Asian American identity development

Order Description

Drawing on the week 8 article by Daniel Eisen entitled “Identity Formation,” discuss the Asian American identity development of each of the following five individuals: Jin Wang (of the graphic novel American Born Chinese), Ben Tanaka (of the graphic novel Shortcomings), visual artist Dinh Q. Le, Sumita (of the short story “Clothes”), and Mary Uyematsu Kao (author of the week 8 article “Ma’s Killer Won-Ton Soup Recreating Ethnic Rituals”). Cite examples from their life experiences that provide evidence of the various stages of identity formation they may be undergoing at different periods of their lives. [For instance, Jin Wang experiences more than one stage of identity formation in American Born Chinese, so you need to discuss all the stages he goes through. Strengthen your analysis of these stages by drawing upon/discussing various key scenes from the novel that highlight the stages of identity formation he experiences.] By the end of their respective “stories,” do all five individuals end up at the same stage of Asian American identity formation, or are they at different stages relative to each other? Also, you should consider if any particular stages of identity formation (for example, the White identification stage, the pan-ethnic Asian American consciousness stage, and so forth) seem to be viewed more positively than others, and if so, why do you think this might be?

LONG ESSAY ASSIGNMENT:

DUE: Thursday, May 7, 2015; 11:59 pm (week 16)

I.    ESSAY FORMAT:

A.    The long essay must be:

1.    typed, double-spaced

2.    1 inch margins

3.    12 point font

4.    roughly 6-7 pages long

B.    In-text citations / documentation (which basically provides me with an author & page # in case I want to double-check your source) should be done in MLA format—for reference, see this online Purdue OWL reference guide. [You do NOT need a “works cited” or “bibliography” page for your essay since the materials you will be analyzing come from within the class.]

C.    The long essay is worth 20 points.

D.    DUE: Thursday, May 7, 2015 (week 16).

E.    LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Late assignments will be accepted, but points will be deducted for lateness (usually, a drop in letter grade for each day it is late). Your essay should be sent to our Titanium website in MS Word document format. (In the case Titanium is shut down or experiencing technical problems, you can send your essay assignment to me via my e-mail address.)

•    As you proofread your essay, you may want to use the following as a reference guide: http://teachingtips.fullerton.edu/teachingtips/vol2_num1/giglist.htm

II.    GRADING:

A.    The final paper is a formal writing assignment. As a result, you are expected to 1) observe rules of grammar, 2) clearly state your thesis (i.e., central argument), and 3) support your thesis with specific, pertinent examples from the course materials. You should strive to explain the rationale—the “why’s” and “how’s”—behind your thinking. [note: Remember, a good thesis (central argument) is a debatable opinion; someone should be able to disagree with your point-of-view. If your thesis is too agreeable, you may have written a statement of fact instead of a thesis. If you are unsure about the differences between these two ideas, you can simply type thesis and “statement of fact” in one Internet search, and you should see a large number of results about how to distinguish between these items at a number of college and university writing lab web pages. Whenever possible, you should try to address any potential views or opinions that run counter to your thesis. You want to show the reader that you have seriously considered alternative views that exist in opposition to your own perspective; this can potentially add greater weight and depth to your own analysis.]

III.    ANSWER THE FOLLOWING ESSAY QUESTION:

Daniel B. Eisen, “Identity Formation,” pgs. 481-485 (2014).

Here is the link.

https://books.google.com/books?id=gZleBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA485&dq=Daniel+B.+Eisen,+%E2%80%9CIdentity+Formation%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KEP4VM6dKYe0oQThwYHQAw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Daniel%20B.%20Eisen%2C%20%E2%80%9CIdentity%20Formation%E2%80%9D&f=false

A.    Drawing on the week 8 article by Daniel Eisen entitled “Identity Formation,” discuss the Asian American identity development of each of the following five individuals: Jin Wang (of the graphic novel American Born Chinese), Ben Tanaka (of the graphic novel Shortcomings), visual artist Dinh Q. Le, Sumita (of the short story “Clothes”), and Mary Uyematsu Kao (author of the week 8 article “Ma’s Killer Won-Ton Soup Recreating Ethnic Rituals”). Cite examples from their life experiences that provide evidence of the various stages of identity formation they may be undergoing at different periods of their lives. [For instance, Jin Wang experiences more than one stage of identity formation in American Born Chinese, so you need to discuss all the stages he goes through. Strengthen your analysis of these stages by drawing upon/discussing various key scenes from the novel that highlight the stages of identity formation he experiences.] By the end of their respective “stories,” do all five individuals end up at the same stage of Asian American identity formation, or are they at different stages relative to each other? Also, you should consider if any particular stages of identity formation (for example, the White identification stage, the pan-ethnic Asian American consciousness stage, and so forth) seem to be viewed more positively than others, and if so, why do you think this might be?