ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the range of persuasive strategies used to perform Asian and Asian American identity and challenge assumptions about Asian uses of language. The racial, economic, legislative, and cultural constraints on Asian American subjecthood influence available rhetorical opportunities. To untangle some of these competing forces, the author discusses Asian philosophies of persuasion, how Asian writers are positioned in writing scholarship, and contemporary public rhetoric on Asian American identity. The final analysis is of Asian American rhetorical strategies developed in direct response to anti-Asian sentiment and racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. These works demonstrate the value of the oft overlooked semiotic and cultural resources Asian American rhetors draw upon to achieve persuasion and rhetorical legitimacy.
