Book reviews -- Social Work Practice with Asian Americans edited by Sharlene Maeda Furuto, Renuka Biswas, Douglas K. Chung, Kenji Murase and Fariyal Ross-Sheriff

This is a much-needed text on social work practice with Asian Americans. Throughout its 14 chapters, the book demonstrates the importance of understanding diversity in practice. The book is organized with an integrative approach that can be broken down into analyzing the past, describing the present, and projecting the future of social work practice with Asian Americans.

The book has four major sections. Part one provides background information about Asian Americans, their values, and cultural adaptation processes. The history of Asian Americans is examined with regard to "diversity, economic motives for migration, racist discrimination, and aggressive responses to that discrimination." These factors have affected the migration patterns of nine distinctly different Asian American ethnic groups (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Asian Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Hmong, and Laotians) and thus created a diverse community of Asian Americans in the United States.

Parts two and three describe present services to Asian Americans. In part two, discussions of micro-level practice focus on theory applications and model programs of service delivery. Cultural and historical factors are considered in case studies presented in chapters 4 and 5, on the relevance of personality theories for work with Asian Americans and on Vietnamese women in the United States, respectively. Chapter 6 addresses community-based service issues. In addition, this part of the book introduces a theoretical foundation to capture the essence of micro-level practice intervention with Asian Americans, as described in five perspectives:

(a) the trans-cultural perspective, where Asian cultures cross over and interact with the dominant Euro American culture; (b) the cross-cultural perspective, where there is movement from one side (Asian culture) to the other (Euro American culture) and then a passing across; (c) the para-cultural perspective of a side-by-side comparison of the two cultural worlds for immigrants and refugees, and for first-, second-, and third-generation American born; (d) the meta-cultural perspective of focus on the similarities and differences between Asian cultures and other minority cultures; and (e) the pan-cultural perspective, which seeks out the universal and common elements of all cultures.

These perspectives provide guidelines for further exploration of theory application in practice. Psychodynamic, existential-humanistic, and cognitive-behavioral approaches are analyzed in terms of their appropriateness for social work with Asian Americans. It is concluded that various theoretical approaches may be needed to match the ever-changing needs of these culturally diverse populations.

In part three, discussions of macro intervention focus on strategies for change. Such strategies are broadly defined to include "the assessment of the interdependency of individuals, institutions, situations, systems, and other components that make up the complex network of life in families, organizations, communities, societies, and the universe itself." Three specific strategies are discussed in various chapters in this section: (1) understanding the utility of the Confucian model of the welfare state and Confucian concepts of social transformation in social work practice; (2) analyzing the socioeconomic factors that affect individual well-being and hinder the achievement of self-sufficiency among immigrant families; and (3) discussing policy implications that address the economic needs of women and refugees.

Part four of the book looks to the future, adopting a life-cycle approach to discuss adolescents, women, and the elderly and highlighting the importance of preventive and supportive services. This section includes discussions of identity crises, domestic violence, and social isolation. When discussing the future of human services for Asian Americans, the authors comment that the term "model minority," which has generally been used to describe Asian American populations, by no means denotes the diverse nature of these populations. This stereotypical image has misled many practitioners into believing that Asian Americans do not require social services. In fact, Asian Americans comprise more than those stereotypical Chinese and Japanese, whose "early experience [was] characterized by racial oppression and severe economic hardships" more than a century ago.

On the whole, the contributors to this book address the diversity of Asian American populations, identify key concepts and programs that are ethnically sensitive, and discuss social welfare policies that have significant impact on specific groups, including women, immigrants, and refugees. They address such issues as cultural adaptation, appropriateness of personality theories, economic difficulties, trans-ethnic conflict, a lack of supportive resources, issues of battered women, and service needs of the elderly. They also use a life-cycle approach to analyze practice implications for children, adolescents, women, and the elderly. In addition, the editors recommend four major research areas for future attention: the relationship between socioeconomic level and minority status; social and cultural resources and coping; ethnic identity, acculturation, and racism; and Asian Americans in nonurban areas.

Although this book is quite comprehensive, it does not cover three topics that are important to social work practice with Asian Americans. First, a systematic presentation of major steps in and specific skills of conducting ethnically sensitive interviews and assessment should he included in a book such as this. Second, attention to interracial relationships and Amerasian children is needed. Although one chapter includes a brief note on Amerasian children, issues related to these children are not addressed. Third, a specific list of all Asian ethnic groups should be included, especially when a formal definition of Asian Americans is introduced. The book begins with a definition of Asian Americans as "people living in the United States whose ancestors were native inhabitants of Asia: Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Asian Indians, and Southeast Asians, and who are categorized by the U.S. Census Bureau as being Asian American." In its fourteen chapters, the book discusses Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Vietnamese, and Sri Lankan Americans. General studies of Asian Americans usually fail to mention numerically small, minority Asian populations in the United States who trace their ancestry to Bangladesh, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, and other small countries. However, this book might have taken the opportunity further to indicate cultural diversity among Asian Americans by specifically listing all Asian ethnic groups in the formal definition of Asian Americans. In addition, because Hawaiians are included in one chapter as a study population, the definition of Asian Americans should be more specific and include ethnic groups from the Pacific Islands such as Guam and Samoa.

Kam-fong Monit Cheung Graduate School of Social Work University of Houston Houston, Texas

Copyright Family Service America Mar 1994
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved