Asian American Tropes
There are many stereotypical tropes of Asian Americans that are not only harmful to the community of Asian Americans, but to the overall structure of society. Four tropes are presented below that are not only among the most damaging, but affected by history and societal context in various ways. (click the titles for more details)
Misrepresents the peoples of East and Southeast Asia, and Arab nations as an existential danger to the Western world
The portrait of an Asian female as demure, innocent, gentle, and obedient who must be saved by the white man from her child-like state
An image of Asian Americans as over-achievers with little emotional life who devote their entire lives to academic success
A xenophobic form of Nativism which casts Asian Americans as inherently foreign and therefore not truly “American”