“What Am I Doing Here?”: Making Meaning in Culturally Engaged Asian American Community-Based Service-Learning

Doing Asian American Studies In The Sf Bay Area

California has the largest and one of the most diverse populations of Asian Americans of all the states: 14.9% of the state’s population (as of 2010: 5,556,592 residents). The City and County of San Francisco is approximately one-third Asian American (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The Asian American population of the city and county of San Francisco is predominantly Chinese Americans followed by Filipino Americans. The Asian American demographic also includes Asian Indian American, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans, Japanese Americans, Pakistani Americans, Cambodian Americans, Hmong Americans, Laotian Americans, Taiwanese Americans, Thai Americans, and Asian Americans of mixed heritage, including a significant number of Asian transracial/transnational adoptees. The line between “Asian immigrant” and “Asian American” is sometimes difficult to discern and cannot always be drawn at legal citizenship. Given the history of racist immigration laws like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the Immigration Act of 1917 that formed the “Asiatic Barred Zone,” and the 1924 Immigration Act that set up a racial quota system, Asian American identity is considered an identity of intent more than it is of law. Given this understanding, Asian Americans have a long history in San Francisco reaching as far back as the Gold Rush and the building of the transcontinental railroad with the arrival of Chinese laborers who then would be followed by Japanese, Korean, Asian Indian, and Filipino laborers (Ancheta, 2006).