Introduction: New Perspectives on the Studies of Asian American Folklores

The establishment of the American Folklore Society (AFS) and the Journal of American Folklore (JAF) in the 1880s was in the midst of a series of federal laws excluding Chinese people from entering the United States, along with a wave of scientific racism that was also pervasive in American society. While Asian Americans and their folklore were not included in the goals of AFS, there was a voice to consider the Chinese American customs as part of American folklore even in 1890. The fact, however, is that in the first 60 years of JAF, there was no publication by an Asian American folklorist in today's sense. So, where were and are Asian American folklorists? How do we understand the invisibility, untellability, and absence of Asian American folklorists in American folklore studies? This essay addresses these questions by revisiting some publications in the first decade of JAF and engaging with some current discourse on folkloristic reconstruction.

Where Were/Are Asian American Folklorists?

Zhang

2023

A Cross-Boundary Dialogue in Need: Racial, Ethnic, or Folk Groups?

Zhang,

Addison,

Magat

et al. 2023

As we enter the twenty-first century, reflexive approaches to the history of folklore studies around the world, along with the antiracist and decolonizing efforts in academic studies in general, have led to a series of paradigmatic shifts away from the Eurocentric systems of defining genre, folk, racial group, and identity. What remains to be essential, yet to be fully subverted, is the concept and practice of “racial/ethnic groups” that is still used by folklorists in studying folklores in cultural groups. Continuously drawing the boundaries through the concept of “race” is nothing but reinforcing the existing racist system. Unless we build dialogues across the existing “racial” boundaries and seek new common terms and concepts, we are not able to make progress in understanding and accepting the nature and reality of our hybridized folklore traditions that inform the folk groups that we are in, as well as our own personal identities. It is with this premise that the authors contributing to this piece initiate this cross-boundary dialogue, expecting to inspire more people to join in.

From Rebounds to Three-Pointers: Linsanity, Racial Insults, and Stereotypes in Flux

Magat¹

2015

In February 2012, a Taiwanese American point guard player for the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin, bounded into the imagination of the nation and was embraced by basketball fans who have long rooted for the underdog. His presence in the National Basketball Association has sparked an invaluable discussion involving insider/outsider folklore, cultural politics, and stereotypes. Using Lin’s "Linderella" story and accompanying deluge of Lin-generated folk speech and behavior, this paper investigates how "Linsanity" is a pivotal event from which one can examine the continuing prevalence of racist folklore about Asian Americans while exploring the cultural shifts that are occurring.