'Unassimilable' makes a radical case against assimilation for the Asian diaspora

Summary

Summary of NPR's Book of the Day: 'Unassimilable' Makes a Radical Case Against Assimilation for the Asian Diaspora

Introduction

In the January 29, 2025 episode of NPR's Book of the Day, host Elsa Chang engages in a thought-provoking conversation with sociologist Bianca Mabute Louis about her latest work, Unassimilable: An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the 21st Century. This episode delves into Louis's compelling arguments against compulsory assimilation for Asian communities in America, exploring themes of identity, community building, and resistance to dominant cultural norms.

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Key Themes

1. Compulsory Assimilation vs. Cultural Preservation
2. Ethnoburbs as Safe Havens
3. Adversarial Relationship with Whiteness
4. Solidarity Beyond Ethnic Boundaries
5. Generational Perspectives on Identity

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1. Compulsory Assimilation vs. Cultural Preservation

Bianca Mabute Louis challenges the notion that Asian Americans must assimilate into the dominant (predominantly white) culture to belong. She posits that resisting assimilation allows Asian communities to thrive without the pressure to prove their worth to the existing power structures.

"Unassimability frees us to define ourselves, our belonging and our power, independent of whiteness." (04:01)

2. Ethnoburbs as Safe Havens

Louis introduces the concept of "ethnoburbs"—ethnically concentrated suburban areas where immigrants can maintain their cultural identities. She reflects on her own upbringing in the San Gabriel Valley, a region outside Los Angeles known for its high concentration of Asian populations.

"If you are a Chinese immigrant, you can navigate San Gabriel Valley without ever really learning English, continuing to have access to the foods you're comfortable with, finding people from your own community to work with and build community with." (02:37)

She shares a personal story about her grandmother, who immigrated in her 70s and was able to thrive without assimilating, highlighting the benefits of such communities.

3. Adversarial Relationship with Whiteness

Louis argues that assimilation often means aligning with white norms, which can dilute and erase distinct cultural identities. She views non-assimilation as a stance against white supremacy and systemic oppression.

"I see how often we try to claim community and belonging in alignment with whiteness... This country is built on genocide and enslavement. Is this really something I want to belong to?" (07:00)

4. Solidarity Beyond Ethnic Boundaries

Moving beyond the Asian diaspora, Louis emphasizes the importance of building solidarity with other oppressed groups. She advocates for community building based on shared struggles rather than ethnic similarities.

"I'm thinking about who's impacted when the hurricane comes. Who am I going to call? I always make the joke, who's going to be on my compound when the apocalypse comes? Because that's who I'm building community with." (05:23)

5. Generational Perspectives on Identity

As a second-generation immigrant, Louis discusses the internal conflicts between embracing one's heritage and navigating predominantly white environments. She reflects on her father's refusal to assimilate and how it influenced her sense of belonging.

"As a child of immigrants, you feel, at least in the 90s, you feel the compulsory normativity of whiteness. ... my pa refusing to assimilate really threatened my compulsion to try to blend in and belong." (04:01)

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Notable Quotes

• Bianca Mabute Louis (02:37):
  "If you are a Chinese immigrant, you can navigate San Gabriel Valley without ever really learning English, continuing to have access to the foods you're comfortable with, finding people from your own community to work with and build community with."

• Bianca Mabute Louis (04:01):
  "Unassimability frees us to define ourselves, our belonging and our power, independent of whiteness."

• Bianca Mabute Louis (05:23):
  "I'm not thinking about if they're Asian or not Asian. I'm just thinking about who's impacted when the hurricane comes. Who am I going to call?"

• Bianca Mabute Louis (07:00):
  "This is a country built on genocide and enslavement. Is this really something I want to belong to?"

• Bianca Mabute Louis (08:32):
  "I hope that my child would feel also that urgent solidarity that not only moves him to action, but connects him to the hope of communities actually taking action and pushing back against oppression."

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Personal Reflections and Legacy

Louis shares touching anecdotes about her son’s dual heritage names, reflecting her commitment to interconnectedness and resilience.

"His Filipino name is Kapua, which means, you are my other me. ... his Chinese name is Ga Yin, which... embody this indomitable spirit." (08:06)

She expresses her hope that her son will grow up in solidarity with various oppressed groups, fostering a global movement against injustice.

"By the end of writing this book I was like this politic of unassimilability leads me to this place of feeling an urgent and necessary solidarity with all people... oppressed by these structures of white supremacy and violence and settler colonialism." (08:32)

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Conclusion

Bianca Mabute Louis's Unassimilable presents a bold vision for Asian Americans to define their identities and communities on their own terms, free from the pressures of assimilation. By advocating for ethnoburbs, solidarity across oppressed groups, and a critical stance against white supremacy, Louis offers a roadmap for creating resilient, autonomous communities. This NPR episode provides listeners with deep insights into the complexities of diaspora identity and the ongoing struggle for genuine belonging and equality in America.

For those interested in cultural studies, sociology, and the dynamics of immigrant communities, this episode of Book of the Day offers a compelling exploration of resistance and empowerment within the Asian diaspora.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. I think it can be easy to listen to the premise of today's book and get, I don't know, defensive. It's by sociologist Bianca Mabute Louis, and the title is An Asian Diasporic manifesto for the 21st century. It's an argument against compulsory assimilation, particularly for Asians in America. She puts forth in the book that not assimilating allows Asian communities to exist without having to prove themselves to the dominant powers that be. In this interview with NPR's Elsa Chang Mabute, Louie says this isn't an argument for isolationism, but instead building something outside of the status quo. It's pretty radical stuff that even if I'm not sure I agree with it makes for interesting food for thought. Give it a listen after the break.

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[Elsa Chang]

Grew up in Silicon Valley in the 80s and 90s. There were already a ton of Asians in the area. There are even more these days. And I, I didn't process until years later how special growing up like that is in America when you're not white, but you're surrounded by people who look like you. So you can sort of insulate yourself from feelings of exclusion because you don't feel all that different day to day. Our next guest grew up in an area with an even higher concentration of Asians, San Gabriel Valley, right outside la. It's a place that forms the starting point for her new book called Unassimilable. It argues the case against assimilation for the Asian diaspora and reimagines where to find community in this country. Bianca Mabute Lui joins us now. Welcome.

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Thank you. I'm so glad to be here.

[Elsa Chang]

We're so glad to have you. So you describe San Gabriel Valley as a place, quote, where Asian immigrants go to never assimilate. What do you mean by that? Because I mean, for people who've never been to sgv, what does it feel like to live there?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Yeah. What I mean by that is if you are a Chinese immigrant, you can navigate San Gabriel Valley without ever really learning English, continuing to have access to the foods you're comfortable with, finding people from your own community to work with and build community with. And so I start the book with the ethno verb and specifically a story of my popo, my grandma on my maternal side, who experienced just that. She immigrated later in her life in her 70s, and because of the ethnoburb, she was able to have this vibrant third act without needing to learn a new language or assimilate or acclimate to a new country.

[Elsa Chang]

Right. I mean, she, you know, she could stay in her Cantonese bubble. She never learned English. What did you make of that as a child? Like, watching her curate her own world like that?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Oh, as a child, I was horrified because here I am, right. I am second generation, a child of immigrants. I lived in the ethno burb where I was surrounded by people like me. But still, as a child of immigrants, you feel, at least in the 90s, you feel the compulsory normativity of whiteness. I still, you know, only saw white people on tv where I went to school was a predominantly white area. And. And so my pa, PA refusing to assimilate really threatened my compulsion to try to blend in and belong.

[Elsa Chang]

But I want to make sure I understand the case that you lay out in this book for not assimilating. You write that quote, unassimability is a proposition to refuse to belong here altogether together. Unassimability frees us to define ourselves, our belonging and our power, independent of whiteness. So my question for you is, what does not assimilating look like day to day? Because we can't all live in San Gabriel Valley like you're pa. Yeah.

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

I think a big part of the argument I make in Unassimilable is to orient ourselves away from trying to prove ourselves to whiteness and to this country and to orient ourselves towards community.

[Elsa Chang]

Yeah. But I guess I want to understand what does orienting ourselves towards each other mean? Like, who is the each other? Like, my lingering thought, Bianca, is I still do want to belong here in America. And to me, belonging in America is not only shaped by whiteness, but it's also shaped by colliding and mixing with all the cultures that make America, not just white cultures. And I have trouble picturing being both Asian and American outside of that collision and mixing, you know?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Yeah. I think the book isn't an argument to be isolationist. Right. But I think what it means and how we can apply it more broadly to society and to our lives no matter where we live, is thinking about how to build community outside of the institutions and norms that the state kind of defines for us. And so one example of how I'm trying to pursue that in my current stage of life, I'm not in an ethno verb. I'm actually in the South. And so what that has looked like for me is joining political community, joining mutual aid organizations with people who are most impacted. And I'm not really thinking about if they're Asian or not Asian. I'm just thinking about who's impacted when the hurricane comes. Who am I going to call? I always make the joke, who's going to be on my compound when the apocalypse comes? Because that's who I'm building community with. And that's what it means for me to be unassimilable.

[Elsa Chang]

When I think about creating community, though, and claiming my heritage, I mean, when I was reading your book, I did wonder to myself, man, like, am I not angry enough as an Asian American? Like, should claiming my heritage, claiming community, be more adversarial to whiteness?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

In the book, I do position it as adversarial to whiteness because.

[Elsa Chang]

You do?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Yeah, because I see how often we try to claim community and belonging in alignment with whiteness. I think about the spike in anti Asian hate crimes as a result of COVID 19, how so many folks were trying to, you know, argue that we are from here and so we don't deserve to be treated like this. But it just made me think, like, no one deserves to be treated like this. And actually, it shines a light on how this country treats people and that we are not immune because we've been stereotyped as the model minority. And so I think that's why I take what you call an adversarial approach. Because it was around that time when I thought, I don't want to belong here. I don't want to build belonging around what this country claims to be. Because I think this country is lying to me. Right? This is, you know, a country built on genocide and enslavement. Is this really something I want to belong to? And if. No, what and who do I want to belong to?

[Elsa Chang]

I know that you wrote much of this book while pregnant, and very fittingly, your son has two beautiful names that reflect so much of what is in this book. A Chinese name and a Filipino name. Can you tell us both of those names and what they mean?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Yeah. His Filipino name is Kapua, which means, you are my other me. Or it points to our interconnectedness and his Chinese name is Ga Yin, which my mom gave him that name. And it means to take an expansive view of family, but it also has a double meaning, which is to kind of embody this indomitable spirit.

[Elsa Chang]

Who do you hope your son will eventually find family and belonging with?

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Someday I hope he finds family and belonging with the masses of people that are oppressed by our structures. I think going through writing this book was kind of in some ways the end of identity politics for me, even though it is a book about the Asian diaspora. So I realize that's kind of ironic. But you know, by the end of writing this book I was like this politic of unassimilability leads me to this place of feeling an urgent and necessary solidarity with all people all over the world who are oppressed by these structures of white supremacy and violence and settler colonialism. And so I hope that my child would feel also that urgent solidarity that not only moves him to action, but connects him to the hope of communities actually taking action and pushing back against oppression.

[Elsa Chang]

Bianca Mabute Louis new book is called Unassimilable An Asian Diasporic manifesto for the 21st century. Thank you very much Bianca.

[Bianca Mabute Louis]

Thank you so much Elsa. I really enjoyed this chat with you.

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