Soundtracks of Asian America

"Soundtracks of Asian America is smart and informed, capacious and beautifully written. Arguing that the racialized imagination works similarly across musical genres, Grace Wang explores senses of Asian and Asian American belonging across the worlds of classical and popular music. From young classical musicians' parents as key sites of ideology formation to the 'reverse migration' of young Asian Americans to East Asian popular music markets, her case studies are inspired and telling." - Deborah Wong, author of Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music

"Soundtracks of Asian America makes a wonderful contribution to cultural studies and ethnic studies by demonstrating the many different ways in which racial difference is not only seen, but also heard. Encompassing a dazzling array of different musical forms mastered by Asian Americans in diverse locations, Grace Wang's book brilliantly demonstrates how participation in musical performance leads Asian Americans today to complex and contradictory ascriptions, aspirations and identities."
- George Lipsitz, author of Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music

“Soundtracks of Asian America is an extremely articulate, insightful investigation of racial imagination as it relates to Asian Americans and Asian diasporas. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.” - A. C. Shahriari, Choice

"[Soundtracks of Asian America] is an engaging and thought-provoking addition to cultural studies that uses music-making as a microcosm to draw out difficult racial themes." - Felicity Clark, Popular Music

"In following stereotypes across different social domains, Wang opens up some broader questions about Asian American musical geographies and practices of community formation. Future research on these issues will greatly profit from close readings of Soundtracks of Asian America." - Timothy Laurie, Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music

"[Wang] is restrained in her deployment of a reflexive voice, yet her previous experiences as a U.S.-trained violinist who performed a stint with Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra (p. 5) clearly give her rich personal insight into the subject at hand. The book will find warm welcome in a range of disciplinary settings, from Asian and Asian American studies to musicology and media studies. Incisively and engagingly written, it will also serve as an invaluable resource for students and scholars seeking insight into topics as diverse as transnational stardom, the cultural politics of online media, music pedagogy, and the anthropology of the conservatory." - Meredith Schweig, Notes

“Wang shows us how transnational oral histories can help us to ask alternative questions about how and why people imagine and construct ideas about diaspora and about nation-states as situated within specific times and places.” - Mari Nagatomi, Oral History Review

"At its heart, Soundtracks of Asian America is a timely, nuanced, and compelling reading of contemporary U.S. racial politics. . . . Ultimately, Soundtracks delivers more than it promises." - Yun Emily Wang, CHINOPERL