A Couple Thoughts

While perusing the shelves at Borders books in one of my favorite sections (sociology), I came across an interesting book, “Asian American X: An Intersection of 21st Century Asian American Voices.” The book itself is a compilation of essays written by “Asian American” high school and college students – most of which have grown up in an “American” culture, and most of which are middle class. I didn’t read through the book entirely, just looked at a couple essays and read through the introduction of the book – which was fabulous.

In the intro they mention there is not one hierarchical path towards identity – a concept that has become increasingly salient to me the more I read. It’s not that theoretical models of development aren’t important, because they are. However, is not the step-by-step, phase-to-phase, vector upon vector that are the most important concepts for us to grasp. It is the awareness they bring, the thought behind them, and the reason they were conceived in the first place that should stick with us.