Let's talk about the C-word! No, not that one. Well...kinda.

In this episode, I explore the C-word, but not the one that's all over the news lately (though I will touch on it a little bit). This episode focuses on the CENSUS! Yes, the U.S. Census, which is given every 10 years, should be in your mailbox. It looks at household information like age, sex, home information, race, and ethnicity. And, you guessed it, I'm going to talk about how the "Asian" category is "defined" on the Census, which is under the Office of Management and Budget (the OMB). Let's just say that I was pretty surprised that, on the Census, individuals from the Middle East are considered White. I'm going to get pretty heavy on some history here, so listen up to find out why and hear other nuggets too! If you'd like to dive in more, check out the references below!

Let me know what you think! You can email me at nisha@nishaland.com.

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References

U.S. Census Website References:
About Race. The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.htm

Questions Asked on the Form. 2020Census.Gov. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://2020census.gov/en/about-questions.html

Research to Improve Data on Race and Ethnicity. The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/about/our-research/race-ethnicity.html

Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. (n.d.). The White House. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/15626

Scholarly Books and Articles

Kayyali, R. (2013). US Census Classifications and Arab Americans: Contestations and Definitions of Identity Markers. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(8), 1299–1318. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.778150

Nobles, M. (2000). Shades of citizenship: Race and the census in modern politics. Stanford University Press.

Prewitt, K. (2016). What Is Your Race?: The Census and Our Flawed Efforts to Classify Americans.

Strmic-Pawl, H. V., Jackson, B. A., & Garner, S. (2018). Race Counts: Racial and Ethnic Data on the U.S. Census and the Implications for Tracking Inequality. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649217742869

Takaki, R. (1998). Strangers from a different shore: A history of Asian Americans. Little, Brown.

About Nisha
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Music
Shin Kawasaki: Find Another Way

Cover Art
Tiffany Wong Art

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