Document Type
Article
Abstract
The race-ing process that leads to the "ethnic specimen" as well as to the resulting problems of the "native informant" deserves theoretical attention, for they affect how legal categories are constructed with respect to Asian Americans. This article attempts to expand on each of these phenomena. In part II, the author describes in more detail the concept of the "ethnic specimen" and in part III, the "native informant." Part III will also explore the various forms of silence, as well as other aspects of reticence the author and others have in the project of articulating an Asian American authentic native voice. The author's observations are intended to elaborate upon the theory of racial formation, and to describe a process of racialization in which cultural and linguistic conventions, as well as countervailing interventions, work and play prominently. These observations are also connected to the jurisprudential project of reconstructing the concept of race so as achieve greater justice for all racial groups.
Recommended Citation
Margaret Chon,
On the Need for Asian American Narratives in Law: Ethnic Specimens, Native Informants, Storytelling and Silences, 3 UCLA ASIAN PAC. AM. L.J. 4
(1995).
https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/faculty/331