UMass study details Asian-American diversity

No easy labels fit the Boston area's Asian-American population.

It is made up of rich and poor, college graduates and high school dropouts, city renters and suburban homeowners, white-collar professionals and manual laborers. They are second- and third-generation Chinese-Americans, well-to-do immigrants from India, recent refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia, and students from Japan and Korea.

Together they make up the fastest-growing -- and one of the most diverse -- populations in the metro area, according to "Asian Americans in Metro Boston: Growth, Diversity and Complexity," a study being released today.

Conducted by the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the study gives an overview of Asian-Americans in the city and surrounding towns, and seeks to dispel myths that portray the community as either a "model minority" or a "yellow peril."

"Historically, Asians have been stereotyped as a monolithic group, and those stereotypes have had consequences in terms of how they are treated," said Paul Watanabe, director of the Institute for Asian American Studies and the study's lead author. "One way to try to counteract that is to understand the complexity and diversity that exists within the Asian-American community."

That community, fueled largely by immigration, has grown significantly in both numbers and complexity over the past decade, the study says.

During the 1990s, the population grew by 70 percent, nearly 10 times faster than the rate of total population growth, with the biggest increases occurring in towns such as Malden, Shrewsbury, Quincy, Burlington, and Waltham.

Expanding diversity is another facet of the community's evolution. Although the Chinese, who have been a presence in the region for several decades, still make up the largest share of the Asian-American population, the community now encompasses more than 15 Asian subgroups, according to the study.

Both the Indian and Vietnamese communities grew during the past decade and were joined by enclaves of Cambodians, Hmong, Laotians, Japanese, Koreans, Thai, and Pakistanis.

The groups also are clustered in different neighborhoods and towns. The Chinese community is concentrated in Boston, Quincy, and Malden; the majority of Cambodians have settled in Lowell, Fall River, Lynn, and Revere; Indian newcomers have gravitated toward Waltham, Framingham, Burlington, and Shrewsbury.

The Asian-American community's diversity brings new cultural influences to the region, but it also presents obstacles, said Watanabe. The community does not share one single language, nor one single cultural bond, so one-size-fits-all remedies for social ills, economic growth, and political empowerment will not work, said Watanabe.

The study found many examples of Asian-Americans at both ends of the socio-economic spectrum. Indians, for example, had a median household income of $72,000, about $20,000 higher than the median income for the population as a whole. Meanwhile, nearly one-fourth of Cambodian and Pakistani families are living in poverty. In addition, many Asian-Americans, no matter what their economic or education levels, still grapple with discrimination and lack of political empowerment, the study said.

"The issue of civil rights is still critical," said Watanabe. "At one time, the Chinese were targets. At another time, it was the Japanese. Now, increasingly, it is South Asians."

About 70 percent of Asian-Americans in metro Boston are foreign-born, the highest percentage of any group in the area. Less than 60 percent are American citizens, creating hurdles in terms of voting and political representation.

"What this study reveals is that it is not only a challenge for the non-Asian community to understand Asian-Americans, but it's also a challenge for Asian-Americans themselves to understand what it means to be an Asian-American community," said Watanabe.

"It's a challenge in terms of seeing if there is really a shared identity," he said.