representational work to occur, thus demonstrating the ideological and material dynamics of cultural politics.; This examination of cultural work illuminates shifts in definitions of politics and political participation for Asian Americans. During this era, for the first time, race became the basis by which Asian Americans made claims on society. The assertion of a collective Asian American identity was infused with ways of understanding historical forces, structures of power, hierarchies, oppression and resistance. Envisioned as a pan-ethnic and multi-racial coalition, Asian American identity was posited in solidarity with other “Third World” people, and other oppressed people and struggles within the U.S. and internationally. Thus, Asian America was defined with reference to parallel political situations on international, national and local geographical levels. Furthermore, this oppositional identity was defined in relation to gender oppression, and class struggle, particularly as expressed in anti-imperialist ideology.; From its inception, Asian America was never defined as a singular identity, and different groups within the hugely encompassing Asian American spectrum made variant claims on its meanings and applications. The evidence and analyses in this dissertation examine the process of defining an Asian American identity in the affirmative, but also zero in on the tensions, challenges, and limitations within this politicized coalition identity. |
