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Amerasian Bibliography

Compiled by Jan Wiseman, PHD Candidate, Seattle, WA

Amerasian Immigrants in the United States:

• DeBonis, Steven: Children of the Enemy: Oral Histories of Vietnamese Amerasians and Their Mothers, 1995. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
  First-person insights into the lives of Vietnamese Amerasian immigrants to the United States, drawn from interviews conducted with Amerasians and their mothers in a refugee transit center in the Philippines.

   

• Migration and Refugee Services: In Our Fathers Land: Vietnamese Amerasians in the United States, 1995. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference.
  A study of the psychological and other adjustments made by the first wave of Vietnamese Amerasian immigrants (i.e., refugees with the Orderly Departure Program) to the United States.

   

• Newell, Jean F: Vietnamese Amerasians: A Needs Assessment. MSW Thesis,California State University, 1991.
  An assessment of the social service needs of the Amerasian immigrant population.

   

• Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline: From Dust to Gold: The Vietnamese Amerasian Experience. In Racially Mixed People in America, pp. 144-161. Maria P.P. Root, ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992.
  A comparison of the situations of Vietnamese Amerasians in Vietnam and after emigration to the United States. Author is Vietnamese Amerasian.

Amerasian and Eurasian Identity and Identity Development

• Hall, Christine Iijima. The Ethnic Identity of Racially Mixed People: A Study of Black-Japanese. PhD Dissertation, The University of California, 1980.
  A seminal study which challenged old ideas of mixed-race psychopathology; the ideas presented herein were further developed into a theory of normative interracial identity development by Kich, 1983 (see below). Author is Black-Japanese.

   

• Kich, George Kitahara. Eurasians: Ethnic/Racial Identity Development of Biracial Japanese/White Adults. PhD Dissertation, California Institute of Professional Psychology, 1983.
  A seminal study which proposed a model of normative interracial identity development. Author is Japanese/White.

   

• The Developmental Process of Asserting a Biracial, Bicultural Identity. In Racially Mixed People in America, pp. 304-320. Maria P.P. Root, ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992.
  A summary of and update on the authors model of normative interracial identity development (see Kich 1983, above).

   

• Mass, Amy Iwasaki. Interracial Japanese Americans: The Best of Both Worlds or the End of the Japanese American Community?. In Racially Mixed People in America, pp. 265-279. Maria P.P. Root, ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992.
  A comparison of identity in Japanese Americans of mixed and non- mixed race ancestry. Author is interracial Japanese American.

   

• Root, Maria P.P. Contemporary Mixed-Heritage Filipino Americans: Fighting Colonized Identities. In Filipino Americans: Transformation and Identity, pp. 80-94. Maria P.P. Root, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997.
  A summary of the history of the mixed-heritage Filipino American community, with recommendations for the fostering of healthy identity development. Author is mixed-heritage Filipina.

   

• Williams, Teresa Kay. Prism Lives: Identity of Binational Amerasians. In Racially Mixed People in America, pp. 280-304. Maria P.P. Root, ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992.
  A study of the identity of U.S.-based Amerasians who are also binational due to one parents immigrant status. Examines the impact of military versus non-military upbringing, bilingualism, and parental death or divorce. Author is binational (Japanese- U.S.) Amerasian.

Clinical Perspectives

• Bemak, Fred, and Rita Chi-Ying Chung. Vietnamese Amerasians: Psychosocial Adjustment and Psychotherapy. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, vol. 25, pp. 79-88, 1997.
  

  The most recent study of the psychosocial adjustment of Vietnamese Amerasian immigrants; includes discussion of therapeutic considerations.

   

• Hershel, Helena Jia. Therapeutic Perspectives on Biracial Identity Formation and Internalized Oppression. In American Mixed Race, pp. 169-184. Naomi Zack, ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1995.
  A discussion of therapeutic considerations in the treatment of biracialclients whose identity development has been impacted by internalized oppression. Author is Eurasian.

   

• Root, Maria P.P. Resolving 'Other' Status: Identity Development in Biracial Individuals. In Complexity and Diversity in Feminist Theory and Therapy, pp. 185-205. L. Brown and Maria P.P. Root, eds. New York: Haworth, 1990.
  A discussion of variations in the healthy resolution of identity issues in interracial clients. Author is mixed-heritage Filipina.

   

  Representations of Interraciality

• Houston, Velina Hasu. To the Colonizer Goes the Spoils: American Progeny in Vietnam War Films and Owning Up to the Gaze. Amerasia Journal, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 69-86, 1997.
  An analysis of the portrayal of Amerasian and Eurasian characters in cinematic and stage portrayals of the Vietnam War.

   

• Price, Darby Li Po. Humorous Hapas, Performing Identities. Amerasia Journal, 1997; vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 99-111.
  An analysis of the ways in which comedians of multiracial Asian descent mediate their identities both in their performance and in their personal lives. Author is of multiracial Asian descent.

   

• Williams, Teresa Kay. The Theater of Identity: (Multi-)Race and Representation of Eurasians and Afroasians. In American Mixed Race, pp. 79-96. Naomi Zack, ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1995.
  An analysis of identity politics as it affects Eurasians and Afroasians in the entertainment industry. Author is Amerasian(binational Japanese-U.S.).

Other Studies of Interraciality

• Funderburg, Lise. Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk About Race and Identity. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1994.
  A collection of first-person accounts of the life experiences of Americans of mixed Black-White ancestry. Author is biracial Black-White.

   

• Root, Maria P.P., ed. Racially Mixed People in America. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992.
  Edited volume from which many of the works cited elsewhere herein are taken; sections cover racial ecology, the history of multiraciality, interracial identity, and legislative concerns. Contains extensive bibliography on many aspects of the multiracial, including Amerasian, experience. Editor is mixed- heritage Filipina.

   

• Root, Maria P.P., ed. The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders as the New Frontier. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1996. Roots second edited volume on multiraciality; sections cover human rights, identity issues, gender and sexuality, and multicultural education. Contains extensive bibliography. Editor is mixed-heritage Filipina.

   

• Zack, Naomi. Race and Mixed Race. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993.
  A philosophical analysis and criticism of the logic of American racial designations, the reasons behind the continued salience of such designations in American society, and the impact of American racial dynamics on individuals of mixed specifically black/white ancestry. Author is of mixed black/white ancestry.

   

• Zack, Naomi, ed. American Mixed Race: The Culture of Microdivesity. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishes, Inc, 1995.
  An edited volume presenting various perspectives on the manners in which American identity politics affects Americans of mixed racial ancestry. Editor is of mixed black/white ancestry.