Home: A Feeling Rooted in the Heart

Culturally diverse as they are, Asian-American children and youth share quite a few features among themselves. Most of them are children of foreign-born parents who came to America during the post-1965 immigration waves. As they grow up in culturally isolated environment, they are often faced with identity crisis. The society’s racial exclusion makes them feel like ‘‘forever foreigners,’’ while at home or community their American frame of reference is often in conflict with parents’ traditional values. As a result, they develop a flexible concept of identification. In fact, they are a part of but also apart from the American mainstream culture.