Asian people[1] (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)[2] are the people of Asia. The term may also refer to their descendants. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an Asian is “a person of Asian descent”.[3]

Meanings by region

Anglophone Africa and Caribbean

Further information: Indian South Africans, Asian Caribbeans, Indo-Caribbean, Chinese Caribbean, Indo-African (disambiguation), and Afro-Asians

In parts of anglophone Africa, especially East Africa and in parts of the Caribbean, the term "Asian" is more commonly associated with people of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.[4] In South Africa the term "Asian" is also usually synonymous with the Indian race group.[5] East Asians in South Africa, including Chinese were classified either as Coloureds or as honorary whites.[5]

Arab States of the Persian Gulf

In the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the term "Asian" generally refers to people of South Asian and Southeast Asian descent due to the large Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Filipino expatriate population in these countries.[6][7][8] However, there are instances where the term is used solely to refer to those of South Asian descent.[9]

Australia

Main articles: Asian Australians and Indian Australians

The Australian Census includes Central Asia. The Australian Census includes four regions of Asia in its official definition. Defined by the 2006–2011 Australian Census, three broad groups have the word Asian included in their name: Central and Southern Asian, South-East Asian and North-East Asian. West Asians are classified as North African and Middle Easterners.[10]

Canada

Main articles: Asian Canadians, East Asian Canadians, South Asian Canadians, and West Asian Canadians

The Canadian Census uses the term 'Asian' pan-continentally. In its presentation of the "ethnic origin" results of the 2016 census, Statistics Canada under the category "Asian origins" includes: West Central Asian and Middle Eastern (includes "Arab, not otherwise specified"), South Asian, East and Southeast Asian, and "other" Asian origins.[11]

New Zealand

Main article: Asian New Zealanders

New Zealand's census undertaken by Statistics New Zealand defines Asian to include people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Cambodian and Thai ancestries.[12] In less formal contexts, the term Asian often does not refer to South Asian people.[13] Those of West or Central Asian origin are excluded from the term.

Norway

Statistics Norway uses the term 'Asian' pan-continentally and considers people of Asian background to be people from all Asian countries.[14][15]

Sweden

Main article: Asian in Sweden

Statistics Sweden uses the term 'Asian' to refer to immigrants of Asian background from all Asian countries, including Western Asia/the Middle East.[16][17] West Asians make up the largest region of Asian descent in the country, with Iraq once being the largest group of Asian immigrants.[18]

United Kingdom

Main articles: British Asian, East Asians in the United Kingdom, and British Indo-Caribbean people

In the United Kingdom, the term "Asian" is more commonly associated with people of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.[4][19] Most respondents to the UK 2001 Census of non-Chinese East Asian and Southeast Asian descent chose to write-in their ethnicity in the "Other Ethnic Group" category rather than the "Other Asian" category, reflecting the association of the word Asian in the UK with South Asian.[20] Despite there being a strong presence of East Asians in the United Kingdom there are considerably more South Asians, for example the 2001 Census recorded 1.05 million people of Indian origin and 247,000 of Chinese origin in the UK.[21] Common origins in the "Other Asian" category include Filipinos, Afghans and Nepalese.[22] Peter J. Aspinall of the Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent, recommends privileging the term "South Asian" over the term "Asian", since the term "Asian" is a "contested term".[19]

United States

Main articles: Asian Americans, Racial classification of Indian Americans, and Indo-Caribbean Americans
Asian ancestries as defined by the 2000 U.S. census.

In 1968, an Asian activist conference decided on favoring the name "Asian American" over the competing terms—"yellow", "Mongoloid", "Asiatic", and "Oriental"—since the Filipinos at the meeting thought they were "brown" rather than "yellow" and the conference thought the term "Oriental" was Eurocentric, since they originate from lands "east" only from Europe's standpoint and the term "Oriental" suggested to them "passivity".[23]

Earlier Census forms from 1980 and prior listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups along with White and Black or Negro.[24] Previously, Asian Americans were classified as "other".[25] But the 1980 Census marked the first general analyses of Asians as a group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry.[26][27][28]

The 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census Bureau definition of the Asian race is: "people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent (for example, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam)".[29]

Sandra S. Lee et al. (2001) said, in regards to the categories of the 2000 U.S. census, that it is difficult to determine why Asian Americans are a "race" while Latino and Hispanic are an "ethnic group." Lee said, referring to the Hispanic or Latino category, that the category of Asian Americans, quite similarly, comprises different populations of diverse origins. Lee said that people of South Asian origin were categorically identified as "Hindu," regardless of their religion, in the early 20th century. Lee said that the policy changed to classify people from the Indian subcontinent as "white." Lee said that, more recently, South Asian Americans were added to the long list of groups that comprise the category of Asian American. Referring to their classification as "Asian," Lee said that, in the United States, the classification of people from the Indian subcontinent depends on their historical location.[30]

In 1930 and 1940, Indian Americans were identified as a separate race, Hindu, and in 1950 and 1960 they were racially classified as Other Race, and then in 1970 they were classified as White. Since 1980, Indians and all other South Asians have been classified as part of the Asian ethnic group.[31] Sociologist Madhulika Khandelwal described how "....as a result of activism, South Asians came to be included as 'Asians' in the census only in the 80's. Prior to that many South Asians had been checking 'Caucasian' or 'Other'."[32]

Respondents can also report their specific ancestry, e.g.: Okinawan, etc. Someone reporting these ancestries but no race would be classified as "Asian". Unlike Southeast Asians, Afghan Americans, Arab Americans, Armenian Americans, Assyrian Americans, Azerbaijani Americans, Georgian Americans, Israeli Americans, Kurdish Americans, Turkish Americans, Iranian Americans, and Central Asian Americans have not lobbied to be included as Asians by the U.S. Census Board.[33]

In normal American usage Asian does not refer to the people from the Pacific Islands who are usually called Pacific Islanders.[34] The term "Asians and Pacific Islanders" or "Asia/Pacific" was used on the 1990 U.S. census.[35]

However, in the 2000 U.S. census, the Asian or Pacific Islander category was separated into two categories, "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander".[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Asian M-w.com Archived December 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine." Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary.
  2. ^ United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 2006.Nlm.nih.gov Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine: Asian Continental Ancestry Group is also used for categorical purposes.
  3. ^ "Definition of ASIAN". www.merriam-webster.com. December 27, 2023. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  4. ^ a b British Sociological Association. Equality and Diversity. Language and the BSA:Ethnicity & Race. 2005. October 26. Britsoc.co.uk Archived November 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "The source discusses car accidents amongst Asians, Emiratis and other Arabs in the UAE". February 15, 2015. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  7. ^ ""Kuwait Asians" is a community website for the Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Filipino expatriate population in Kuwait". Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  8. ^ "The source discusses the Asian Town complex in Qatar that was created for the Asian expatriate community from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines". Archived from the original on January 24, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  9. ^ Ltd, Time Out Guides (August 5, 2011). Time Out Dubai is a book written by local experts on travel in the UAE and the authors use the words "Asian" and "Filipino" separately. Ebury. ISBN 9781407011783. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  10. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups Second Edition. 2005. August 20, 2006. Ausstats.abs.gov.au Archived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Data Tables, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. February 14, 2018. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  12. ^ Statistics New Zealand. Asian people. 2006. December 4, 2006 Archived November 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ For example, "Asian and Indian people" are referred to in the New Zealand Heart Foundation's BMI calculator Archived May 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ^ (in Norwegian) Immigration and emigration Archived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ (in Norwegian) SSB: Unge innvandrere i arbeid og utdanning – Er innvandrerungdom en marginalisert gruppe? Archived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ (in Swedish) Scb.se
  17. ^ (in Swedish) Scb.se
  18. ^ "Invandring och utvandring för grupper av länder" (PDF). Statistics Sweden. pp. 39–40. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Aspinall, Peter J. Oxford Journals. Journal of Public Health. 2003. October 26, 2006. Jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org Archived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Gardener, David; Connolly, Helen (October 2005). "Who are the 'Other' ethnic groups?" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 30, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  21. ^ "Population size: 7.9% from a minority ethnic group". Office for National Statistics. February 13, 2003. Archived from the original on May 27, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  22. ^ "2011 Census analysis: Ethnicity and religion of the non-UK born population in England and Wales: 2011". Office for National Statistics. June 18, 2015.
  23. ^ Yen Le Espiritu. (1992). Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities Archived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Temple University Press, Philadelphia. ISBN 978-1-4399-0556-2
  24. ^ 1980 Census: Instructions to Respondents, republished by Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota at www.ipums.org Accessed November 19, 2006.
  25. ^ Lee, Gordon. Hyphen Magazine. "The Forgotten Revolution." 2003. January 28, 2007.Hyphenmagazine.com Archived October 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ 1990 Census: Instructions to Respondents Archived April 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, republished by Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota at www.ipums.org Accessed November 19, 2006.
  27. ^ Reeves, Terrance Claudett, Bennett. United States Census Bureau. Asian and Pacific Islander Population: March 2002. 2003. September 30, 2006.
  28. ^ "U.S. Bureau of Statistics" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  29. ^ Barnes, Jessica S. and Bennett, Claudett E. The Asian Population:2000. 2002. September 1, 2006. Census.gov Archived November 16, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  30. ^ Lee, S.S., Mountain, J. & Koenig, B.A. (2001). The Meanings of Race in the New Genomics: Implications for Health Disparities Research. Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics 1, (1). Pages 43, 44, & 45. Wayback Machine link.
  31. ^ Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung. Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For Large Cities And Other Urban Places In The United States, Working Paper No. 76 (2005). See footnote 6 in paper
  32. ^ Chandy, Sunu P. What is a Valid South Asian Struggle? Archived December 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Report on the Annual SASA Conference. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  33. ^ Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab American Experience Archived September 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Arab American Institute, 1997, September 29, 2006.
  34. ^ American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29, 2006. Bartleby.com Archived February 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ Census '90. Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States. 1990. September 1, 2006. Census.gov
  36. ^ "Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity". White House. 1997. Archived from the original on February 8, 2004. Retrieved August 27, 2008. The Native Hawaiians presented compelling arguments that the standards must facilitate the production of data to describe their social and economic situation and to monitor discrimination against Native Hawaiians in housing, education, employment, and other areas. Under the current standards for data on race and ethnicity, Native Hawaiians comprise about three percent of the Asian and Pacific Islander population. By creating separate categories, the data on the Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander groups will no longer be overwhelmed by the aggregate data of the much larger Asian groups. Native Hawaiians will comprise about 60 percent of the new category. The Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population groups are well defined; moreover, there has been experience with reporting in separate categories for the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population groups. The 1990 census included "Hawaiian," "Samoan," and "Guamanian" as response categories to the race question. In addition, two of the major tests conducted as part of the current review (the NCS and the RAETT) used "Hawaiian" and/or "Native Hawaiian," "Samoan," "Guamanian," and "Guamanian or Chamorro" as response options to the race question. These factors facilitate breaking apart the current category.

External links

  1. ^ According to the local classification, South Caucasian peoples (Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Georgians) belong not to the European but to the "Central Asian" group, despite the fact that the territory of Transcaucasia has nothing to do with Central Asia and geographically belongs mostly to Western Asia.
Overseas Asians and Asian diasporas
Asian Americans
Asian diasporas in the United Kingdom
Canadians of Asian descent by area of origin
Asian Australians
Historical definitions of race
Authority control databases: National
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