Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics


'Faces of America' to Showcase Family Roots and Branches

The series will chronicle the family history of twelve media-friendly faces -- Meryl Streep, Eva Longoria Parker, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Yo-Yo Ma, Dr. Oz, Malcolm Gladwell and Kristi Yamaguchi, among others -- and discuss how their backgrounds and ethnicities have helped change the way we define "American." It may not initially sound like riveting television (the concept of the immigrant experience is not so novel, now is it?), but what might be interesting is how the show treats the minority perspective as a collective experience.

Compare this to CNN's successful series Black in America or its follow-up Latino in America -- both were specific slices of the immigrant experience pie, displays of what it meant to be a part of a certain minority group within the US. I wonder how much you can delve into, then, when you're handed the pie whole, no slices, no knife? Is this an ultimately more progressive approach, or less? Worth seeing, to see what happens.

Current Issue: 26

The South Issue

Mosey with us through the South, a region rich with history and culture -- and one that is vital to, but often overlooked in, Asian American history.

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