Who are Asian Americans?
• Asian Americans are Americans who can trace their origins to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent (South Asia). Americans with origins in Central Asia (such as Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyztan) and West Asia (the Middle East) are sometimes considered as Asian Americans as well. • Some Asian Americans think of themselves as just Asian. Others identify themselves only by their ethnicity or national origin (e.g. Chinese, Chinese American). And some Asian Americans are multiracial and multiethnic, and identify themselves in more complex ways. • As with all other identities, the individual has the right and the choice to identify her/himself as Asian American. We must keep in mind, though, that racial markers – such as skin color, facial features, hair texture, name, or accent – put certain people into (and out of) racial categories regardless of their self-identification.
