Model Minority: bibliographic research on the state of knowledge of the subject in Brazil

• Grant number: 23/05130-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Larissa Maués Pelúcio Silva
• Grantee: Igor Haruo Terassaka Hirao
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes, Comunicação e Design (FAAC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

"Model minority" is a racial stereotype that refers to individuals of Asian descent as an assimilable social minority with desirable characteristics for the capitalist logic, when compared to other racialized groups such as Blacks. Asians are often depicted as more intelligent, demure, and hardworking. This stereotype results in microaggressions in more veiled forms of insults and ambiguous invalidations, where the racist character of nicknames, lines and prejudiced actions is not recognized. Such actions have a significant impact on the mental health and quality of life of these individuals. People with East Asian ancestry are often generalized and placed under the same fetishistic and exotic vision that the colonizing West creates and reiterates about the East, homogenizing people and populations in the same narrative. The term was first used to refer to Japanese immigrants in the United States and has many references to the historical specificities of the country. It is hypothesized that the concept of the model minority used in research in the Brazilian context is still closely related to a North American context that does not contemplate the historical specificities of Brazil. The objective of the research will be to survey the Brazilian scientific bibliography on the definition and application of the term "model minority," as well as the developments in its theoretical apprehension in the country. Therefore, the project proposes a systematic bibliographical research of the state of knowledge on the theme "model minority" in Brazil, taking as a methodological basis the RBS Roadmap and Bardin's Content Analysis.