Grades: 5-12
Subjects: Ethnic Studies
Number of Activities: 4
Overview
Perpetual foreigner stereotyping is a form of systemic racism used
against Asian Americans and other communities of color. They have historically been stereotyped as
foreigners in the United States no matter their duration of time living
here or whether they were American-born. The perpetual foreigner
stereotype is maintained by institutions such as Hollywood, private and
public sectors, and elected public officials. Throughout U.S. history,
Asian Americans have been scapegoated as the cause of the country’s
various problems and catastrophes including economic despair, wars,
terrorism, and the coronavirus pandemic.
Objectives
Learn about and discuss what systemic racism is.
Learn about and discuss the perpetual foreigner stereotype as a
form of systemic racism against Asian Americans.
Learn about and discuss the challenges Asian Americans face due to being
viewed as perpetual foreigners in Hollywood, private and public
sectors, and by elected public officials in the United States.
Learn about and discuss the consequences of perpetual foreigner
stereotyping on Asian Americans.
Discuss personal experience with stereotyping and the harms it
might cause.
Research stereotyping in various communities.
Discuss how stereotypes are used to pit races or groups against one
another, and how certain groups are taken advantage of by those
with power and authority.
Discuss why and how to combat stereotyping.
Perpetual Foreigner Essay
Stereotyping is used to pit one race or group against another, pushing
some to the bottom of the pecking order and allowing certain groups to be
taken advantage of. It also prevents people from uniting and advancing
together. Perpetual foreigner stereotyping is a form of systemic racism
used against Asian Americans, who have historically been stereotyped as
foreigners in the United States no matter their duration living here or
whether they were American-born. Asian Americans were placed into
segregated schools and were excluded from immigration and citizenship
for over 60 years.
The perpetual foreigner stereotype is maintained by institutions
including Hollywood, private and public sectors, and elected public
officials. As far back as 1865 during the construction of the
Transcontinental Railroad, Chinese workers were seen as inferior labor
and placed into unskilled jobs, earning two-thirds what European workers
did, and segregated into “section houses.”
In the entertainment industry, the acting career of Anna May Wong
was stymied by the Hays Code. Instead of Wong, the lead female role in
The Good Earth (1937)—about Chinese farmers—went to Luise Rainer
in yellowface. Mickey Rooney also used yellowface to portray a Japanese
neighbor in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). This practice of Asian
roles going to white actors instead of qualified Asian actors would
later evolve into whitewashing, as seen most recently with Tilda Swinton
playing an Asian monk in Doctor Strange (2016), and Scarlett
Johansson as the lead character—originally Japanese—in
Ghost in the Shell (2017).
During World War II, Japanese Americans were seen as foreigners. Under
the pretense of national security, almost the entire population
(120,000) of Japanese Americans in the continental United States were
incarcerated from 1942 to 1946, and lost their homes and businesses.
Two-thirds of them were American-born citizens.
In 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, became a scapegoat for the
decline of the American auto industry in the 1980s. Chin was murdered by
two unemployed white autoworkers who thought he was Japanese. In 1999,
Joseph Ileto, a Filipino American, was murdered by an avowed white
supremacist for being a person of color. Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian
American, was the first among many murdered shortly after the September
11, 2001 attacks, because the murderer thought he was an Arab Muslim.
In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of U.S. government and
other elected public officials referred to the coronavirus as “the
China virus.” This labeling created an environment in which
violence and attacks against Asian Americans were more permissible.
Thousands of innocent Asian Americans were scapegoated for being the
cause of the coronavirus, and faced hate speech, hate incidents and hate
crimes in the process.
Throughout all of these points in history, Asian Americans have
organized in different ways to protest and fight back against these
injustices.
Hays Code: a set of rules governing American filmmaking from 1930-1965; among other restrictions, the Hays Code prohibited interracial relationships onscreen 1
Perpetuate: continuing to spread or maintain a certain idea or
belief 2
Stereotype: a fixed general image or set of characteristics
representing a particular type of person or thing, which may not
actually be true; often negative 3
Yellowface: the usage of makeup and/or prosthetics by white
actors to portray Asian characters 4
Whitewashing: the casting or rewriting of Asian roles for white
actors 5
1 Definition adapted from TVTropes.org 2 Definition adapted from The Collins Dictionary 3 Definition adapted from The Collins Dictionary 4 Definition adapted from The Cambridge Dictionary 5 Definition adapted from The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Discussion Questions:
What are some common images of Asian Americans on TV and in movies
today?
What stereotypes of Asian and Asian Americans appeared in Hollywood
films?
How might seeing positive or negative images of a group affect you,
especially if you are part of the group being portrayed?
Activity 1: Your own experience with
stereotyping
Show students the video entitled, “I Am an American" by Run AAPI. [Run time: 01:34] After
viewing the video clip have an entire class discussion on the following
questions:
Have you ever experienced stereotyping?
What difficulties have emerged when others view you differently than
you view yourself?
What difficulties have emerged when you view others differently than
they view themselves?
Have you heard of the term self-stereotyping?
How do you think stereotypes might impact the way you see yourself?
Have you ever experienced other people constantly saying things such
as, “you are lousy at math,” and you end up believing it?
This constant message/point of view that you may not be good at
something, or that you are a certain way, might lead you to believe
in something that may not be true. How do you overcome that?
Activity 2: Perpetual Foreigner - Systemic
Racism Perpetuated by Multiple Sectors of Society
What is Hollywood’s role in systemic racism?
Explain and discuss the following terminology with the class:
Yellowface, Brownface, Blackface
Whitewashing
Perpetual foreigner
Have students research the following:
In 2015, #OscarsSoWhite highlighted Hollywood’s racial inequity problems. What did #OscarsSoWhite reveal about how Asian Americans are stereotyped?
Find other examples of yellowface and whitewashing in
film/media. (One example: Emma Stone, a white actress,
portraying a part-Hawaiian-Chinese character in 2015’s
Aloha.)
After conducting research and viewing the video clip, have a
whole class discussion (i.e., large group, think-pair-share, or Socratic Seminar) with students on the following questions:
What are some problems that Asian Americans encounter when yellowface and whitewashing occurs?
How is the use of yellowface, brownface and blackface problematic?
How is whitewashing problematic?
Do you think it is acceptable for Hollywood to perpetuate stereotypes?
What can we do about it?
How does perpetual foreigner stereotyping in various sectors of society lead to systemic racism? Have students read this lesson’s essay; then have a Socratic Seminar discussion.
How is the perpetual foreigner stereotype in Hollywood films also
used in the public sector and by elected public officials? Give
examples.
How is the perpetual foreigner stereotype also used in the private
sector and in private companies? Give examples.
How do these different sectors reinforce one another and lead to systemic racism?
Activity 3: The Consequence of Stereotyping
What are the consequences of perpetual foreigner stereotyping on
Asian Americans?
Have students discuss the following question:
What happened to the Japanese Americans during World War II?
What happened to Asian Americans when the U.S. automobile industry lagged behind fuel efficient Japanese cars in the 1980s?
What happened to Asian Americans during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic?
What happens to Asian Americans’ chances of advancement in the workplace?
How are these events consequences of the perpetual foreigner stereotype?
Students may use the following resources to respond to these questions:
What are the consequences of stereotyping in other communities? Have students research the consequences of stereotyping on two additional
communities. A community can be an ethnic community, racial community,
gender community, LGBTQ community, disabled community, religious
community, undocumented community, low-income community, or homeless
community, etc.
Have students research the following questions: When did the stereotyping of the community that you selected begin? Who created it? What purpose did it serve? Who benefits from it?
Have students discuss how stereotypes are used to pit races or groups against one another, and how certain groups are taken advantage of by those with power and authority.
Activity 4: How to Combat Stereotyping
Have students discuss the following questions:
What are the repercussions of the perpetual foreigner stereotype? Why is it important to combat the stereotype?
What can individuals do to reduce stereotyping?
What can institutions do to reduce stereotyping?
How would you respond to the perpetual foreigner stereotype?
Leong, Russell.
Moving the Image: Independent Asian Pacific American Media Arts. Los Angeles: UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Visual
Communications, Southern California Asian American Studies Central,
1991. Print.
Smith, Stacy L., Marc Choueiti, Katherine Pieper, Kevin Yao, Ariana
Case and Angel Choi. “Inequality in 1,200 Popular Films: Examining
Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBTQ & Disability from 2007
to 2018.”
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism,
September 2019 http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inequality-report-2019-09-03.pdf. Accessed August 19, 2020.
CA HSS Analysis Skills (9–12): Historical Research Evidence and Point of
View 1–3 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1, 2, 3, 7, 8; W.1, 4, 5, 8;
SL.1, 2, 4. L.1. CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy: RH.9–10.1, 2, 4, 9;
RI.9-10.6, 7; W.9-10.2, 2.a,b,4, 5; SL.9-10.1a,,d, 2, 4; L.9-10.1;
RH.11-12.1, 2,4, 9; RI.11-12.6, 7; W.11-12.2, 2.a,b, 4, 5; SL.11-12.1,
1.a,c,d, 2, 4; L.11-12.1.9-12.IV.C.4.1; 9-12 V.C.2; 9-12 V.E.2.2,.3,
3.4, 5. U.S. History Grades 5-12 9.1B.6; 5-12 10.2D.2
California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Appendix A
Themes
Identity, History and Movement, Systems of Power, Social Movements and
Equity.
Disciplinary Area
Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies
Asian Americans Course Content
Unit 7: Asian American Social Movements (ES)
Ethnic Studies Values and Principles Alignment for this Lesson
1, 4, 5, 6, 7
Ethnic Studies Values and Principles:
Cultivate empathy, community actualization, cultural perpetuity,
self-worth, self-determination, and the holistic well-being of all
participants, especially Native People/s and Black Indigenous People
of Color (BIPOC);
Celebrate and honor Native People/s of the land and communities of
Black Indigenous People of Color by providing a space to share their
stories of success, community collaboration, and solidarity, along
with their intellectual and cultural wealth;
Center and place high value on the pre-colonial, ancestral knowledge,
narratives, and communal experiences of Native people/s and people of
color and groups that are typically marginalized in society;
Critique empire-building in history and its relationship to white
supremacy, racism and other forms of power and oppression;
Challenge racist, bigoted, discriminatory, imperialist/colonial
beliefs and practices on multiple levels;
Connect ourselves to past and contemporary social movements that
struggle for social justice and an equitable and democratic society;
and conceptualize, imagine, and build new possibilities for a
post-racist, post-systemic racism society that promotes collective
narratives of transformative resistance, critical hope, and radical
healing.