Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research of an import car crew, this article examines the origins of the import scene as an Asian American phenomenon. Young Asian American males and females use the unique youth car subculture, the "import scene," as a cultural space in which to articulate what it means to be an Asian American youth today that is in opposition to the model minority. Through the autoexoticization of the scene, Asian American youth affirm a sense of pan-Asian ethnic identity and it offers a reworking of Asian American males masculinities. It suggests youth subcultures as racialized and gendered terrain.

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