Encyclopedia of World CulturesVolume I - NORTH AMERICA - E ppsx

The first Japanese in Canada was Manzo Na-gano, a sailor, who arrived in 1877 and after sojourns back to Japan and to the United States eventually settled in Victoria in 1892.. Neither E

94 EastAsians ofCanada

ETHNONYMS: Chinese,Japanese,Koreans, Filipinos, Nikkei

(Japanese), Orientals

Orientation

Identification Asused here, 'EastAsiansinCanada"

re-fersto Canadians ofChinese,Japanese, Korean,orFilipino

ethnicancestry.The ChineseinCanadacanbe dividedinto

two major subgroups-those who came before 1947 and

thosewho havecome sincethen The earliergroup was

com-posed almost totally ofmen who lived in western Canada

TheycameprimarilyfromGuangdongProvinceinsouthern

China Those who have arrivedsince 1947 have moreoften

beenfamilies, withasubstantialpercentage emigratingfrom

Hong Kong Within eachsubgroup furtherdistinctions can

be madeonthe basis oftimeofmigration toCanada, social

status,andplaceof birth TheJapaneseinCanadaare a

het-erogeneous group, consistingoftheissei, nisei, sansei, yonsei,

and the shineijusha Theissei, or first generation, inCanada

is made up of the early immigrants who came to Canada

roughlybetween1877and1907.Thenisei arethechildrenof

theisseiwhoas a group werebornbetween about 1908and

1940 InJapanese, nisei means'second generation," sansei,

"thirdgeneration,"andyonsei, "fourthgeneration.' The

Japa-nese immigrantswhocame toCanadaafter World War 11are

called the'shin eijusha."Theoretically, thesenew immigrants

canbecalled "issei,"but they prefertobe knownasthenew

immigrantsbecause theyare mostly technicians and

profes-sionals, unlike theisseibefore thewarwhoweremostly

labor-ers, farmers, and fishermen The Koreans and Filipinosare

morehomogeneousgroups, as many areskilled techniciansor

professionals who have settledinCanada onlyinthe lastfew

decadesand have assimilated easilyintothe Canadian

econ-omy.

Location Prior to the post-World War 11 influx, East

Asians ingeneral livedmainlyinBritishColumbiaand other

western provinces.The ChinesewereconcentratedinBritish

Columbiaaswell, thoughChinesecommunitiesdid formin

largecitieselsewhere (for example, Toronto) prior toWorld

War I. In 1986, Ontario contained the largest number of

people in each of the four groups with 156,170 Chinese,

44,195Filipinos, 17,200Koreans,and16,150Japanese

Brit-ish Columbiaishome for112,605Chinese, 15,905Japanese,

15,810Filipinos, and5,065 Koreans.Alberta alsohasmany

East Asians, and Manitoba hasa sizable (15,815) Filipino

population Therearerelativelyfew East Asiansinthe

Mari-timeProvincesor inQuebec,with theexceptionofthe

Chi-nesewho number 23,205 inthelatter

Demography Accordingto estimatesfromthe 1986

cen-sus,thereare360,320Chinese,93,285Filipinos,40,995

Jap-anese,and27,285 KoreansinCanada EastAsians constitute

about2percentof the populationofCanada.Their number

has increased rapidly in the last thirtyyears, both through

natural populationgrowth and through increased

immigra-tion under the Immigration Act of 1952 and subsequent

amendments Forthe Japanese, intermarriage ofthesansei

andyounger niseiwithnon-Japanese has contributedtothe

natural population growth Theyounger group inthe

Japa-nese-Canadian demographic profile provides a contrastingpattern to thegeneral Canadian population profile inthatthepopulation pyramidbaseiswiderindicatingthepopula-tion as a whole isyounger Filipinos in Canada today aremostly young with a high percentage of females, many ofwhom have arrived sincethe 1960s

linguistic Affiliation Prior to theend ofWorld War 11,when they were isolated from the general population, theChineseand Japanesemaintained their nativelanguages.Fullparticipation intheir community often required knowledge ofthe local or regional dialect of Japanese or Cantonese orMandarin But those who havesettled in Canada in the last

thirtyyears and theirchildren are more often bilingual in thenativelanguage andEnglish,withmanyChinese from HongKong speaking Hong Kong Chinese Many recent FilipinoandKoreanimmigrantshave arrivedalreadyspeakingEnglishalong withtheir native language

History and Cultural Relations

The history of the Chinese and Japanese in Canada is tially oneof racial discrimination from the time of arrival toafter the SecondWorld War Koreans and Filipinos, becausethey have arrived recently during the period when Canadahasembraced anofficial policy of multiculturalism, have suf-fered much less from racial discrimination There has beenlittle organized cooperation among any of the four East Asiangroups, either in the past or today

essen-Chinee Chinese first immigrated to Canadainthe 1850s

toparticipateintheFraser Rivergoldrush When the minesgave out, somemovedon toCaliforniaand others returned toChina, but the majority stayedon inBritish Columbia where

theyworkedinlow-level service jobs In the 1880s a secondwaveofChinese menarrived in Canada In all, about seven-teenthousand came, with mostrecruited to work on the ex-tension of the CanadianPacific Railroad throughBritish Co-lumbia.Whites inBritish Columbia expectedthat once therailroad was completed, the laborers would return to China.But many couldnotafford the tripback and instead settled inBritish Columbia where they worked as wagelaborersincoalmining,fish canning, and agriculture Always viewed as lessthanequalbyWhitesinBritishColumbia, theirwillingness

to workhard for low wages andthus take jobs many thoughtbelonged to Whites led to further resentment, harassment,and the formation ofanti-Chinese organizations such as theWorkingman's Protective Association and the Knights ofLabour

White resentment also led the BritishColumbia ment to seek changes in national immigration laws thatwould effectively end Chinese immigration to Canada In

govern-1885 a head tax of fifty dollars was placed on immigratingChinese; in 1901 it wasraised to one hundred dollars and in

1905 tofive hundred dollars Because the tax failed to ventimmigration, the Chinese Immigration IExclusionl Actwas amended in 1923 and immigration ceased until the actwasrepealed in 1947 Between1923and 1947 only forty-fourChinese had immigrated to Canada The repeal of the actand subsequent measures over the next twenty years gaveChinese the opportunity for full participationin Canadiansociety,including theright to vote which had previously beendenied them It also opened up immigration, with many of

pre-EastAsians ofCanada 95

those arriving since 1947 coming as families from Hong

Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere, such as Southeast Asia, the

Caribbean, and SouthAmerica

Japanese. The first Japanese in Canada was Manzo

Na-gano, a sailor, who arrived in 1877 and after sojourns back to

Japan and to the United States eventually settled in Victoria

in 1892 The earlyperiod of emigration from Japan

(1877-1907) was one in which conflict resulting from racial and

cul-tural differences culminated in the race riots of 1907 in

Van-couver During this period there was considerable hostility

toward both the Chinese and Japanese in British Columbia

As noted above, various measures were enacted by the British

Columbia government to restrict Chinese immigration and

participation in Canadian society Although aimed at the

Chinese, these restrictions applied to the Japanese as well

and led to disfranchisement and efforts to restrict

naturaliza-tion These various attempts to enact discriminatory and

rac-ist legislation were not occurring in a vacuum Public

agita-tion in the province had been increasing gradually

The perception of Whites in British Columbia that the

Japanesewere an economic threat rested on several basic

cul-tural differences The Japanese emphasis on frugality and

hard work was reflected in their day-to-day activities and in

their customs and habits all of which were based on the

tradi-tional Japanese value system Japanese social organization

centered on shared needs as well as on a sense of group

con-sciousness Group solidarity within the Japanese community

was further strengthened by its physical and social

segrega-tion from White society Within this bounded territorial

space, it was not difficult to retain the highly systematic and

interdependent social relations that were based on the

princi-ple of social and moral obligation and traditional Japanese

practices of mutual assistance such asoyabun-kobun

(parent-child) and sempai-kohai (senior-junior) relationships

An-other aspect of traditional Japanese social relations that

char-acterized both the oyabun-kobun and sempai-kohai systems

was the emphasis placed on one's sense ofduty, loyalty, and

obligations to one's employers Out of a sense of

unquestion-ing loyalty, the kobun or kohai blindly followed the orders

given by the oyabun or sempai Ironically, these traditional

values and customs, which led to the relatively successful

ad-aptation by the Japanese in western Canada, became the

main reason that the White community prevented the

Japa-nese from becoming equal members of Canadian society

Japanese laborers who came to Canada around 1907

were recruited toworkfor the Canadian Pacific Railway and

the Wellington Colliery The period from 1908 to 1940 was

one of controlled immigration, the major feature of which

was the "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1908, which restricted

immigration to returning immigrants, wives and children, and

immigrants specifically hired by Canadians Because of the

Anglo-Japanese alliance and labor shortages, anti-Japanese

sentiment decreased before and during World WarI It

in-creased againduringthe depression after the war and led to

restrictions on Japanese involvement and ownershiprightsin

the fishing and other industries, professional employment,

and access to higher education As Adachi has noted, to

Japanese-Canadians citizenship was meaningless or, at best,

symbolized the 'status of second-class citizenship."

From 1941 to 1948 the situation worsened, and

Japa-nese-Canadians were deprived of their civil rights The threat

of war with Japan and then the war itself increased

anti-Japanese feelings and led the government beginning in late

1941 to impound the property ofJapanese-Canadians, closetheir language schools, and halt publication of Japanese-language newspapers In 1942, 20,881 Japanese-Canadianswere rounded up and removed todetentioncamps ininteriorBritish Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario Restric-tions were relaxed beginning in 1943, motivated in part bythe need for Japanese workers in other parts of Canada InJuly 1947 a commission was established to compensateJapanese-Canadians for the property that had been confis-cated It was not until September 1988, however, that allproperty and civil rights claims weresettled, with thefinal set-tlement reached by the National Association ofJapanese Ca-nadians andthegovernment ofCanada.Thewartimeexperi-ence effectively destroyed the Japanese community inCanada, but revitalization has started through the efforts ofthose who have arrived in the last few decades

SettlementsEast Asians have always been and continue to be mostlyurban Early Chinese and Japanese immigrants tended toform distinct ethnic communities-"Chinatowns" and"Little Tokyos"-in large cities Because oftheir larger numbers,the Chinatowns have been morevisibleandhave drawn moreattention In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,these communities were typical urban immigrant ghettos.Since the 1950s, as the Chinese andJapanesepopulationsinCanada have increased and become more mobile spatiallyand socially, the urban communities have become social, po-litical, and symbolic centers aswellasresidential ones At thesame time, as discrimination has lessened, moreChinese and

Japanesehave chosen to live outside thetraditional nities Forthe Japanese, Toronto has in some ways replacedVancouver asthecenter ofJapaneseculture inCanada Kore-ans and Filipinos have also settled mainly in urban areas(two-thirds of Filipinos live in the Toronto area), but theyhave not formed distinctive residential enclaves Filipinos,perhaps more so than the other groups, have settled in thesuburbs

commu-EconomyChinese and Japanese laborerswhocame to British Colum-bia around 1907 were brought inmainlythroughcontractualarrangements between emigration companies andCanadianimporters of labor such astheCanadian Pacific Railway andthe Wellington Colliery Many ofthese menworked for therailroad, on farms, in the fishing industry, andinwood pulpmills Forthe Chinese, White Canadians expected thattheywould return to China once their work on the railroad wascompleted Whenmoststayed inCanada andtooklow-levelwork at low wages, White resentment resulted and was di-rected both at the Chinese and Japanese A laborshortageduringWorld War I dampenedanti-Asian feelings, but theyincreased againafterthe war as aresultofadepresssion andunemployment that became markedupon the return ofsol-diers

The strong control ofthe fishing industry on the westcoast bytheJapanese atthistimebecame amatterofconcernforBritish Columbia politicians, and in 1919 they attempted

to limit the number of fishing licensesissuedtoJapanese

fish-96 East Asians ofCanada

ermen As part of the attempt to restrict immigration, the

provincial legislature asked the dominion government to

amend the British NorthAmerica Act sothatprovincial

gov-ernments would have the 'power to make laws prohibiting

Asiatics from acquiring proprietary interest in agricultural,

timber and mining landsor infishingorotherindustries,and

from employment in these industries." Between 1923 and

1925, the Department ofMarine and Fisheries took away

close to one thousandfishinglicenses from the Japanese, and

theywereprohibitedevenfrom usinggasoline-powered

fish-ingboatsinordertogiveWhite fishermenacompetitive

ad-vantage.Sucheconomicharassment continuedtoplaguethe

Japanesefishermen,andconsequently,manywent into

farm-ing

Laws that denied Chinese and Japanese the right to a

provincial vote prevented them from participating fully in

several areas of professional employment because of a

re-quirement thatone mustbeonthe voters' list.Forexample,

to securealogging license,onehadtobe twenty-one years of

age and on the voters' list These employment restrictions

alsoappliedtoeducation,andit was notuntilthe fall of 1945

that McGill UniversityinMontrealaccepteda nisei.This

de-layed access to education has had serious consequences for

the nisei in terms oftheir occupational mobility Chinese

professionals, because of these restrictions, confined their

businesstothe Chinese community After release from the

detention camps,someJapanesechoseto remain inAlberta,

Manitoba, and Saskatchewan where they became farmers

The Japanesewho have arrived since World WarIIare more

highlyeducated than both the prewar Japanese and

Canadi-ans ingeneral andarefoundinrelativelylargenumbers

work-ing inthe professions, academia, and the arts The Chinese

today are still heavily involvedinservice industries

(restau-rants, laundries, garment-making), although recent

immi-grants are less likely to enter these traditional occupations

The economic nature of the Chinatowns has been

trans-formed in the last two decades from what were essentially

res-idential enclaves thatprovidedproducts and services to the

Chinese community to major economic centers that provide

products and services to Canadian society

Many Koreans came to Canada to find economic

inde-pendence, and many have succeeded Unemployment is rare

among Korean-Canadians and about 50 percent own their

ownhome, a far greater percentage than in Korea Many are

university-educated and work as physicians, lawyers, and

pro-fessors,while perhaps some 50 percent own small businesses

such as food stores,gasoline stations, restaurants, and real

es-tate agencies In Toronto, for example, Koreans run about

twelve hundred convenience stores The success of these

en-terprises restsinpartonthewillingness of family members to

staff the establishments so thatthey can remain open for long

hours

Kinship, Marriage and Family

Chinese Chinesekinship, marriage, and family in Canada

havegone through three distinct stages From the 1880s to

1947, the Chinese in Canada formed a "bachelor

commu-nity" composed almost entirely of unmarried men or men

whosewives and families were in China These men usually

lived in collective households called fang-k'ou- in the

China-towns Afewfang-k'ou-still exist,though they are

disappear-ing asthe few remaining old Chinese bachelors die off.Theywere organized into numerous associations or fictive kingroups with affiliationbasedon a commonplaceofbirth,sur-name, ordialect The second stage tookplace roughlyfrom

1947to 1967and involved the arrival of thewives and dren of some of the bachelors and the formation of nuclearfamilies

chil-Thethird stage began in 1967 and continues today withnuclearfamilies that are similarin sizeand composition toCanadian familiesingeneral Perhapsthe majordifferencesbetween the contemporary Chinese-Canadian family andother Canadian families are theextent towhich adult Chi-nesechildren providefinancial support for their parents andthefrequency with whichgrandparents live with their chil-dren and their important contributiontochild rearing.Japanese Many of the Japanese laborers who came toCanada in theearly 1900s were unmarriedmen.Unabletore-turn toJapan,theyrelied upon arranged marriagesor on"pic-ture bride" arrangements, a systemwherebypictures of theprospective brideand groom were exchanged and the deci-sion tomarrymade after consultation with relatives andpos-

sibly the nakodo, or go-between Asthese brides immigrated

to Canada, the demographic composition of the Japanesecommunitygradually changed

Kobayashi has observed that the most significant acteristic of Japanese-Canadian marriages today is thatJapanese-Canadians aremarrying Canadians of other ethnicbackgrounds at a rate that suggests that this is the normrather than the exception Her analysis of immigrant mar-riages also reveals thatimmigrants, too, are intermarrying fre-quently with non-Japanese Canadians About 42 percent ofJapanese women underthe age offorty-fourare married to

char-non-Japanesemen

In these mixed marriages,however, there are indicationsthat not all aspectsof traditional Japanese culture have disap-peared Certairt traditional festivals such as hina-matsuri(dolls festival) on May 3, tango-no-sekku (boysfestival) onMay 5, and keiro-no-hi (a dayset aside to respect the aged) arestill celebrated The celebration of these festivals reinforcesJapanese family values For example, the elderly issei andniseiplace considerable emphasis on gaman (forebearance)andenryo(modesty).Gaman means the suppression of emo-tions,the ability to grin and bear all pain, to remain calm andcarry out one's task regardless of the circumstances Enryomeans much more thanmodesty as it encompasses codes ofbehavior concerning moderation and nonaggression Self-effacement, self-control,reticence, humility, and denigration

of oneself are all included in enryo With the aging of the isseiand nisei, the Japanese-Canadian family is attempting tocome to terms with some traditional family values such asoyakokoand kansha Oyakoko (filial piety) rests on thefeel-ing of kansha (gratitude to one's parents) and children areobliged to fulfill their filialduties to take care of their agingparents This responsibility often falls on the eldest son ordaughter But in many families, because of the vast geo-graphic distances that often separate the generations in Can-ada, it can be extremely difficult to fulfill one's filial obli-gations

Koreans and Filipinos Because of their recent arrival,middle-class socioeconomicstatus, and residential dispersal,Korean and Filipinofamiliesare generally similar to the aver-

East Asians ofCanada 97

age Canadian family Many Koreans, however, own small

businesses, whichare often staffedby familymembers from

three generations,makingeconomiccooperationbetween

ex-tended kin important And despite economicassimilation,

many traditional Korean family values such as the

impor-tanceofties toclan members, patriarchal authority, and

re-spect for the elderly remain important Filipino families in

Canadaareoften formedthroughachain migration, with the

first immigrantbeingayoungwomanwithjob skills

marketa-ble in Canada She subsequently arranges for her parents,

children, siblings, and other relatives toemigrate

Sociopolitical Organization

Becauseof their isolation within Canadian society, both the

Chinese and Japanesedevelopeddistinct ethniccommunities

with their own social, economic, and religious institutions,

which reflected both the values and customs of thehomeland

and adaptational needs inCanada

Chinese The basic socialunit inChinesecommunities in

pre-WorldWar 11Canada, the fictive clan (clan association

orbrotherhood), reflectedthe reality that 90 percent ofthe

population was male These associations were formedin

Chi-nese communities onthe basis of sharedsurnames or

combi-nationsof names or, lessoften, common district of origin or

dialect They serveda wide range offunctions: they helped

maintain ties to China and tothe men'swives and families

there; theyprovided a forum for the settlement of disputes;

they served as centers for organizing festivals; and they

of-feredcompanionship The activities of clan associations were

supplemented by more formal, broader-based organizations

such as the Freemasons, the Chinese Benevolent

Associa-tion, and the Chinese Nationalist League With the growth

and demographic change in the Chinese community after

World War 11, the type and number of organizationsin

Chi-nese communities haveproliferated.Most are nowservedby

many of the following: community associations, political

groups, fraternal organizations, clan associations, schools,

recreational/athletic clubs, alumni associations,music/dance

societies, churches, commercial associations, youth groups,

charities, and religious groups.Inmany cases,membershipin

these groups isinterlocking; thus special interests are served

while community cohesion is reinforced In addition, there

arebroader groups that draw a more general membership,

in-cluding the Chinese Benevolent Association, the

Kuomin-tang, and the Freemasons

Japanese Groupsolidarity within the post-WorldWarII

Japanese community was strengthened by their social and

physical segregation in their work and residential

environ-ments.Within this bounded territorial space, it was not

diffi-cult to retain the highly systematized and interdependent

so-cial relations thatwerebased on theprincipleof socialand

moral obligations and the traditional practices of mutual

assistance such as theoyabun-kobunand sempai-kohai

rela-tionships The oyabun-kobun relationship promoted non-kin

social ties onthe basis ofawide-ranging setofobligations

Theoyabun-kobunrelationshipis one inwhich persons

unre-lated by kin ties enterintoan agreement to assume certain

obligations The kobun, or junior person,receivesthe

bene-fits of theoyabun's wisdom and experience indealing with

day-to-daysituations Thekobun, inturn, mustbereadyto

offer hisserviceswhenever theoyabun requires them larly, the sempai-kohai relationship is based on a senseof re-sponsibility whereby the sempai,or seniormember, assumesresponsibility for overseeing the social, economic, and reli-gious affairs of thekohai,orjunior member.Such a system ofsocial relations provided foracohesive andunified collectiv-ity,which enjoyed a high degree of competitive power in theeconomicsphere With the removal of the JapaneseduringWorld War 11, subsequent relocations, and the arrival of theshineijusha after WorldWar11, therehasbeen a weakening

Simi-of these traditional social relations andobligations.The sizable Japanese population, which shared a com-monlanguage, religion, and similar occupations, led to theformation of varioussocial organizations Friendship groupsand prefectural associationsnumbered abouteighty-four inVancouver in 1934.These organizationsprovided the cohe-siveforcenecessaryto maintainthe formaland informal so-cialnetworks operative in the Japanese community Prefec-tural association members were able to secure social andfinancial assistance, and this resource plusthe strong cohe-sive natureof the Japanesefamily enabledearly immigrants toremain competitive in numerousservice-oriented businesses.Japanese-language schools were an important means of so-cialization for the nisei, until the schools were closed by thegovernment in 1942 In 1949 the Japanesefinallywon theright tovote.Today, both the sansei andshin eijusha are ac-tiveparticipants in Canadian society,although their involve-ment inthe academic and business sectors is more noticeablethaninthepolitical sector The National Associationof Jap-aneseCanadians hasplayed a major role insettling the claims

ofthe Japanese removed during World War11andinsentingJapanese-Canadian interests in general

repre-Koreans andFilipinos Koreans andFilipinos inCanadahave formed a variety oflocal and regional associations,withthe church(United church forKoreansandRomanCatholicchurch for Filipinos) and affiliated organizations often themost important institution servingthe community

Religion and Expressive Culture

The majority of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Filipinos inCanada are Christians

Chinese TraditionalChinese religiousbeliefs centered onancestorworship, which is reported asdeclininginCanada.Butbecause ancestor worship is practiced in private, justhowimportant it still is is unclear The majority ofChinesearenow Christians, with various denominations (Presbyterian,

RomanCatholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal)represented in the larger Chinese communities The Unitedchurch is the most important and is the center of social andrecreational activities in many communities Majorholidaysother than Christianones arethe LunarNewYear, Bright-Clear, and Mid-Autumn Chinese cultural traditions remainstrong in Canada and are reflected in Chinese opera, martialarts,food, and traditional crafts suchaspaperfolding Thesetraditions aremaintained in part throughregular culturalex-changes between Chinese-Canadian communities and thePeople's Republic of China, Taiwan, andHong Kong.Japanese The early issei or JapaneseimmigrantspreferredBuddhism, but by the early 1900s, Christian missionarieswere beginning to have some success in winning converts

98 East Asians ofCanada

Both theUnitedchurchof Canada and the Methodistswere

making considerable inroads especially with the

Canadian-bom nisei Although churches in Canada did not take a

stand whenJapanese propertywasconfiscated and the

Japa-nesewereinternedduringWorldWarII, theRoman

Catho-lic, Anglican, and United churches provided elementary

school education for children in British Columbia camps

The 1986 census indicates that this education experience

helped win converts to the churches, with 10,680 Japanese

members of the Unitedchurch, 3,425Anglicans, and 1,625

RomanCatholics in comparisonto10,330Buddhists There

arealso Japanese whoareSeventh-dayAdventists,

Pentecos-tals, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons, Lutherans, and other

Protestantdenominations.Morethan 25 percent claimno

re-ligiousaffiliation Recentimmigrants reflect thechanging

re-ligious affiliations of modem Japan in that several shinko

shukyo, or"newreligions" suchasSokaGakkai, Tenrikyo, P

L.Kyodan, RisshoKoseiKai,andKonkokyo, are beginningto

flourishinsuchcities asVancouver, Toronto,and Montreal

Thesenewreligions, however,have theirrootsinShintoism

and Buddhism

Koreans ForKoreans, earliest contacts with Canadadate

to 1890 and the arrivalof Canadian missionaries inKorea

These missionaries laterarrangedfor the immigration of

Ko-reans to Canada Koreans belong mainly to the Korean

Unitedchurch,theKoreanPresbyterianchurch, and the

Ko-reanRomanCatholicchurch,with the United church being

the mostinfluential.Atthesametime, Korean traditions are

maintained and Koreanfood, dance, music, and martial arts

arehighy visibleinCanadian society In addition to themajor

Christian holidays, Korea's National Independence Day is

celebrated on March 1

Filipino Theoverwhelming majorityof Filipinos in

Can-ada are RomanCatholics,and their churches are the centers

fororganizedactivityoutside thefamily The Christian

holi-days are major religious and social events and are celebrated

with the incorporation of traditionalfoods, dance,music,and

other customs

See also EastAsians of the United States

BibliographyAdachi, Ken (1976) The Enemy thatNever Was Toronto:

McClelland & Stewart

Chan, Anthony B (1983) Gold Mountain: The Chinese in

the New World Vancouver New StarBooks

Johnson,GrahamE (1979) "ChineseFamily and

Commu-nity in Canada: Tradition and Change." In Two Nations,

Many Cultures: EthnicGroups in Canada, edited byJeanL

Elliot, 358-371 Scarborough: Prentice-Hall of Canada

Kim, Uichol (1989) "Acculturation ofKoreanImmigrants:

What Are the Hidden Costs?" Korea Observer 20:431-454

Kobayashi, Audrey(1989) A Demographic Profile ofJapanese

Canadians Winnipeg: National Association of Japanese

Minori-Sugimoto, Howard H (1972) "The Vancouver Riots of1907: A CanadianEpisode."In EastacrossthePacific,edited

byHilary Conroy andT.ScottMiyakawa, 92-126 Honolulu:University ofHawaii Press

Sunahara, Ann (1981) The Politics of Racism Toronto:James Lorimer& Co

Ujimoto, K Victor (1979)."PostwarJapaneseImmigrants inBritish Columbia: Japanese Culture andjobTransferability."

InTwo Nations, Many Cultures: Ethnic Groups in Canada,edited by Jean L Elliot, 338-357.Scarborough: Prentice-Hall

of Canada

Wickberg,Edgar,ed (1982) From China to Canada: A tory of the Chinese Communities in Canada Toronto:McClelland & Stewart

His-K VICTOR UJIMOTO

ETHNONYMS: Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, tals

Orien-Orientation

Identification Thegeneral category of East Asians in theUnitedStatesincludesAmericansofChinese, Filipino,Japa-nese, and Korean ancestry Neither East Asians in generalnor any of the four EastAsian-American groups is a homoge-neous cultural group in the United States Within each are anumber of identifiable subgroups, with perhaps the mostsigi-ficant being those who arrived before World War II and theirdescendants and those who have arrived since, the latter, ex-cept forJapanese-Americans, making up the overwhelmingmajority of East Asian-Americans Other important divi-sions are based on the region of origin in the sending nation,language, religion, generation, and occupation

Location Prior to the post-World WarII population crease East Asian-Americans wereconcentrated in HawaiiandCalifornia, with small numbers in Washington and Ore-gon Since World WarII, the percentage of East Asians hasincreased dramatically, partly through immigration to theUnited States and partly through migration from Hawaii tothe mainland Japanese-Americans remain heavily concen-

in-East Asians of the United States 99

tratedintheWest (80.3 percentin1980), mainly in the Los

Angeles, San Francisco, andSanJose areas, though sizable

numbers nowlive inChicago, Washington, D.C., and New

York City In 1980, 42.9 percentofKorean-Americanslived

in the West, with the other 60 percent distributed almost

evenly inthe northeastern, north-central, and southern

re-gions In 1980, 52.7 percent of Chinese-Americans lived in

theWestwith26.8percentinthe East, with major

communi-ties in New York City and Boston Filipino-Americans

re-main a largelyWestCoast group with 68.8percent settled

there in 1980 LargeFilipino communities also exist in

De-troit,Chicago,NewYork City,and Boston as well as in San

Diego,Norfolk,NewLondon,Connecticut,and other cities

withlargenavalbases, reflectingatradition ofFilipino service

inthe U.S.Navydating to 1901

Demography Estimatesfor 1985indicate that there were

1,079,400 Chinese, 1,051,600 Filipino, 766,300 Japanese,

and 542,400 Korean-Americans inthe UnitedStates If

im-migrationfigures for 1986 through 1989 are considered, it is

likely that Filipinos are nowthelargest EastAsian groupin

the UnitedStates asthe number ofFilipinoimmigrantswas

morethan double the number of Chinese onesduring this

pe-riod The number of East Asians has increased dramatically

since the 1950s In 1940, there were 285,115 Japanese,

106,334 Chinese, 98,535 Filipino, and 8,568

Korean-Americans Reflecting this heavy recent immigration, the

East Asianpopulation contains a majority of immigrants (in

1980,63.3percentof theChinese,64.7of theFilipinos,81.9

percent of the Koreans), and they are a young population

(about60 percentareunderforty-fouryearsof ageinthese

three groups) Japanese-Americans were a larger population

thanthe other groups before 1950and have hadalowerrate

of immigration sincethen; thus they havealower percentage

of immigrants (28.4percent) andare asomewhat older

popu-lation group

LinguisticAffiliation The first generation of East Asian

immigrantsgenerally spoke the language of their homeland

Thus, Japanesespoke Japanese; Koreans spoke Korean;

Chi-nesespoke Cantonese, various Mandarin dialects, or Hakka;

and Filipinos spokeIlocano,Visayan, orTagalog, with most

recentimmigrantsspeaking Tagalog, now the offical language

of thePhilippines In the second generation of recent

immi-grants,relatively few speakthe nativelanguage regularly or

re-mainfluent in it as adults Instead, they prefer to speak

En-glish Native languagemaintenance is amajorconcernof the

first generationof recent immigrants, though language school

programshave met with only limited success

History and Cultural Relations

The natureofEast Asianimmigrationtoand settlementin

theUnitedStates is afunction ofavariety of factors

includ-ing politics and economic conditionsinthe sending nation,

therelationship between the sending nation and the United

States,the need for cheap laborintheUnited States, and the

racial prejudice encountered by East Asians in the United

States.The Chinese were thefirstEast Asiangrouptosettle

in America insignificantnumbers,with322,000 arriving

be-tween 1850 and 1882 Most weremenwho workedaslaborers

in mines, in factories,andonfarmsto earnmoney that would

enhance their economic status when they returned home

While initial settlement was in the western states, some laterwere sent eastunder a contract labor system designed toex-ploit the Chinese as a source of low-paid labor, and otherssettledinthe south Inresponse todemands for control ofChinese immigration and settlement that beganinCalifornia

in the 1860s, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Actwhichin 1882effectively ended their immigration until 1943.During this period, the Chinese population in the UnitedStatesdecreased from 107,448to61,639 It was also duringthis period, however, that Chinatowns developed in citiesnearwhere the men worked

Unlike Chinese immigrants, thefirstinflux of Filipino,Japanese, andKoreanimmigrantswent to Hawaiiwhere theywere recruited to work on the sugar and pineapple planta-tions.Later,somemovedon toCalifornia and the NorthwestCoast while others immigrated directly from their home-lands, againtowork aslaborersonfarmsandinfactories andcanneries.The Japanese camefirst, andby 1890therewere12,000inHawaiiand 3,000inCalifornia By 1920 300,000hadcome tothesetwo areas.Thegentlemen'sagreementbe-tweentheUnited States and Japanin1907placedquotasonand slowed Japanese immigration Between 1903 and 1905,7,226KoreansimmigratedtoHawaii;however,Korean immi-gration virtually disappeared for forty years when the Japa-nese government(which then ruled Korea) ended emigrationfromthe country in 1905 Filipinos were recruited and beganimmigratingto Hawaii in 1906 inplace of the Koreans andChinese Between 1909 and 1931 113,000 Filipinos immi-grated to Hawaii, with 55,000settling there, 39,000 returninghome, and 18,600 moving on to the mainland Some Filipi-nosalso immigrateddirectlytoCalifornia and the NorthwestCoast, where they were used as farmworkers in place of thedeclining numbers of Japanese and Chinese The Immigra-tionActof 1924throughquotasvirtuallyeliminatedimmi-gration from East Asia Most immigrants between 1924 andthe 1940s were wives of men already in the United States.Many of these were"picture-brides" selected through anex-changeofphotographs handled by amatchmaker NearlyallEast Asian men and women lived in distinctively Chinese,Japanese, or Filipino communities in which the native lan-guages and many traditional beliefs and practices were main-tained The marriages alsoproduced a second generation inthe United States who were citizens and whospoke Englishand were much lessinterestedinmaintainingthe traditionalcultures

DuringWorld War 11, the four East Asian communitieshad different experiences.Filipinos were classified as nation-als and therefore could not serve in the U.S armed forces,though the rules were changed during the war to allow Filipi-nos to serve The Chinese-American community benefited insome waysfrom the war, asjob opportunities opened up In

1943 the Exclusion Act was repealed, migration increased,and anti-Chinese sentiments lessened Because Korea wasruled by Japan, Korean-Americans were classified as Japa-nese, although they were strong supporters of the war and ve-hemently anti-Japanese Despite their being seen as Japanese,they were notclassifiedasenemy aliensorremovedto intern-ment camps

Thebombing of Pearl Harbor servedas acatalystto turn

years ofanti-Japanesefeeling on the West Coast into actiondesigned to destroy the Japanese-American community on

100 East Asians ofthe United States

the mainland Japanese-Americans (including those who

werecitizens)wereclassifiedasenemyaliens and rounded up;

by the end of 1942 110,000 from California, Oregon, and

Washington had been interned in camps inthe California

desert,Idaho,Arizona,Utah,and Arkansas All exceptthose

who choseandwereallowedto serve inthemilitaryand those

whochose toresettle inthe Midwest andEast werekeptin

the camps until 1945 This mass violation of

Japa-nese-Americans' civil rights nearly destroyed the Japanese

community in the United States After release from the

campsmostreturnedtoCalifornia,with manyreestablishing

farms in the central part of thestate It was notuntil thelate

1980sthat the U.S Congressvoted topay survivors of the

camps$20,000 eachascompensation for their losses

Asnotedabove,sincethe end of WorldWarII, therehas

beenamultifoldincrease inthe numberofEast Asians

immi-grating tothe UnitedStates.Therepeal of restrictive

immi-grationlaws, closertiesbetweenthe UnitedStatesand South

Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, and the

Hart-Cellar ImmigrationActof 1965 whichessentiallyended the

national-origin quota systemall encouraged immigration to

and settlementintheUnited States East Asianswhohave

come toAmerica sinceWorld WarII are amuch different

population than those whocame earlier Theyare younger,

include a larger number of women and families, are often

highlyeducatedprofessionals and technicians, and expect to

stay inthe U.S

The one constant in the settlement histories of the four

groups was the economic exploitation and discrimination

they experienced In addition to major discriminatory

actions-theChineseExclusion Act, the Immigration Act of

1924,andJapanese-American internment duringWorld War

II-EastAsians were subject to numerous other

discrimina-tory practices For example, in California they werebarred

from certainbusinesses and professions, antimiscegenation

laws prevented marriage to Whites, residential restrictions

confined EastAsianstotheir own communities, various laws

limitedtheir right to own land, Chinese miners (and Mexican

miners) had their profits taxed, and so on Today, although

overtly racist policies and laws have essentially disappeared,

racism continues EastAsian-American men, for example,

make less than Whitecounterparts with equalexperience and

education, and few have madeit tothe top level of American

businesses There is also growing resentment among other

Americans about East Asianand especially Japanese

invest-ment inthe U.S.economyandownership of propertiesinthe

United States Thedepiction of East Asian-American groups

as'modelminorities" troublessome EastAsian-Americans,

as itsuggeststhatequalityhas been achieved while

contrast-ing East Asian economic success with other minorities'

al-leged failuresandthus creating conflict between the groups

Settlements

EastAsian-Americans are mainly an urban-suburban group,

with theplace of residencenowlargely determined by

socio-economic status The two major nonurban groups are

Japanese-Americans inthefarming and nursery and related

businesses in central CaliforniaandFilipino-American farm

workers in California Today, Koreatown in Los Angeles is

the center ofKoreanlifefor the 150,000 Korean-Americans

in southern California and the home for many elderly

Korean-Americansandrecentimmigrants Thelarge towns thatdeveloped early in the century incitiessuchasSanFrancisco, Portland, Boston, Los Angeles, and New YorkCity havebeentransformed into majoreconomic zonespro-vidingproducts andservicesboth to the regionalChinese-Americanpopulation and to the general economy The tour-ist trade has also become a major source of income inChinatowns Theireconomicgrowth has been accompanied

China-by orperhapswas stimulatedbytheir decline asresidentialdistricts.Aswith KoreatowninLos Angeles,mostresidentsareeitherelderlyor are recentimmigrantsand manyarepoor

"Little Tokyo" in Los Angeles, which serves American communities insouthernCalifornia, has also un-dergone the same transformation Filipino-Americans, ex-cept for the mostly male communities in Hawaii andCaliforniaearly inthe century, have not formeddistinct eth-nicenclaves comparable to Chinatowns

Japanese-Economy

Ingeneral, the economic circumstances of Koreans, Japanese,Chinese, andFilipinos in Hawaii and on the mainlandinthelate nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were much thesame.Themajoritywerelow-paid,unskilled, male workers onsugarplantations in Hawaii and in the railroad, agriculture,fishing, logging, and mining industries on the mainland.Whendemandfor their work diminished and East Asianim-migration decreased, those who remained in the UnitedStates and theirchildren tended to settle in cities and becameinvolved in service industries Filipinos worked as domestics

inhotels and as kitchen workers in restaurants and many menjoined the Merchant Marine or the U.S Navy where theyworked as messstewards or in other low-level service jobs Atthe same time, many Filipinos were employed seasonally asfarmworkers andeventually became active in the unioniza-tionmovement TheChinese were also employed in serviceindustries as well asfounding their own businesses, with res-taurants, laundries, and garment factories being most com-mon In Hawaii, many Chinese sugar workers went on towork in the rice industry, and a sizable percentage becamebusiness owners or professionals The Japanese also foundwork asdomestics,gardeners, and farmers, with some findingways tocircumventlaws that prohibited them from owningland Many of those who owned farms returned to rebuildthemafter they were released from the World War II intern-mentcamps.Both the Japanese and Chinese businesses havebeen described as'middlemanminority" adaptations charac-terized by self-ownership of family-staffed businesses thatprovide a uniqueproductorservice tothe community.The arrival of the post-World War II immigrants haschangedthe position of East Asian-Americans in the U.S.economy Many ofthose who have arrived since 1965 havebeenhighlyeducated professionals or skilled technicians, andthe children of theearliersettlers have had greater access toadvanced education and professional employment Thesetwodevelopments have improved the economic position ofEastAsian-Americans Both men and women are now em-ployedat about the same rates as Americans in general Thepercentages of East Asian-American women who work (55percentofKoreans,58percent ofChinese, 59 percent ofJap-anese, and 68 percent ofFilipinos in 1980) are especiallynoteworthy As of 1980, the men were employed insignifi-

East Asians of the United States 101

cant numbers inmanagerialandprofessional positions(22.5

percent for Filipinos to 38 percent for Chinese), with the

largestpercentagesofwomenbeingemployedin

administra-tivesupportandservicejobs.Unique occupation patterns

in-clude22 percent of Chinese-American men inservicejobs,

30.4percentofFilipino-Americanmen in serviceand

admin-istrative support positions, and 14.4 percent of

Korean-American men insales.Forwomen, 18.2percent of

Chinese-Americanand 24 percentof Korean-American womenwork

in low-level laborer positions Gross figures indicate that

full-time Chinese-American and Japanese-American men

havehigher incomes and Filipino-American and

Korean-American men have lower incomes than Whites The

Chi-neseand Japanese figuresaresomewhatmisleading, however,

inthattheydonotreflect the fact thatmen inthese groups

often have more education and worklongerhours than do

Whites Korean-Americans have drawn considerable

atten-tion asownersofsmallbusinesses,oftengrocerystores or

veg-etablestands, inminorityneighborhoods, suggesting a

mid-dleman minority role similar to the Chinese and Japanese

earlier

Kinship, Marriage and Family

Kinship Inthe early Korean,Chinese, and Filipino

com-munities,which werecomposed almost entirely of men, ties

tofamilies and wider kin networksweremaintainedthrough

return visits, correspondence, and the remittance of a

per-centage of the man's earnings In the communities that

formedinthis country, the absence of East Asianwomenand

antimiscegenationlawsmade marriage and the formation of

families and kin groups difficult Some community cohesion

wascreatedthroughfictive kin groups modeled on clan and

extended family structures in the homeland Chinese men

formed fictiveclanswith recruitment andmembership based

onimmigrationfrom the same village or province or

posses-sion of the same surname When Chinese families began to

form later inthe earlytwentieth century with the arrival of

Chinese women, these clan associations became less

impor-tant Filipinos organized compang, fictive extended families

composed ofmen who immigrated from the samevillage,

with the oldestmanusuallyheading thefamily As more

Fili-pino women immigrated to the United States,

Filipino-American families became more common (though before

World War II Filipino-American men still outnumbered

womenby nearly three to one), and the compadrazgo

(godpar-ent) system was transferred to the United States with each

in-dividual then enmeshedin anetwork of actual and fictive kin

The situation forJapanese-Americans was different, as

beginningin 1910stablefamiliesbegan to form and Japanese

urban and ruralcommunities also become relativelystable

Although the second-generation Japanese-Americans, the

nisei, were being acculturated into American society, the

first-generation-based family (issei) was still strong enough to

maintain traditional beliefs regarding appropriate behavior

between superiorsand inferiors aswell asfilialduties

Marriage and Family Themost noteworthy trend in East

Asian-Americanmarriagesis the shift from ethnic

endoga-mous toethnic exogamous marriage In all groups since the

1950sthere has beenalarge increaseinthe number of

mar-riages to non-ethnic group members, and especially to

Whites Contemporary East Asian-American families are

generally small nuclear families Korean-Americanandpino-American households are somewhat largerbecause ofthelargernumber of childreninthe former and the presence

Fili-ofnon-nuclear family members in the latter East Americanfamilies are notably stable, with over 84 percent ofchildren in all four groups living with both of their parents.Nonetheless, there are concerns in the Chinese-Americancommunity about juvenile delinquency and in the Korean-Americanabout what is consideredahigh divorce rate.There

Asian-is a major difference in household composition betweenthose already settled in the United States andrecentimmi-grants Households among thelatter frequently contain addi-tional relatives beyond the nuclearfamily orfriends,asthesehouseholds are often part of the chain migration processthroughwhich relatives immigrate totheUnited States.Within households in all four East Asian-Americangroups,decisionmaking has become more egalitarian as pa-triarchal authority has diminished Women, however, stillbear the major responsibility for household tasks, eventhough a majority of both men and women are employed.Educational opportunities are afforded both boys and girls,andboth sexes are encouraged toexcel inschool

Socialization Aswith Americans ingeneral,socializationtakesplacethrough the family, the local community, and theformal education system Many East Asians inthe past came

to Americawithahighschool education and many of the re.centimmigrantshave college and/or professional education

or technical training The children of recent immigrantsmake full use of educational opportunities in the UnitedStates; infacteducation for their children is a major reasonmany East Asians resettle Programs designed to maintainthe traditional culture, such as language classes, youthgroups, and cultural programs are offered in all major EastAsiancommunitiesbyethnic associations and churches Onemajor problem facing many recent immigrant families is agenerationalgapbetween parents who prefer to speak the na-tivelanguage andeat nativefoods, stressfamilyobligations,and associate mainly with other ethnic group members andtheir children who see themselves as Americans, speak En-glish, and make friends amongnon-Asian-Americans

Sociopolitical OrganizationSocial Organization Each of the fourEastAsian-Amer-icangroupsis adiverse ethnic group composed of a number

of distinctsubgroups Acrossall four groups, two internal visions are most obvious First is the distinction betweenthose who settledbefore World War II and their descendantsand those who arrived after the war Second is the distinction

di-in thepost-World War IIgroup between the parental andsecond generation, with the latter composed of those whowere born in the United States or came when they wereyoung Beyond these two categories, each East Asian groupdisplaysadditional diversity as well as various social institu-tionsdeveloped in the United States

Chinese Major divisions within the Chinese-Americancommunity include those based on place of origin (HongKong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia), Cantonese or non-Cantonese ethnicity, rural or urban residence, and supportforTaiwan or recognition of the People's Republic of China.Localized in Chinatowns and excluded from full participa-tion in American society for over one hundred years,

102 EastAsians of the United States

Chinese-Americansdeveloped acomplexsetofinterlocking

organizations that enabled them to maintain elements of

their traditional culture while adapting totheirnew life In

the earlyyears, when thepopulationwas mostly male,clan

andregional associationswith affiliation based on surname

and region of origin served to affiliate men inthe United

Statesand maintaintieswiththehomeland Other

organiza-tionsincludingsecret societies (tongs), guilds,andcredit

as-sociations werealsodeveloped,all ofwhich served economic,

political, and social functions With the arrival of more

womenand the formation offamilies inthetwentieth

cen-tury,thesecond generationof Chinese-Americans appeared

Althoughtheyweresociallyandeconomicallyisolated from

mainstream society, they learned English in school and

formed organizationsbasedon mainstreammodels and

inter-ests Atthe same, theywerelessinterested in the traditional

culture, and membershipin the clan and regional

associa-tionsdeclined In the post-World War11immigrant group,

the clan and regionalassociationsand tongs have declinedin

importanceasthe focus has shiftedtoformingorganizations

that willhelpChinese-Americans securefullrightsas

Ameri-can citizens

Filipinos.ForFilipino-Americans,the major internal

dis-tinction isbased on the region from which one emigrated: the

Ilocanos from northern Luzon, the Tagalogs from central

Luzon, and the Visayans from the central Philippines

Al-though the three groups are no longer as separate as they

once were, regional endogamy isstill stressed by the

post-World WarIIparental generation,and a preference for

affilia-tionwithpeoplefrom the same region has contributed to the

absence of apan-Filipinoorganization in theUnited States

Inthe mostly male pre-World War 11 Filipino community,

few social organizations developed Instead, social cohesion

was achieved through the maintenance of family and kin

groups based on traditional practices Today, the Roman

Catholic churchisthe social center of many Filipino

commu-nities, andkinshipandfriendshipnetworks are also

impor-tantagents ofsocial cohesion

Japanese Within the Japanese-American community a

majordistinction is madeonthebasis of generation in the

United States with the issei being the first generation, the

nisei the second, the sansei the third, and the yonsei the

fourth.These categoriesareappliedtothose who arrived

be-fore World War 11 Those who arrived afterthewarare

techni-cally issei, but are not referred to as such Japanese in the

United States alsoincludeJapanesebusinessmenand wives

or ex-wivesofAmericanswhoworkedinJapan after World

War II Both these groups exist outside the

Japanese-American community In the prewar years in California,

Japanese-Americans formed a network ofinterlocking

busi-nesses,such as rooming houses, laundries, groceries, and so

on, which served the Japanese-American and other East

Asian-American communities At the same time, the issei

maintained acohesive community through educational and

culturalorganizations, acredit association, and regional

asso-ciations The nisei moved away from the more traditional

groups and chose instead to form their own organizations

often based on existing mainstream models and activities

such as recreation leagues Today, the Japanese-American

community issociallycomplex withdistinctions made on the

basis of generation, age, political affiliation, life-style, and

oc-cupation At the same time, Japanese values emphasizinggroupinterests over individual interests, deference, loyalty,and reciprocity governeverydaybehavior for many Japanese-Americans andare amajorsourceofsocial cohesion.Koreans The Korean-American community today iscomposed mainly ofpeoplewho immigrated tothe UnitedStatesafter WorldWar II and their children One basic dis-tinction in the community is made among those born inKorea (Ilse), those borninthe UnitedStates(Eseorsamee,and those whocame to the United States when theywereyoung The Ilse tend tospeak Korean rather thanEnglish,have strong ties to Korea, and emphasize the role and author-ity of the family and the husband/father Those in theyounger generationare moreassimilatedinto Americansoci-ety Unlikethe otherEast Asiangroups, organizations based

on kinship or regional affiliations rarely formed amongKorean-Americans Rather, most organizations have formed

on the basis of common interests and include clubs,churches, associations,andpoliticalgroups One of themoreimportantarethe alumni associations (high school and col-lege) which enmesh Korean-Americans inlifelong social andeconomic networks Living outside the Korean-Americancommunityareperhaps as many as 100,000 wives or ex-wives

ofAmerican servicemenwhoservedinKorea,theirchildren,and thousands of Koreanchildrenadopted into White fami-lies

PoliticalOrganizaion. Becausethey were denied ship and the right to vote, East Asian-Americans beforeWorld War11wereessentially powerless to directly influencelocal, state, or federal policies and actions that affected them.Within the mostly male, relatively isolated East Asian-Americancommunities, social control and decision makingwasbased on traditional beliefs and customsthat usually ac-corded much authority tothe older men in the community

citizen-Atthesametime,theregional and clan associations, guilds,secretsocieties,and other organizations served as special in-terest groups toadvance the interests of their members EastAsian-American interests within American society wereoften handled by umbrella organizations, which included theChinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and later theChinese-American Citizens Alliance, the Japanese-Amer-

icanCitizen's League, and the Korean Association A Filipino political organization did not develop, though Filipi-nos wereactiveinlabor movements in Hawaii and California.Politics in the homeland have and continue to be a majorconcern anda sourceofconflictespecially in the Chinese-American and Korean-American communities SomeKorean-Americansaffiliate on the basis of ties to factions inKorea, and a major division in theChinese-American com-munity involves those who emphasize ties to Taiwan versusthose whorecognize and want ties strengthened with the Peo-ple's Republic of China

pan-Japanese-Americans have beenactiveinHawaiiantics andhold many elective offices, a development that hassometimesledtoconflict with otherethnic groups On themainland,especially since the 1960s and to some extent as aresult of the civil rights movement, Chinese and Japanese-Americans especially have been more active in voicing theirconcerns, participating inthe major political partypolitics,running foroffice, and seekinggovernmentemployment

poli-East Asians of the UnitedStates 103

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs Religiousbeliefs and institutionshave

beenamajorforce in all East Asian-Americancommunities,

both past and present,thoughtheparticularbeliefs and

insti-tutionsvary among the four groups.Most Koreanswho

set-tled in the United States had already been converted to

Christianity (usuallyProtestantism) inKoreabefore arriving

In the contemporary Korean-American community thethe

KoreanChristian churches areoften thecenterof

commu-nityactivity andprovide many programs ofspecial appeal to

women, the elderly, and children They have also been the

locus of language and cultural maintenance programs In

manychurches the services areconducted in Korean

Nearly all Filipinos in the United States are Roman

Catholics, their ancestors having been converted some

gen-erationsagointhePhilippines.Becauseof theirdispersed

res-idence pattern, Filipino-Americans do not form their own

churches but instead affiliate with the local church

The first generation of Japanese-Americansbelieved in

Buddhism and/or Shintoism Many were converted in the

United Statesbymissionaries to various Protestant

denomi-nations, and today the Japanese-American community has

perhaps the widest range ofreligious affiliations of the four

East Asian-American groups Recent immigrants have

brought with them some of the newJapanese religions,

al-though all have rootsinBuddhism and Shintoism

Thereligious beliefs and practices of the early Chinese

immigrants centered on ancestor worship, Buddhism, and

Taoism Ancestor worship was especially important as a

source of communitycohesion and as a mechanism to

main-tain tieswiththe homeland Efforts byProtestant

missionar-ieswith these immigrantslargely failed,andtoday only about

20percentof Chinese-AmericansareChristians.Recent

im-migrantshavebrought with themsomeof the revived

Chi-nese folk religions and have formed Buddhist and Taoist

associations

ExpressiveCulture Thepost-World War11immigration

hasrevitalizedthe expressive elements of East Asian culture

in the United States In all four groups, traditional dance,

music,theater,and artareflourishing and are a majorfocus

of ethnicsolidarity andpride,as arethepubliccelebration of

traditionalholidays.Some aspects of expressiveculture have

also become part of the mainstream culture, most notably

Chinese and Japanese cuisines, martial arts,architecture,and

artistic styles anddesigns

See also East Asiansof Canada

BibliographyAlmirol,Edwin B (1983).EthnicIdentity and Social Negotia-

tion: AStudy ofa Filipino Community in California NewYork:

AMS Press

Bonacich, Edna, and John Modell (1980) The Economic

BasisofEthnicSolidarity:SmallBusinessintheJapanese

Ameri-canCommunity Berkeley: University of California Press

Hurh,WonMoo,andKwangChung Kim (1984) Korean migrants inAmerica: AStructural Analysis of EthnicConfine-ment and Adhesive Adaptation Rutherford, N.J.: FairleighDickinson University Press

Im-Kendis,Kaoru 0.(1988).AMatterof Comfort: Ethnictenance and Ethnic Style among Third-Generation Japanese-Americans NewYork AMS Press

Main-Kim,Ilsoo.(1981).New UrbanImmigrants: The Koreanmunity inNew York Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress

Com-Kitano,H L (1977) JapaneseAmericans:The Evolution ofaSubculture Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall

Loewen,JamesW (1971) The Mississippi Chinese: BetweenBlack and White Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press.Pido, A.J.A (1985) The PilipinosinAmerica: Macro-MicroDimensions of Immigration and Integration Staten Island,N.Y.: Centerfor MigrationStudies

Sung, Betty Lee (1967) Mountain of Gold New York:Macmillan

Takali, Ronald (1989) Strangers from a Different Shore: AHistory of AsianAmericans Boston: Little, Brown& Co.Thernstrom, Stephan(1980) Harvard Encyclopedia ofAmer-ican Ethnic Groups Cambridge: Harvard University Press,Belknap Press

Tsai, F W.(1980).-Diversityand Conflictbetween Old andNew Chinese Immigrants in the UnitedStates." In Source-bookontheNew Immigration:Implication forthe UnitedStatesand the International Community, edited by Roy S Bryce-Laporte, 329-337.Washington, D.C.: Research Institute onImmigration and Ethnic Studies, Smithsonian Institution.Wong, Bernard (1983) Patronage, Brokerage, Entrepreneur-ship, and the Chinese Community ofNew York NewYork:AMS Press

Xenos, Peter S., Robert W Gardner, Herbert R Barringer,andMichaelJ.Levin(1987) "Asian Americans: Growth andChange inthe 1970s." In Pacific Bridges: The New Immigra-tion from Asia and the Pacific Islands, edited by James T.Fawcett and Benjamin V Carifio, 249-284 Staten Island,N.Y.: Center for MigrationStudies

Yanagisako, S (1985) Transforming the Past: Tradition andKinship among Japanese Americans Stanford: Stanford Uni-versityPress

Yu, Eui-Young (1989) "Korean American Community in1989: Issues and Prospects." Korea Observer 20:275-302

Daniels, Roger (1988) AsianAmerica: Chinese andJapanese

in the United States since 1850 Seattle: Universityof

Wash-ington Press

104 Eastern Shoshone

ETHNONYMS: Green River Snakes, Plains Shoshone,

Wa-shakie's Band,Wind River Shoshone

Orientation

Identification The Eastern Shoshone have livedin

west-ernWyoming,particularlyinthevalleysof theWind, Green,

andBigHornrivers, sinceabout the fifteenthcentury,

com-biningthegeneralculturetypeof the Great Basin with those

of the pre-horse and post-horse Great Plains In addition,

theyhave been influencedby Spanish, American,and other

sources. Intheearly 1980s, therewere perhaps three

thou-sand of their descendantslivingonthe Wind River

Reserva-tion inWyomingandits environs.

Location TheEastern Shoshonecanbe dividedinto two

groups, the Buffalo Eaters (Sage Brush People) and the

Mountain Sheep Eaters (Mountaineers) The former

occu-piedthe Green River and Wind Rivervalleysand hada

pat-ternof annualmovement withconcurrenttribal

concentra-tionanddispersal Inearliertimestheywereunder continual

attack from the Plainstribes, includingtheArapaho,

Black-foot,and Sioux TheMountainSheepEaters used the central

Rocky Mountain region, including the Yellowstone Lake

area.The Wind RiverReservation,whichtheynowshare with

the NorthernArapaho,wasestablishedin1863 Itis a

gener-ally drymountainous areawith rainfallaveragingabout

thir-teen inches a year, and with average temperatures ranging

from 10° to80° F

Linguistic Affiliation The Shoshonespokedialects of the

Central Numiclanguage, a branchof the Uto-Aztecan

lan-guage family, and had affinities to the languages of the

Northern andWesternShoshone groups.

History and Cultural Relations

Theirhistorysinceabout 1500canbe describedin anumber

of phases,beginning with their pre-horse penetrationof the

High Plains andtheiradoptionoflarge-scalebisonhunting;

then with theacquisitionof horses around 1700came a

sec-ond phase ofwidespread raiding through the plains.Athird

phase, around the beginning ofthe nineteenthcentury, was

marked byalosingwarwiththeBlackfoot, smallpox

epidem-ics,and the introductionof the Sun Dance Thiswasfollowed

byaperiod of alliances with the Whites and renewedtribal

vi-ability under Chief Washakie Reservation life in the later

nineteenthcentury wascharacterizedbyintensehardship and

population losses The first half of the twentieth century

showed cultural and demographic stabilization, and

innova-tion inreligiousinstitutions.Since 1945,there hasbeen

pop-ulation growth and a general adaptation to mainstream

White cultureaswellas to a growingArapaho political

domi-nance on thereservation.

Settlements

Inthe nineteenthcentury,theEasternShoshone hada

com-plexpatternof land use.The Buffalo Eatersdidnot havea

single setof specifiedboundaries, butanumber ofdifferent

ones ofvarying significance Thevalleys of the Green and

Windrivers weretheircorearea, withthe plains and tainsused at times.They hadapatternof annual movementswith concurrent tribal concentrations and dispersals TheMountainSheep Eatersheld the central Rocky Mountain re-gion but also hadreciprocal relations with the Buffalo Eaters

moun-In the early days, the dwellings were bison-skin tipis Thetipis' pole frameworkwascoveredbyacomplex arrangementofbisonhides, and the coveringwasdecorated withpaintingscelebrating the husband'saccomplishments.Small menstrualhuts were also used Dwellings on the reservation today aregenerally woodenbungalows

EconomySubsistence and Commercial Activities There was alarge variety offauna available to the Eastern Shoshone, sup-plemented byberries and roots, with seeds being of minorim-portance Access totheseresources waslimited somewhatbynaturalconditions, andbytheactionsof hostile tribes.Hunt-ershad aright to theirkill,withaspecial sequence ofsharingfollowed for bison Sites for fish weirsorgame trapsinvolvedonly temporary property rights, and plant gathering involvednone Food was ritualized toonly a minor extent, the mostimportantbeing ataboo on meat eating by women in men-strual or birthingseclusion Staples were the bison,fish (espe-cially trout), elk, beaver, and mule deer Major but only occa-sionally available game included the antelope, jackrabbit,mountainsheep, marmot, and sage hen These were supple-mentedby many minor food sources Lynx, mink, otter, andweasel were not eatenbut were valued for their furs Women,especially in thelate summer and fall, picked currants, rosehips, haws, andgooseberries They dug up roots, camas bulbs,and wild onions Greens and the sugar content of varioushoney plants enlivened the diet Thistles and some kinds ofsunflowers served as the only source of seeds The seasonality

of foodstuffs ruledthe annual congregating, movement, anddispersal of the various Shoshone groups The bison wasbyfar the greatestresourcebut was availableonly brieflyinthespring and for a longer period in the fall The women wereskilled and rapid butchers and were efficient at drying themeat But the Shoshone could only rarely gain as much ashalf their annual food supply from bison The principal foodfish were cutthroat trout, Montana grayling, and RockyMountainwhitefish, taken primarily in the springand eithereatenfresh or preservedby sun-drying or smoking The basicmethod of catchingfishwasby driving them into a weir Afterbison andfishinimportance were elk, which were rundownlike bison, or single elkbeing tracked like mule deer Berrieswere eaten fresh, in soups, or pounded with meat andfat to bepreserved aspemmican Roots were cooked in an earth oven.Prickly pear in drier areas was eaten on rareoccasions.The horse, mule, and dog were the domestic animals,withcattle being added in the later nineteenthcentury Theyprized horses anddogsasaids intransportation,hunting, and

war,neitheranimal was eaten except in great need, nor werethe hides and bones put to other uses Both animals were wellcared for, with thebison-hunting horse often being sacrificed

on a man's grave.Men cared for war horses, women for packhorses and baggage They used rawhide-lashed wood-handledwhips but notspurs, transported the infirm with a horsetra-vois, and raidedother tribes for horses They had arelativelylow incorporationof the horse into religion and the formal

Eastern Shoshone 105

socialstructure.TheBuffaloEaterskeptdogsforhuntingand

asguards, and theMountainSheepEatersuseddogtransport

on a large scale

Industrial Arts The EasternShoshone made a wide

vari-etyof leathergoods Tipis, clothing, and containers,aswellas

hidesorfursprimarilyfortrade,werethe major manufactures

The latter were of three types: sumptuary, ritual, and craft

products; utilitarian objects (coiled basketry, drinking homs,

bear-pawsnowshoes); and improvised expedient productions

(temporary housing, bullboats, scrapers) In later years they

were heavily involved in the fur trade and in intermarriage

with traders and White settlers

Division of Labor Bison-skin tipis were made by the

womenand decoratedby their husbands.Leatherworking,

ex-ceptforshields, bowstrings, drums, and rattles, was women's

work Women possessed special skills in plant gathering,

householdcrafts, curing, household transportation, and

gam-bling They were socially subordinate to the men who were

engaged in hunting, fishing, warfare, working with horses,

and trade

Kinship

The Eastern Shoshone used Hawaiian kinship terminology,

allcousinsbeingequatedwithsiblingsorcalledbyterms

de-rivative from those used for siblings In the terminology,

which is stillbeing used, there are distinctions between

pri-maryand descriptive terms Collective and quasi-kin terms

indicate focal andindefinitely extended relationships Most

primary termsrefer to consanguineal kin They distinguish

thekinsman's line of descent and generation, and, in part,

the sex of the speaker Both parallel and cross cousins are

considered to be more distant siblings

Marriage and Family

Marriage In the past, bride-service was common,

espe-cially through a young groom's living initially with his wife's

parents.There used to be a high degree of polygyny, and

sib-ling exchange marriages were also probably common

Ac-cording toShimkin,however,inthe period 1850-1930, only

3 casesof polygyny, 2 of sibling exchanges, and 3 of marriage

with consanguinealkinwerereported outof239marriages

These changes were likely due to Christian influence

Mar-riagewasforbidden with any firstorsecondcousin

Premari-tal sex relations were freely permitted and subjectto no

sanc-tions

Inheritance There was an absence of individual property

rights in land or movable property, or of any rule of

inheri-tancegoverning the transmissionofsuch rights

Socialization Infants and very young boys and girls were

dependents undifferentiated by sex They were rarely

pun-ished, but kept quiet through fears of monsters and enemies

Larger boys joined peer groups, with aggression being much

encouraged Adolescence for boyswas notformally marked,

and the search for supernatural powerbegan at this time

Marriage and joining a military society connoted a man's

sta-tus.Agirl would stay with her mother, helpinginhousehold

chores, caring for younger siblings, and playing girls' games

Menarche required isolation in the family menstrual hut,

avoidance of meat and of daytime sleeping, and the

obliga-tion togatherfirewood Shortlyafter menarche, agirl'sentsor, ifthey were dead, her older brother or maternal uncle,would arrange her marriage-usually to a good hunter, stableand reliable

par-Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization Ageand sexlargely determined rolesand status within the traditional society, with inheritanceplaying a small role Social positions, however, were earned inwarfare or attributed to the acquisitionof supernatural power.Women weresocially subordinated to men and menstruationstigmatized women as sourcesofdangerous ritual pollution.Polygyny (never sororal) involved conflicts and the economicexploitation of younger wives In middle and older ages, mid-wifery, curing, or gambling earned prestige for women Inmodem times, largebilateral kindreds have become key socio-political elements Berdaches, of low status, were alsopresent

Political Organization The whole tribe was gathered attimesfor winter shelter In winter andearly spring, the tribecouldbreak up into three tofive bands, each having a looseassociationwith a particular region in western Wyoming, butnotnamed or bounded.Membership in each band was flex-ible, with extended family groups joining one or another ofthe bands or sometimes another tribeentirely Effective lead-ership was necessary in the bison hunt, warfare, trade, andwintershelter In the tribe, and to a varying extent in eachband, the conduct of chieftainship was aided by two militarysocietiesand by a variety of temporary fides, such as heralds.The chief was a middle-aged or older man of military andshamanic distinction who gave orders affecting the tribalmarch or a collective hunt He also gave counsel on issues ofjoint decision, but had little to do with internal disputes.There was evidence of an active tribal council in earlier times,but on the reservation now, they maintain a business council

of six members The business of the reservation as a whole iscarried out by a joint business council with the NorthernArapaho tribe, also residents of the reservation The two mili-tary societies, the Yellow Brows and the Logs, werecomple-mentary rather than competitive

Social Control and Conflict War was a continuing stateamongthem,and war gains and losses directly affected tribalviability In the early nineteenth century, the Shoshone werebadly battered by smallpox and were threatened by Sioux,Cheyenne, and Gros Ventre raiders Theycountered thesethreats by alliances with fur traders and the U.S government,but theycontinuedto lose small parties to raiders until wellinto the late nineteenth century The demographic effects ofwarfare were severe Eventually, there was a low adult male/femalesexratio,as aresultof which they were forcedto re-cruit trappers, Metis,and Indians from other tribes into mar-riages Features evident in Shoshone warfare were warhonors, which were the greatest source of prestige,suicideincombat, and horse-stealing raids on foot Chiefs were incharge oflargeactions andpeacemaking

Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBeliefs Prior to extensive Christian missionaryeffortsand the introduction of the Peyote religioninthe latenineteenth century, the Eastern Shoshone practiced two

106 Eastern Shoshone

forms of religious beliefs and behavior The firstwasdirected

towardpersonalsuccessand survivalthroughthe acquisition

ofsupernatural power from the world of spirits The second

wasdesigned forthe welfare of the community and of nature

andtoward offimpending prophesizeddisasters The

mytho-logical beings andanimationsof nature and their powerswere

of central importance, with the relation between shaman and

powerbeing of supplication and dependency A successful

questfor powerwasexpressed byavision inwhich the power

appearsbestowing skillsorprotections, fetishestocallforth

the power, a song, and individualtaboos Water Ghost

Be-ings and Rock Ghost Beings were feared The domain of

ghosts included not only Ghost Beings, but old women,

great-grandparents, apparitions, and whirlwinds

Ceremonies The Father Dance, the Shuffling Dance

(Ghost Dance), and the Sun Dancewere supplications

ad-dressedtobeneficentbeings,particularlyOurFather.The

Fa-therDanceand theShuffling Dancewereespeciallya

tradi-tion among the Mountain Sheep Eaters and were usually

nighttime eventsinthefall,winter, or spring inwhich both

menand women participatedinthe singing ofsacred songs

The Sun Dance,probablyacquired from the Plains tribes, was

aday-and-nightevent of the summer,restricted to men, with

dancing andthirstingtoexhaustion

Medicine It wasbelieved that illness came frombreach of

taboos, malevolent dwarfpeople, and sorcery Ontheother

hand, they were pragmatic about childbirth, snake bites,

minor ailments, and wounds and fractures Houses where

death had occurredwereoftenabandoned

BibliographyJohnson, ThomasHoevet(1975).TheEnosFamily and Wind

River Shoshone Society: A Historical Analysis Ann Arbor

UniversityMicrofilms

Lowie, Robert Harry(1915) Dances and Societies of the Plains

Shoshone.AmericanMuseumofNatural History,

Anthropo-logicalPapers, 11, 803-835 NewYork

Shimkin,DemitriB (1947).WindRiverShoshone

Ethnogeog-raphy University of California Anthropological Records,

5(4) Berkeley

Shimkin, Demitri B (1947) Childhood and Development

among the Wind River Shoshone Universityof California

An-thropological Records, 5(5) Berkeley

Shimkin, Demitri B (1986)."Eastern Shoshone." In

Hand-book of North American Indians Vol 11,GreatBasin,edited

by Warren L d'Azevedo, 308-335 Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution

Trenholm, Virginia C., and Maurine Carley (1964) The

Sho-shonis: Sentinelsof the Rockies Norman:Universityof

Okla-homa Press

ETHNONYM:TunumiutThe East Greenland Inuit are found in the Ammassalik(65°40' N) and Scoresbysund (70° N) regions on the eastcoast ofGreenland Two other east Greenland groups, theNortheast and the Southeast Greenland Inuit, are now ex-tinct In 1980the East Greenlanders numbered some threethousand with about twenty-four hundred in the Ammassalikregion and four hundred in Scoresbysund The EastGreenlandic languageis adialect of Central Greenlandicand

ismutually intelligible with theWestGreenlandic dialect.East Greenland was settled by peoples migrating eastfrom WestGreenland, beginning as early as the fourteenthcenturyand continuing tomodem times As Europeans pre-ferred to settleinthe west, the EastGreenlanders come undersustained European influenceonly after 1900 Early contactswerein the form of schools andchurchs, followed by storesand colonial rule by Denmark Scoresbyund was settled in

1925by migrants from Ammassalik Since about 1950, theEast Greenlanders have experienced considerable culturalchange-most significantly, ashift from asubsistence hunt-ing economy to a money economybased on the sale of seal-skins and cod fishing

Prior to Danish rule, there were no permanent ments,with new winter settlements established every year or

settle-soandmorefrequent movements inthe warmer months Theextended family longhouse with nuclear families occupying

'apartments" wasthe typical dwelling in the winter village.Tents were used in the summer Traditional housing has nowbeenreplaced by expensive wood houses that have led to amoresettled life, but that have also put new financial burdens

on EastGreenlanders

The traditionalsubsistence economy was based heavily

on seal meat and skin as well as whale, sea birds, and fish.Productive equipment included dog sleds, umiaks, kayaks,wooden boats, harpoons, knives, sealskin floats, and sealnets The motor boat hasreplaced traditional modes of trans-portation, though thekayak remains important forsealing.Sale of sealskins and cod along with craft sales, wage labor,and welfare are sources of income today

Thebasic social unit is the patrilocally extended familyusually consisting of three generations residingin onedwell-ing The oldestmale heads the family, though leadership inmost activities vests in those who are mostskilled or knowl-edgeable A few households formed a settlement, althoughties between the family units were loose and families couldjoinorleaveasettlement asthey chose The Ammassalik andScoresbysund regions are governed by municipal councils andrepresentedon the GreenlandMunicipal Council

Missionary activity inEastGreenlandwasvery

success-ful,andmost EastGreenlanders are now Christians The ditionalreligionincluded beliefsin atripart universe, asoul(tarneq), and various gods and spirits Shamanism was nothighly developed, as individuals could use magictoapproachthesupernatural world directly

BibliographyPetersen, Robert (1984) "East Greenland before 1950." In

Handbook ofNorthAmericanIndians.Vol.5, Arctic, editedby

David Damas, 622-639.Washington,D.C.:Smithsonian

In-stitution

Petersen, Robert (1984) "East Greenland after 1950." In

Handbook of NorthAmerican Indians.Vol.5, Arctic, editedby

David Damas, 718-723 Washington,D.C.:Smithsonian

In-stitution

Trap, Jens P (1970) Gronland. 5th ed Edited by Niels

Nielsen, Peter Skautrup, and Christian Vibe Danmark, Vol

14 Copenhagen, Denmark: G.E.C GadsForlag

Eskimo

ETHNONYMS:Esquimox, Esquimaux

Thename "Eskimo"hasbeenappliedtothenative

peo-plesof the Arcticsincethesixteenthcentury;ironically, it is

not anEskimo word.Forcloseto a centuryboth

anthropolog-ical and popular sources, includingthe Oxford English and

Webster'sNewWorld dictionaries, maintained that thename

"Eskimo"derived fromaproto-Algonkianroottranslatingas

"eatersoftherawflesh." Infact, thename originatedinthe

Montagnais language and had no such meaning. Eskimos

refertothemselves withterms thattranslateas"realpeople"

or authentic human beings."These self-namesvaryfromone

Eskimo languagetoanother and includethenames"Inuit,"

"Inummaariit," "Inuvialat," "Inupiat," "Yup'ik," "Suxpiat,"

and "Unangan."Thestrengthof thebeliefbyEskimos

them-selves in the pejorative connotations of their name was a

majorfactorin its replacement, in Canada andGreenland

since the 1970s, by the designation "Inuit," an ethnonym

used by easternArctic Eskimos and Canadian Arctic

Eski-mos. In Alaska and Siberia, however, the term has never

takenroot. Althoughthe Eskimos of thewesternArcticare

indeed members ofthelargerfamilyofEskimo cultures,they

refer to themselves in their own language as "Yup'ik,"

"Inupiat," or "Unangan."Tocall them "Inuit"is inaccurate,

and thereis noall-encompassingnative namefor theentire

nativepopulationof theArctic.

tory,and cultural persistence ofthirty-sevenEuropean ethnicgroups in the United States Appended to some summariesareshort lists of publications, most of which are recent stud-iesof aparticular ethnic community or ageneral historical orcultural survey of the ethnic group Some of the information

inthese summaries is derived from The HarvardEncyclopedia

of American Ethnic Groups and We the People.These arethebasic reference resources for information about Americanethnic groups and should be consulted for additionalinfor-mationand references

SeealsoAcadians, Amish, Appalachians, Basques, bors, FrenchCanadians, Hasidim, Hutterites, Irish Travelers,Jews, Mennonites, Molokans, Mormons, Old Believers,Ozarks,Peripatetics, Rom, Shakers

Doukho-ALBANIANS In1980, 21,687Americansclaimed nianethnic ancestry and another 16,971 claimed Albanianandother ethnic ancestry Because of underreportinginthepast, this islikely an undercount, with Americansof Alba-nianancestryprobably numbering no less than 70,000.Pre-World War11 Albania was inhabited by two major culturalgroups-the Ghegs (Gegs) inthe mountainousNorth andthe Tosks (Toscs) inthe South Both groups spokemutuallyintelligible dialects of Albanian, although there were cleareconomic, religious, and social differencesbetweenthetwogroups In the United States, in-groupvariation is reflectedmore in religious differences (Greek Orthodox, Muslim,RomanCatholic) thaninthe Gheg/Tosk dichotomy MostAlbanians settled in the United States inthe early 1900s,with Boston the major community Other communitiesformed in Detroit, Chicago, Worcester (Massachusetts),andConnecticut AfterWorldWarII,acommunityof CatholicAlbaniansformedinthe Bronx,NewYork,and continuestoexistas a distinctethnic enclave.The traditional culturecen-tered on the patriarchal family, a strong sense of familyhonor, clans, and blood feuds has mostly given way to anAmericanmiddle-class life-style Butastrong sense ofAlba-nian identity survives through ethnic associations, thechurch, traditional celebrations and foods, andkinties.Alba-nian political identityisperhaps centeredmore on concernoverthe status ofAlbaniansintheKosovoregionof SerbianYugoslavia than on anticommunism

Alba-BibliographyNagi, Dennis L (1987) TheAlbanian-American Odyssey: APilotStudy oftheAlbanianCommunity ofBoston, Massachu-setts New York: AMS Press

ARMINIANS In1980, 155,693Americansclaimedmenian ancestryand another 56,928 claimed Armenian andotherethnic ancestry In Europe and the Near andMiddleEast, Armenianshave lived underthe control of theTurks,Russians, andIranians and have formed distinct ethnic mi-noritiesincountries suchasLebanon.Economicand culturalvariations amongArmeniangroups in these localeswas trans-ferred byArmenianimmigrantstothe UnitedStates Indus-

Ar-108 European-Americans.

trialcities inthe East and Midwest, the California central

val-ley,andLosAngeles are majorArmenianpopulationcenters,

with 42 percent ofArmenian-Americans in 1980 living in

California Settlers in industrial cities first worked in the

steel, automobile, and textile industries, but quickly moved

up the economic ladder, using business and technical skills

brought with them fromArmenia totheNewWorld The first

Armenians incentralCaliforniawerefarm workers, andthey,

too, quickly moved up the economic ladder, as shop and

landowners In both locations, the rapid economic mobility

was accompanied byrapid assimilation, reflected in the loss

of the Armenian language and a high rate of intermarriage

The most recent arrivalsare those who have emigrated from

the Soviet Union (and indirectly from Turkey and the Middle

East) since 1976 to the Los Angeles area Sincethe 1960s,

there has been a strong ethnic revival reflected in Armenian

schools, language programs, contacts with Armenians in the

Soviet Union, and concernover the continuing

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict there

BibliographyHenry, Sheila A (1978) Cultural Persistenceand Socioeco-

nomic Mobility: AComparative Study ofAssimilation among

Armeniansand JapaneseinLosAngeles.SanFrancisco: Rand

E Research Associates

Mirak, Robert (1983) Torn between Two Lands: Armenians

inAmerica, 1890 to WorldWar1.Cambridge: Harvard

Uni-versity Press

Phillips, Jenny K (1987) Symbol, Myth, and Rhetoric: The

Politicsof Culturein anArmenian-AmericanPopulation.New

York: AMS Press

Rollins, Joan H., ed (1981).Hidden Minorities:The

Persist-enceof Ethnicity in AmericanLife Washington, D.C.:

Univer-sity PressofAmerica

AUSTRIANS In1980,339,789Americansclaimed

Aus-trian ancestry and another 608,769 claimed Austrian and

other ancestry Unlike many other Euopean nations,Austria

was not formed on a distinct ethnic population base, and

thus Austrians aremoreaccuratelydescribedas anationality

than as an ethnic group.Austrianswho have settledinthe

United States,includingasizable minorityof Jews, have

as-similated rapidlyintoAmericansocietyand tendto seetheir

Austrianidentity as avariantofGermanidentity

See also Germans

BELGIANS In 1980 there were 122,814Americanswho

claimed Belgian ancestry and another 237,463 who claimed

Belgian and other ethnic ancestry ThenationofBelgiumwas

and isinhabitedbytwodistinctgroups-the Flemish inthe

coastalnorthwest (in the regioncommonly calledFlanders),

who speak alanguagecloselyrelatedtoDutch, and the

Wal-loonsintheeastandsoutheast, whospeakFrench This

dis-tinction has been maintained in the UnitedStatesandis

re-flectedinthe separate settlementsestablishedbyimmigrants

from each groupinthe nineteenth andtwentieth centuries

Most of the pre-1920 immigrants were Flemish and they

tendedtosettle in areasalreadysettledbythe Dutch

(espe-ciallyinMichiganandWisconsin), althoughtheywereoften

excluded from Dutch communities because of Dutch Catholicism Walloons tended to settle near French orFrench-Canadian communities, and the large Walloon com-munity near Green Bay, Wisconsin, began inthis way Al-though some features of Walloon or Flemish culture survivedinto themid-twentieth century such as cycling clubs, choralsocieties, and community newspapers, both groups are nowlargelyassimilated into American society and are seen by oth-ers asof Belgian rather than of distinctively Flemish or Wal-loon ancestry

anti-BYELORUSSIANS (Belorussians, Kryvians, Whitesians, White Ruthenians) There are about 200,000 people ofByelorussian ethnic ancestry in theUnited States today This

Rus-isvery likely anunderestimate, as those who arrived prior toWorld War I(and whose descendants are the majority of Bye-lorussians in the United States today) were identified as ei-ther Russians or Poles Byelorussiaisthe region that today islocated in the Soviet Union south and east of Lithuania andLatvia Aswith manypeoples from Eastern Europe, theBye-lorussians arrived in two major waves: 1880 to World War Iand after WorldWar11.Both groups tendedtosettleinlargeindustrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest The descen-dants of the firstwave arenowmuchassimilated into Ameri-cansociety Those whoarrived after World War11and theirchildrenhave emphasized their Byelorussian identity throughformation of their own church communities, parochialschools,associations, anti-Soviet sentiment, a language pres-ervationprogram,and the celebration of ethnic holidays andlife-cycle events following traditional customs

BibliographyKipel, Vitaut (1982) Byelorussian Americans and Their Com-munities ofCleveland.Cleveland: Cleveland State University.CARPATHO-RUSYNS (Carpatho-Russians,Carpatho-Ukrainians, Rusnaks,Ruthenians,Uhro-Rusyns) Carpatho-Rusyns in the United Statestoday are mainly third- or fourth-generationdescendantsofCarpatho-Rusynswhoimmigrated

toNorthAmericabetween1880and 1914 Carpatho-Rusynsspoke East Slavic dialects closely related to Ukrainian In

1980about 600,000Americans wereofCarpatho-Rusyncestry,although only 8,485 claimed such ancestry in the 1980census This is inpartbecause manyidentifythemselves asUkrainians or Russians and because the U.S census nolonger considers the Carpatho-Rusyns as a distinct group.The homeland of the Carpatho-Rusyns is the Carpathianmountains in what are the modem nations ofPoland andCzechoslovakia and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.Initial settlementwas inthe mining and industrial regions ofPennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, andConnecticut.Ethnicidentitywasclosely tiedtotheiridentity

an-as Ean-asternChristians, expressed through membershipin theByzantine Rite Catholic church or Orthodox churches.Carpatho-Rusyn services contained a number of uniqueprac-tices,mostnotablyaliturgical chant using folk melodies stillsung by groupstoday.Partlybecauseof the absence ofadis-tinct country of national origin,a senseofCarpatho-Rusynethnicidentity has largelydisappearedintheUnitedStates

In the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, people ofCarpatho-Rusyn ancestrynow seethemselvesasUkrainians

In1931,asubgroupcalled theLemkians,composedofpeople

Eurobean-Americans 109

from the Lemkian region of southeastern Poland formed a

separateethnicassociation.They have madeastrong effortto

maintaintheir ethnicidentity through an active press,

con-cem about their nationalidentity, and the maintenance of

sometraditional practices

See also Ukrainians

BibliographyMagocsi, PaulR (1984) OurPeople: Carpatho-Rusynsand

Their Descendants inNorthAmerica Toronto: Multicultural

History Society ofOntario

CROATS (Croatians) In 1980, 107,855 Americans

claimed Croatian ancestry and another 145,115 claimed

Croatianandotherethnicancestry.This isprobablyagross

undercount,asmany CroatsareidentifiedasYugoslaviansor

Serbs A figure of at least 500,000isprobably a more accurate

estimate ofthe numberofpeople of Croatian ancestryinthe

United States Croatiais oneof thesix constituentrepublics

ofthemodem nation ofYugoslavia The U.S census has

usu-ally classified Dalmatians, who liveon theAdriatic coast of

Yugoslavia, as Croats.Inthe late 1700s and early 1800s

Dal-matianfishermen settled in Louisiana, where they were able

to continuetheir maritimetraditions The major migration of

Croatsoccurred between 1880and World WarIwhenthey

formed Croatian communities in industrial and mining

townsand cities inPennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois,andIndiana

MostCroats are RomanCatholic, althoughchurch

member-ship did not play a major roleinthe establishment of

Croa-tian communities asitdid with other groups.Croatshave

as-similated moreslowlyinto Americansocietythan many other

groups, and it was not until the mid-1950s that inner-city

Croatian neighborhoods begantobreak upthrough

outmi-gration tothe suburbs Factorsinvolvedinthemaintenance

of Croat communitieswerestrongextendedfamilytiesanda

pattern ofsonssettlinginthesamecommunityandworking

inthesamefactoriesastheir fathers.SinceWorldWar 11 at

least 60,000 Croats have settled in the United States and

have led a renewal of Croat ethnic identity, through ties

maintained with the homeland and a revitalized Croatian

press

BibliographyBennett, Linda (1978) Personal Choice in Ethnic Identity

Maintenance:Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in Washington Palo

Alto,Calif.: R andE ResearchAssociates

Kraljec, Francis (1978) Croation Migration to andfrom the

United States PaloAlto, Calif: Ragusan

Prpic,G.J. (1978) South Slavic Immigration in America

Bos-ton: Twayne

CZECHS In 1980, 788,724 Americans claimed Czech

ancestry and another 1,103,732 claimed Czech and other

ethnic ancestry Thisfigure may be somewhat inflated asit

in-cludes both ethnic Czechs and Czechoslovaks, some of

whom may beethnically Slovak rather than Czech Czechsin

the United States today are mainly descendants ofpeople

who emigrated from Bohemia and Moravia between 1850

and 1914, the two major regions of the Czech area of the

na-tionofCzechoslovakia.Czechs settled bothinfarming

com-munities (in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, SouthDakota, and Texas) and in cities (New York, Cleveland, Chi-cago, andOmaha) Czechsettlers differed from otherEuro-pean ethnicgroupsin a number of ways First, they had anunusually lowreturn-migration rate Second, many left theRomanCatholic church and either convertedto Protestant-ism oreschewed formalreligious affilation altogether Third,although they never were a unified group, they assimilatedrelatively slowly, in part because of values that stressed indi-vidual and family self-reliance and because ofties to thehomeland After the 1920s, Czech identity began to weaken

as few new immigrants arrived, children attended publicschools, and intermarriage becamecommon

After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in

1948, 35,000 CzechoslovakiansfledtotheUnited States and

anadditional 10,000 or so arrived after the failed 1968 lution.Thesegroupscontained many professionals who oftenstayed apart from the established Czech communities in theUnited States The Czech presence still reflects considerableinternaldiversity (rural/urban, early/later immigrants)

revo-BibliographyBicha, Karel D (1980) "Community of Cooperation? TheCase of the Czech-Americans." InStudies inEthnicity: TheEastEuropean Experiencein America,edited by C A Ward,

P.Shashko,andD E.Pienkos, 93-102 Boulder: East pean Monographs

Euro-Jerabek, Esther(1976).Czechsand SlovaksinNorthAmerica:

ABibliography New York:CzechoslovakSocietyof Arts andSciences in America

Skrabanek, R L (1985) We're Czechs College Station:Texas A&MUniversity Press

DANES In1980,428,619Americans claimed Danish cestryand another 1,089,654claimed Danish and other an-cestry Most Danes immigrated to the United States in thelast half of the nineteenth century Mormon missionarieswere active inDenmarkafter 1850, and a sizable contingent

an-of Danes settled in farm communitiesinUtah andsouthernIdaho The descendants of these Danish Mormonsaccounttoday for about 9 percent of Danes in the United States.Mostimmigrantssettled inthe Midwest, primarily in Wiscon-sin, Iowa, and Minnesota Thereisalso a sizable Danish an-cestrypopulation inCalifornia, mostly the product of migra-tion west following initial settlement elsewhere Danesassimilated more quickly than other Scandinavianpeoples,inpart because of theirrelatively few numbers and wide disper-sal, which encouraged marriage to non-Danes and a morerapid loss of the Danishlanguageand adoption ofEnglish.Today, a sense of Danish ethnicity survives through theDansk Samvirke(the Association ofDanesAbroad),tours toDenmark, and Danish customs as part of the Christmascele-bration

BibliographyHale, Frederick, ed (1984) Danes in North America Seattle:University ofWashington Press

Mackintosh,Jette(1988) "'Little Denmark'onthePrairie: A

I 10 European-Americans

Studyof the Towns ofElk Horn and Kimballton inIowa."

Journal of American Ethnic History 7:46-68

Nielsen, George R (1981) The Danish Americans Boston:

Twayne

DUTCH In 1980, 1,404,794 Americans claimed Dutch

ancestry and another 4,899,705 claimed Dutch and other

ethnic ancestry Inthe UnitedStates, Frisians, who form a

distinctethnic groupinthe Netherlands andWestGermany

areclassifiedasDutch After Henry Hudson "discovered" the

Hudson River during his exploration of 1610-1611, the

Dutch established the colony of New Netherland in the

Hudson and Delaware rivervalleysand the city ofNew

Am-sterdam on lower Manhattan Island Following the loss of the

colony to the Englishin 1664, someDutch settlers removed

toadjacent areas inwhatarenow NewYork State and New

Jersey Manypeople of Dutch ancestrystill live in theseareas,

although their numbers have been swelled by later Dutch

im-migrants whoworkedinthe factoriesin northern NewJersey

MostDutch immigrants (80percent) wereProtestants, with

the densest concentration being Dutch Calvinistswho

con-tinue to be a majorpolitical-economic-social force in a

four-hundred-square-mile regionof southwestern Michigan The

major concentration of Dutch Roman Catholics is found

acrossLake MichiganineasternWisconsin.Other Dutch

set-tlements were started and continue to flourish in Bozeman,

Montana,and northwestern Washington State The most

re-cent Dutch immigrants are mostly native Indonesians who

fledtothe Netherlands from their countryinthe 1960s, with

some subsequently immigrating to the United States The

largenumber of negative phrases with the word Dutch such as

Dutch treat orDutch courage can beattributed to the

anti-Dutch sentimentsofthe early English colonists

BibliographyBratt, James D (1984).Dutch CalvinisminModern America:

AHistory ofaConservativeSubculture.Grand Rapids, Mich.:

William B Eerdmans

Swierenga,Robert P., ed (1985).The Dutch in America:

Im-migration, Settlement, and Cultural Change New Brunswick,

N.J.: RutgersUniversity Press

Van Hinte,Jacob (1985) Netherlanders in America: A Study

ofEmigrationand Settlementinthe 19th and 20thCenturies in

theUnited States ofAmerica.Robert P Swierenga, general

edi-tor Adriaan de Wit,chief translator Grand Rapids, Mich.:

Baker Book House

ENGLISH In 1980, 23,748,772 Americans claimed

En-glish ancestry and another 25,849,263claimed English along

with other ethnic ancestry These figures include those

claim-ing Cornish ancestry but not those ofManx ancestry, who

numbered 50,000 in 1970 Americans of English ancestry are

sometimes referred to as White Anglo-Saxon Protestants

(wAsp,) and those in New England, as Yankees The English

were the primarycolonizers of what becametheUnited States

and werethe major shapers of the American economy,

politi-cal system, society, andculture Although American society

isnow ablendingofbeliefs and practices from dozens of cul

tures, themostfundamental featuresofAmericanlife, such

asthe use of the Englishlanguage and the legal system, reflectEnglish traditions People of English ancestry are settledacrossthe entireUnitedStateswith major concentrations inMaine, theAppalachian and Ozark regions, and the Mormonregion of Utah and southern Idaho.The few areas with rela-tively low percentages of English-Americans are New YorkCity, areas of SouthwestTexaswithlarge Mexican-Americanpopulations, and those sections of Nevada and the Dakotaswith large American Indianreservations

Seealso Appalachians, Mormons, Ozarks, Shakers

BibliographyEwart, Shirley (1987) Cornish Mining Families of GrassVal-ley, California New York: AMS Press

ESTONLANS Because emigrants from Estonia arrivingbefore1922wereusuallylistedasRussians,the number ofEs-

tonianswho came to the United States and the number ofcurrent Estonian-Americans are unknown Estimates placetheir numberat about 200,000, with over half in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions, 19 percent on the WestCoast, and 15 percent inthe Great Lakes area The home-land iscurrently the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic TheEstonianlanguage is related to Finnish, and Estonian culturehas been strongly influenced by Scandinavian traditions.MostEstonian-Americansaredescendants of people who ar-rived between 1890 and World War 1 An influx of about15,000 Estoniansafter WorldWar 11has bothincreased thepopulationand stimulatedarebirth of Estonian ethnic iden-tity The Estonians today are unified by strong nationalisticand anticommunist sentiments and active local, regional, na-tional, and international ethnic associations At the sametime, a high intermarriage rate and a middle-class life-styleare drawing many people in the younger generations intomainstream society

BibliographyParming, Tonu, and ImreLipping(1979) Aspects of CulturalLife Estonian Heritage in America Series New York: Esto-nian Learned Society in America

Walko,Ann M (1988) Rejecting the Second-Generation pothesis: Maintaining Estonian Ethnicity in Lakewood, NewJersey NewYork: AMS Press

Hy-FINNS In 1980, 267,902Americans claimed Finnish cestryand another 347,970 claimed Finnish and other ethnicancestry Finnish immigration took place mainly from the1860s on,with most settlingand continuing to live innorth-

an-ern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota In 1980, 38 cent ofFinnish-Americans lived in this area The original lurefor many Finnishmen waswork in miningand the sawmillsand on the railroads, although manyeventually establishedsmall farms Up to about 1920, Finnish identity remainedstrong and was maintained by the interlocking ties ofchurches, temperance groups, labor unions, andpoliticalpar-ties Themembership and influence of these groups, however,waned after 1920, leading to rapidassimilation

per-BibliographyFinnish Americana: A Journal ofFinnishAmerican History andCulture New York Mills, Minnesota