This collection on the diverse experiences of Asian American communities and the shaping of new identities in the contemporary US deserves careful consideration by cultural studies scholars. Both in methodology and research, the essays present new perspectives on religious activities, dance, children's stories, hip-hop, humor, horror stories, and vernacular expression. The editors define folklore as those everyday habits or activities that make meaning out of life. Asian American communities use these practices to negotiate life in the US, redefine what it means to be American, and even resist dominant notions of citizenship. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

Choice Reviews

Lee and Nadeau’s volume is an engaging anthology of essays from a group of scholars whose work focuses on Asian America. The editors’ decision to focus on folklore is an excellent one, as folklore highlights individuals’ negotiation of ethnic identity through the dynamic and meaning-making process of informal cultural expression.... The anthology will be of interest to those who are interested in the informal cultural processes that shape (and reshape) the concepts of what it means to belong in the many groups that self identify as Asian American. Similarly, it provides worthwhile ideas for future studies centered on the traditional expressive forms found throughout Asian America. One of the clear lessons of the anthology is how difficult it is to do ethnography in the diverse communities of Asian America. The anthology should find a place on reading lists for courses in American Studies, Asian American Studies, Folklore, and Anthropology. The volume is handsomely presented and...is a welcome addition to Asian American Folklore Studies.

Asian Ethnology

Jonathan H. X. Lee and Kathleen Nadeau provide a marvelously broad and fluid collection that demonstrates convincingly how valuable folkloric approaches can be in understanding the Asian American experience. The book’s value for scholars and for students lies especially in the range of topics and groups covered, and in the deftly balanced attention to issues of tradition and modernity, individual creativity and cultural durability, mundane habits and deep personal commitments.

David W. Haines

Asian American Identities and Practices: Folkloric Expressions in Everyday Life is valuable to anyone interested in the Asian American heritage, transnational cultural expression, vernacular artforms/folklore, and related topics. The introduction to the work contextualizes its subjects (ranging from religion to rap) both socially and intellectually. As a result, the ideas contained therein are not only informative, but accessible to a wide audience. At least as important is the fact that the authors write with the authentic voices of insiders rather than as outside observers. In the words of the editors, 'the scholars contributing to this collection have deliberately taken a dialogic and engaged bottoms-up approach to the study of folklore and folklife.' This collection is long overdue.

Thomas Green, Texas A&M University

These essays demonstrate the exciting possibilities for new insights into Asian American communities through the study of folklore. The thoughtful and stimulating introduction provided by Jonathan Lee and Kathleen Nadeau provides a firm theoretical basis by which the joining of folklore and Asian American Studies can be of mutual benefit to the two disciplines.

Franklin Ng, California State University, Fresno

This edited volume is a pioneering work in exploring Asian American identities and practices through folklore and its relationship to the preservation of ethnic identity and cultural values, religious concepts, material artifacts and the imaginary world, and the adjustments that are made to these folk beliefs as they are modified by the American situation and the influx of new immigrants into the community. The essays are enlightening and well organized by editors Jonathan H.X. Lee and Kathleen Nadeau.

Sue Fawn Chung, University of Nevada Las Vegas