The Ethnic and Religious Identities of Young Asian Americans

The following dissertation is an examination of the social construction and maintenance of traditional ethnic and religious identities among the rising generation of Asian Americans in the 21st century. Using an interviewed sample of 99 Asian American college student leaders at four public universities and a surveyed sample of 325 Asian American college students, I asked a set of parallel questions with regard to how the respondents understand their ethnic and religious backgrounds. The evidence based on these samples suggests that traditional identities are a constructive effort or a form of personal agency. These constructions however are derived from the available discourse in American public narratives, particularly that of race and religion. I show that not only do these public narratives produce different interpretations of ethnicity or religion when considered separately, but they also interact and inform one another in complex ways. This suggests that identities like these are both fluid and fixed relative to the social relationships embedded within family, friendships, schools, and local organizations who provide the grammar and syntax for the explanations individuals give for these identities.