“The most impressive work at the nexus of scholarship, story, and activism I have ever read.”
–Elaine Howard Ecklund, author of Why Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear
Unassimilable
An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century
A scholar and activist’s brilliant socio-political examination of Asian Americans who refuse to assimilate and instead build their own belonging on their own terms outside of mainstream American institutions, transforming the ways we understand race, class, and citizenship in America.
In this hard-hitting and deeply personal book, a combination of manifesto and memoir, scholar, sociologist, and activist Bianca Mabute-Louie transforms the ways we understand race, class, American respectability, and the concept of assimilation and its impact on Asian American communities from the nineteenth century to present day.
UNASSIMILABLE opens with a focus on the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), the first Asian ethnoburb in Los Angeles County and in the nation, where she grew up. A suburban neighborhood with a conspicuous Asian immigrant population, SGV thrives not because of its assimilation into Whiteness, but because of its unapologetic catering to its immigrant community.
Mabute-Louie then examines “Predominantly White Institutions With A lot of Asians” and how these institutions shape the racial politics of Asian Americans and Asian internationals, including the fight against affirmative action and the fight for ethnic studies. She moves on to interrogate the role of the religion, showing how the immigrant church is a sanctuary even as it is an extension of colonialism and the American Empire. In the book’s conclusion, Bianca looks to the future, boldly proposing a reconsideration of the term Asian American for a new label that better clarifies who Asians in America are today.
UNASSIMILABLE offers a radical vision of Asian American political identity informed by a refusal of Whiteness and collective care for each other. It is a forthright declaration against assimilation and in service of cross-racial, anti-imperialist solidarity and revolutionary politics. Scholarly yet accessible, informative and informed, this book is a major addition to Ethnic Studies and American Studies.
“Every so often, you come across a book that would have changed the trajectory of your life, if only you had it years before. UNASSIMILABLE is that book. Mabute-Louie offers a compass for Asian Americans and anyone committed to reckoning with the sins of our country’s past—all in the hope of reimagining a better future.”
—Anthony Christian Ocampo, author of Brown and Gay in LA
“Forthright, intelligent, researched, and yet so full of soul and heart — this is text we’ll refer to for a long while.”
—Cinelle Barnes, author of Monsoon Mansion, Malaya, and A Measure Of Belonginga
“What a profound reading experience to feel held and challenged in equal measure. Balancing rigorous scholarship with personal vulnerability, Mabute-Louie calls us to wider political community, to action, to our whole and best selves.”
—Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor and Like a Mother
EARLY PRAISE FOR UNASSIMILABLE
“…unflinching in its call for an evolution, from Asian American identity to Asian diasporic consciousness that transcends place and time, to embrace a refusal to fit within existing paradigms of the world, so we can collectively forge more humanizing possibilities.”
—Dr. Oiyan Poon, author of Asian American is not a Color and Rethinking College Admissions
“A daring and provocative call to break free from the myopic gaze of whiteness and claim our innate power, belonging, and dignity on our own terms.”
—Michelle MiJung Kim, author of The Wake Up
“…a compelling critique of America’s empire and racism, but a liberatory, compelling vision for communities and society.”
—Dr. Russell Jeung, Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, author of Family Sacrifices, Moving Movers, At Home in Exile, Sustaining Faith Traditions, and Faithful Generations
“Equal parts wit and incisive critique on the role of Asian Americans in social and racial justice issues that will impact us for generations.”
—Dr. Jenny Wang, author of Permission to Come Home
“…reminds readers of what has long been possible and already exists. UNASSIMILABLE is a testimony.”
—Dr. Connie Wun, co-founder of AAPI Women Lead