East is east … or is it? Racialization of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Pacific Islander persons

Abstract

The conventional use of racial categories in health research naturalizes “race” in problematic ways that ignore how racial categories function in service of a white-dominated racial hierarchy. In many respects, racial labels are based on geographic designations. For instance, “Asians” are from Asia. Yet, this is not always a tenable proposition. For example, Afghanistan resides in South Asia, and shares a border with China and Pakistan. Yet, people from Afghanistan are not considered Asian, but Middle Eastern, by the US Census. Further, people on the west side of the Island of New Guinea are considered Asian, whereas those on the eastern side are considered Pacific Islander. In this paper, we discuss the complexity of the racial labels related to people originating from Oceania and Asia, and more specifically, those groups commonly referred to as Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and Asian. We begin with considerations of the Aggregation Fallacy. Just as the ecological fallacy refers to erroneous inferences about individuals from group data, the aggregation fallacy refers to erroneous inferences about subgroups (e.g., Hmong) from group data (i.e., all Asian Americans), and how these inferences can contribute to stereotypes such as the “model minority.” Further, we examine how group averages can be influenced merely by the composition of the subgroups, and how these can in turn be influenced by social policies. We provide a historical overview of some of the issues facing Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and Asian communities, and conclude with directions for future research.