The term "Asian Pacific Islanders"

[Lama_Pacos]

Is “Asian Pacific Islanders” now considered a legitimate form of "Asian-Pacific Islanders? If I were not familiar with the term, I would think that “Asian” was modifying “Pacific Islanders”, but I’ve often been seeing it without the hyphen recently, and Google confirms this. Even with the hyphen it’s still a rather awkward and ambiguous phrase (I’d personally favor “Asians and Pacific Islanders”), but at least the hyphen prevents it from being completely completely misleading.

[Johanna]

It seems to be someone’s attempt to derive an adjectival form, however unwieldy, from the compound geographical name “Asia Pacific.” I don’t know how the geographers sometime in the 1980s, I think, got together and decided to include East Asian countries that border on the Pacific together with Australia and all the many far-flung Pacific islands in one macro geographical name. IIRC.

I can see the logic, sort of, behind the “Asian Pacific” adjectival form, but I still think it fails the commonsense test. I suggest we just use “Asia Pacific” as the adjectival form too. Like “Trends in the Asia Pacific economy.” “Want to meet Asia Pacific women?” That way it’s a bit clearer, at least to anyone who has found out what “Asia Pacific” means.

[hawthorne]

You’re sure it’s not supposed to refer to the South Asian populations of Pacific islands? The string of coups in Fiji are, at root, about the large number of people of Indian descent there.

[Giles]

What I get when I Google “Asian Pacific Islanders” suggests that it means Asians or Pacific Islanders, and I suspect that “Asian” in this context is limited to East Asia and South East Asia, perhaps also with South Asia.

[Colibri]

@hawthorne

You’re sure it’s not supposed to refer to the South Asian populations of Pacific islands? The string of coups in Fiji are, at root, about the large number of people of Indian descent there.

It doesn’t normally refer to that in American usage. “Asian or Pacific Islander” is a category included in the US Census.

From one of the links on the site:

“Asian” refers to those having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. “Pacific Islander” refers to those having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. The Asian and Pacific Islander population is not a homogeneous group; rather, it comprises many groups who differ in language, culture, and length of residence in the United States. Some of the Asian groups, such as the Chinese and Japanese, have been in the United States for several generations. Others, such as the Hmong, Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians, are comparatively recent immigrants. Relatively few of the Pacific Islanders are foreign born.

With reference to this group, the term “Asian Pacific Islanders,” without a hyphen, would undoubtedly be incorrect and misleading. That of course doesn’t mean that it isn’t being widely used.

[Colibri]

Actually, I see the specific phrase used by the US Census is Asian and Pacific Islander.

[scr4]

@Colibri

Actually, I see the specific phrase used by the US Census is Asian and Pacific Islander.

I think that’s because they are reporting the combined total population of Asians and Pacific Islanders. I’d guess the actual choice on the survey form is “Asian or Pacific Islander.”