[Review of] Philip S. Foner and Daniel Rosenberg , eds. Racism, Dissent, and Asian Americans from 1850 to the Present: A Documentary History

Numerous historical studies discuss racism against Asian Americans as well as their resistance to racist policies, practices, and thought. While this scholarship correctly stresses the predominance of racism, it contains passing references to non-Asian individuals and organizations who supported better treatment and the rights of Asians. Foner and Rosenberg argue that these small numbers of supporters were dissenters from prevailing anti-Asian racism and that they deserve greater attention because they represent the existence of more than one perspective of Asian Americans

[Review of] Elionne Belden. Claiming Chinese Identity

Thirty years ago, when the field of Asian American studies was in its infancy, identity was one of the subjects that received much attention. Since then, a good deal of research on or related to identity has been conducted, and, in the past few years, several significant pieces of work have been published. Claiming Chinese Identity is not among the latter

Critique [of Gong Lum v. Rice: The Convergence of Law, Race and Ethnicity by Malik Simba]

Law in the United States may of course be viewed through a number of different perspectives. Over the past several decades, racial minorities have used litigation and legislation to reform institutional policies and practices, and this has given impetus to perspectives of law as a significant tool of constructive social change. While such frameworks have validity, Malik Simba\u27s paper is a relevant reminder of the ideological and coercive dimensions of law and of its long history as a means of oppressing racial minorities

[Review of] Ethnic Studies Oral History Project and United Okinawan Association of Hawaii, eds. Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawaii

While the experiences of most ethnic groups are frequently overlooked, this is especially the fate of relatively small groups. Many small groups merit greater attention, for example the Okinawans who migrated to Hawaii from 1900-1924, worked on sugar and pineapple plantations, developed small businesses and community organizations, and achieved a measure of economic and social success. What makes their story of special interest is their ethnic status. At the time of their migration, the homeland of the Okinawans, the Ryukyu archipelago (which includes the island of Okinawa), was part of Japan as it is today. However, the Ryukyus have always been somewhat isolated from Japanese influences because of their location hundreds of miles southwest of the four primary Japanese islands. Okinawan immigrants were therefore Japanese but had many unique linguistic, social, and cultural characteristics. In Hawaii, the latter defined Okinawans, or Uchinanchu, as being different from other Japanese immigrants , or Naichi, and this difference contributed to friction between the two groups. Thus, Okinawans found themselves discriminated against by Naichi in addition to others. They also felt conflicting pressures to assimilate into Naichi society, to assimilate into white society, and to maintain their own characteristics. Over time, the Okinawans managed in varying degrees to do all three. The history of Okinawans in Hawaii therefore offers valuable insights regarding the shaping of ethnicity

[Review of] Eugene Eoyang, Coat of Many Colors: Reflections on Diversity by a Minority of One

Eoyang\u27s volume is a collection of personal essays that call for a more diverse conception of American culture and society. While the latter, of course, is a familiar if not universally-accepted theme, this actually is an unconventional and highly effective book because of the range of issues it covers and the author\u27s basic writing strategy

Fourier analyses of commensurability oscillations in Fibonacci lateral superlattices

Magnetotransport measurements have been performed on Fibonacci lateral superlattices (FLSLs) -- two-dimensional electron gases subjected to a weak potential modulation arranged in the Fibonacci sequence, LSLLSLS..., with L/S=tau (the golden ratio). Complicated commensurability oscillation (CO) is observed, which can be accounted for as a superposition of a series of COs each arising from a sinusoidal modulation representing the characteristic length scale of one of the self-similar generations in the Fibonacci sequence. Individual CO components can be separated out from the magnetoresistance trace by performing a numerical Fourier band-pass filter. From the analysis of the amplitude of a single-component CO thus extracted, the magnitude of the corresponding Fourier component in the potential modulation can be evaluated. By examining all the Fourier contents observed in the magnetoresistance trace, the profile of the modulated potential seen by the electrons can be reconstructed with some remaining ambiguity about the interrelation of the phase between different components.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, added references in Introduction, minor revision

On the Morse-Novikov number for 2-knots

Let $K\subset S^4$ be a 2-knot, that is, a smoothly embedded 2-sphere in $S^4$. The Morse-Novikov number $\mathcal M\mathcal N(K)$ is the minimal possible number of critical points of a Morse map $S^4\setminus K\to S^1$ belonging to the canonical class in $H^1(S^4\setminus K)$. We prove that for a classical knot $K\subset S^3$ the Morse-Novikov number of the spun knot $S(K)$ is $\leq 2\mathcal M\mathcal N(K)$. This enables us to compute $\mathcal M\mathcal N(S(K))$ for every classical knot $K$ with tunnel number 1.Comment: Latex, 14 page