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Racing Romance
Price: $23.95
Subtitle:
Love, Power, and
Desire Among Asian American/ White Couples
Author:
Kumiko Nemoto
Subject: Asian
American Studies, Sociology,
Gender
Studies
Paper ISBN: 978-0-8135-4533-2
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8135-4532-5
Pages: 208 pages
Publication Date: June 2009
Praise for Racing Romance
"Increasingly, Asians and
Asian Americans are dating and marrying whites, but so far there has
been little research on the dynamics of these relationships. In Racing Romance, Kumiko Nemoto shows
that "model minority" status does not inoculate interracial intimacy
against race and gender stereotypes. Drawing on in-depth interviews,
she shows that couples navigate very different romantic landscapes,
depending on whether the Asian-origin partner is a man or a woman. "—Rachel F.
Moran, author of Interracial
Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance
"A beautifully written
exploration of Asian American-white interracial romance and marriage
that expertly balances nuance and compassion with incisive analytical
and theoretical clarity. A major contribution to the field."—Karen Kelsky,
author of Women on the Verge:
Japanese Women, Western Dreams
"Kumiko Nemoto’s ground-breaking
study of white-Asian interracial relationships brings a rare acuity and
rigor to bear on a subject that has been surprisingly neglected by
scholars, boldly extending the parameters of sociological research."—Susan Koshy,
author of Sexual Naturalization:
Asian Americans and Miscegenation
"A
provocative, insightful, and richly-detailed study. This book should be
required reading for anyone studying race and romance in contemporary
society."—Erica Chito
Childs, author of Navigating
Interracial Borders: Black-White Couples and Their Social Worlds
"In Racing Romance, Nemoto
skillfully blends post-colonial and psychoanalytic perspectives to
illuminate the motivations and experiences of interracial romance
giving us an engaging and important glimpse into the ongoing racial
reconstruction of US society."—Joane Nagel,
author of Race, Ethnicity &
Sexuality: Intimate Intersections, Forbidden Frontiers
"In Racing
Romance, Kumiko Nemoto shows that race (and gender)
considerations profoundly affect the desires and choices of whites and
Asian Americans when they intermarry. Although many of the couples she
interviewed claimed to be "color-blind," Nemoto painstakingly
demonstrates how racism shapes their narratives of identity, love, and
family. Bravo!"—Eduardo
Bonilla-Silva, author of Racism
Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial
Inequality in the United States
"Racing
Romance provides an insightful analysis of racialized gender
constructions of masculinity and femininity in interracial marriages.
While taking us inside the everyday dynamics of interracial
relationships, this book never loses sight of the structures that shape
intimate life in American society."—Rhacel
Salazar Parreñas, Professor of American Civilization, Brown
University.
"Racing Romance is a
thoughtful and scholarly treatment of this culturally sensitive issue.
Nemoto does a smart and concise job of whittling down narrative to
facts in a slippery discipline, and helps to question the ethics of
reducing racial or gender tensions to mere structures in society
without considering individual people."—
Nichi Bei Weekly
Description:
Despite being far from the norm, interracial relationships
are more popular than ever.
Racing Romance sheds special light on the bonds between whites and
Asian Americans, an important topic that has not garnered well-deserved
attention until now. Incorporating life-history narratives and
interviews with those currently or previously involved with an
interracial partner, Kumiko Nemoto addresses the contradictions and
tensions—a result of race, class, and gender—that Asian Americans and
whites experience.
Similar to black/white relationships, stereotypes have long
played crucial roles in AsianAmerican/white encounters. Partners
grapple with media representations of Asian women as submissive or
hypersexual and Asian men are often portrayed as weak laborers or
powerful martial artists. Racing Romance reveals how allegedly
progressive interracial relationships remain firmly shaped by the logic
of patriarchy and gender inherent to the ideal of marriage, family, and
nation in America, even as this ideal is juxtaposed with discourses of
multiculturalism and color blindness.
About the Author:
Kumiko Nemoto is an
assistant professor in the department of sociology at Western Kentucky
University.
Relevant Links:
Kumiko Nemoto's faculty webpage
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Price: $23.95
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