Report Suggests Asian Americans Outmarrying Less To “Preserve Their Culture”

By Ernie | Tuesday, April 17, 2012 | 3 Comments

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Via Jeff Yang at the Wall Street Journal: “Apparently, more and more Asian Americans are defying convention by… marrying Asian Americans. [...] That’s interesting in and of itself. But it’s the reason given for this fall in Asian American outmarriage rates that really caught both of our eyes. According to Times reporter Rachel Swarns, the reason why younger Asians are choosing to marry other Asians is that they’re experiencing a “resurgence of interest in language and ancestral traditions,” and selecting partners that will help them preserve that precious heritage — particularly spouses who are first-generation immigrants, and thus closer to the original old-world source.”

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

Overall speaking, the statistic isn’t that attractive but yeah, I do notice certain trends.

There is sort of a resurgence of interests but it’s because of like, technology (like the internet, where we’re more connected across continents) and Asian countries are getting wealthier, relatively speaking. It greatly depends on what you do, where you live and all, but like there are still a lot of Asian Americans who don’t care much about the ancestral lands. Yeah, I’m clumping us all together, but come on, more or less, from Chinese to Indian to Arab, we all have some similar experiences. Some, not everything, but some things we share.
The other thing is that I think more or less, Asian Americans are getting more comfortable in their own skin. Like, they don’t mind being with someone of their own instead of the urge to marry into the dominant group. There’s so many other factors involved of course, but I think this sentiment is getting stronger. And like, it’s not so much preserving the culture, cause from what I heard, the reasons why some marry their own is much more simple and kinda brutally honest. The most responses I’ve heard from AA couples is that they chose someone of their own ethnicity (not just race) because they don’t have to explain so much and they don’t want to deal with intercultural struggles. These are just the people I know, they can’t speak for everyone. Again, their words, not mine.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karen-Zhou/100003480116466 Karen Zhou

As an Asian myself, of course I am interested in my culture. I guess as a first generation Chinese immigrant, I am still very much in touch with my culture. I’ve noticed that in big cities such as Toronto where I am from, everytime I go downtown, I would witness more Asian-white couples than just white couples. It’s always an Asian woman with a white guy. Quite often, it’s a woman new to the country. I personally heard that a family friend refuses to date Asian men because she looks down on them. Sometimes I wonder if the white men she dated in the past really liked her for who she is or just merely treated her as an object. These women can be so naive.
Ken

Pretty crappy double-standards you have there. So Asian men are not capable of the same attitude? Considering that less Asian men out marry than Asian women, there IR numbers will start to decline first.

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