Not Tiger Moms: Reimagining Asian American Motherhood
United States

Not Tiger Moms: Reimagining Asian American Motherhood

by Miliann Kang

Motherhood Non-Fiction Essays Feminist Fiction Cultural Studies 2026

Summary

Asian American mothers are often reduced to a familiar stereotype: strict, demanding parents obsessed with their children’s academic success. In Not Tiger Moms, sociologist Miliann Kang challenges this narrow narrative, revealing how racism and xenophobia shape perceptions of Asian American motherhood. Drawing on candid interviews with mothers born or raised primarily in the United States, Kang explores the pressures they face as they navigate parenting, cultural identity, education, work, and belonging. Their stories reveal lives far more complex than the stereotypes allow, exposing the contradictions between being seen as a model minority and being treated as perpetual outsiders. Thoughtful and illuminating, this book reimagines motherhood beyond racial expectations and asks how society might better support mothers in all their diversity.

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Country
United States
North America
About the author
Miliann Kang
Miliann Kang

Miliann Kang is a sociologist and Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research examines the intersections of race, gender, immigration, labor, and inequality, with particular attention to the experiences of Asian American women. She is the author of The Managed Hand: Race, Gender, and the Body in Beauty Service Work (2010), an influential study of nail salon workers that explores how race, gender, and immigrant labor shape service work and personal relationships. Through her scholarship, Kang investigates how social stereotypes influence everyday experiences and institutional structures. In Not Tiger Moms, she combines feminist research with personal interviews to challenge reductive ideas about Asian American mothers and highlight the diversity of their experiences. Her work contributes to broader conversations about racial identity, caregiving, and the social value placed on motherhood.

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Details
Published
2026
Author
Miliann Kang