A new book by Leilani Nishime explores the world of mixed-race Asian Americans in visual media.
According to a story in the Seattle Globalist, Undercover Asian: Multi-racial Asians in a Visual Culture explores the way HAPAs are misrepresented in mass media.
“A lot of people, when they look at mixed race people think it’s a happy ending. They think racial relations are ‘getting better’ and that, one day, everyone will be mixed, everyone will be brown, and race won’t be a problem anymore,” Nishime said.
“What I think is important is that, instead of seeing them as an end of the conversation, to see them as a way to get back into talking about race in more interesting ways.”
Nishime says its critical that we not run away from the conversation, but that we more deeply explore it.
She uses such mixed race Asians as Keanu Reeves, Tiger Woods, and Kimora Lee Simmons as case studies.
You can read more from Nishime and why she doesn’t like the term multi-racial in the Seattle Globalist.
