Cultural Patterns of South Asian and Southeast Asian Americans

Abstract

An overview of South Asian and Southeast Asian Americans is discussed to aid teachers in understanding some behaviors exhibited by students from these diverse backgrounds. Although there are some similarities in cultural practices among the vast Asian ethnic groups, Asians do not fall into one homogeneous group. The value of honoring the family is very strongly ingrained in South Asian and Southeast Asian children; therefore, discussing any personal problems with an outsider is regarded as a disgrace to the family. Implications for teaching based on cultural practices are outlined.

Chapter 4 Contesting the Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotypes: A Critical Review of Literature on Asian Americans in Education

“…For example, each chapter in the book Asian American Education: Prospects and Challenges (Park & Chi, 1999) features the detailed immigration, sociocultural, and linguistic experiences of an ethnic group to "provide a sense of how each group is faring," illuminate the "unique educational issues, needs, and challenges faced by the group," and provide "practical and insightful suggestions" for teachers and others working with Asian American students (p. viii). More concise summaries of different behaviors and values also can be found in literature reviews such as that of Mathews (2000), who describes the cultural patterns of South and Southeast Asians with respect to family relationships, respect for age, social interaction, communication style, family expectations of success, humility, school situations, decision making, and socialization barriers, as well as their accompanying implications for teaching (see also Adler, 1998, on Japanese Americans). Suggestions for working with Asian parents and families also have been compiled, encouraging teachers to show respect for immediate and extended family members, provide opportunities to share differences in U.S. and Asian schools and society, and consider Asian parents' English proficiency (e.g., G. Lee & Manning, 2001a, 2001b.…”

Implications of culture of honor theory and research for practitioners and prevention researchers.

“…Minorities with Middle Eastern and South Asian origins have also been identified as having an honor culture (e.g.,Mathews, 2000;Nobles & Sciarra, 2000), but we focus here on Latinx Americans as this minority group has been studied by researchers in the U.S. more than groups from the Middle Eastern and South Asian countries.…”

How do Polish and Indonesian disclose in Facebook?

“…express their feelings and thoughts openly; this serves to maintain harmony and to prevent disagreements or unpleasant interchanges, especially with consideration to significant others (Mathews, 2000). Indonesians, belonging to a collectivist culture, have many rules pertaining to social interaction; they also emphasize conformity in groups, avoid disagreements and public criticism and strive to maintain good social interaction (Argyle et al, 1986;Reisinger and Turner, 1997).…”

“…According to Altman and Taylor (1973), as relationships develop, people become more willing to engage in intimate self-disclosure. However, although collectivist cultures emphasize togetherness and depth in communication, they tend to enforce control affective expression in FTF contact, especially in front of figures of authority (Mathews, 2000). Thus, public, excessive disclosure of emotions is too costly in offline interactions.…”