Generational trauma that continues to pass through Asian-American immigrant families is a behavioral pattern that inevitably develops specific cultural elements that unravel into the family’s atmosphere as they age. More specifically, the hurdles of racism and struggling to find identity as an Asian-American are inarticulate values felt through generations. The hardships that come with experiencing such hardships are unspoken and internalized in Asian-American families. It is imperative to understand where the generational trauma stem from in current day generations, between Gen Z and their parents’ generation (Generation X or the Millennial Generation) in order to be able to move forward in understanding the Asian-American ethnic identity as a whole. This will allow current generations to create a new generational culture leading into comfortability in ethnic identity and properly honoring accomplishments of past generations. The Asian-American identity tends to be very fluctuant with accomplishments and experience among both the parent and child generation; to help balance and build a strong foundation for current and future generations of Asian-Americans, it is up to the current Asian-American generation to move ethnic appreciation and cultivation forward by looking within oneself in values of identity and how we want to move forward together as a generational force.
The majority of the sources I have found are coming from generational trauma that comes from a mother-daughter relationship (The Joy Luck Club, Turning Red, It’s Time to Forgive The Joy Luck Club, possibly Not My Mother’s Sister); to respect other aspects of proper gender representation in films, I will elaborate on where the creators are coming from. Feeling seen is important, which is why there are other resources that can help level out the playing field of gender equality in pushing for understanding generational trauma in the Asian-American culture. I also feel like I do need to include some perspectives from Asian-American men about this topic through sources, to help bring more inclusivity and consideration on how complex the overall Asian-American experience can become. With my claim about ethnic identity, I’m still on the search to find a source that focuses on the question of what it means to be an Asian-American. Personally, it feels like a loose term that can be applied to any generation that is in America of Asian ethnic background, which is why I feel like it may be hard to pinpoint a source that will help emphasize this specific element of my research paper.
Prof L
Sonya, two comments for now to help you with tightening your focus.
If you want to, you can write with a primary focus on mother-daugher relationships—I think the arguments in the “Forgive the JLC” essay will help you in showing why it’s reasonable for you to make this choice, in 2022.
I also think that, if your primary focus will be on texts, works of art, as representations, you may need to figure out a way to ALSO discuss personal stories or stories you know from other perspectives. (Much scholarship on identity and trauma takes place in the context of psychological research—eg, check out this special journal issue from 2018:
https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/doi/full/10.1080/02703149.2018.1425021
Finally, , the question of what it means to be an Asian American (as opposed to an Asian? as opposed to an Asian-American?—the hyphenated form was once the norm and is now less commonly used…) is a BIG question—the term IS used loosely by many in media and in conversation, but is also at the intersection of much theoretical work
I myself am not really qualified to help you directly—my knowledge of these debates is not adequate—but I can help you with searches and keyterms. Using Google Scholar and limiting to recent work is a good starting point…
Sonya N.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m thinking about taking out the ethnic identity portion, I feel like it adds an additional layer that won’t add to my overall paper in the way I want to.