In her article, “Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?,” Mary Waters argues that ethnicity can manifest in two distinct forms: either as “symbolic” or “oppositional” identities. Write an essay that analyzes Waters’ claim by evaluating the experiences of ethnic identities in the writings of Liu, Laurino, and either Ortiz Cofer, or Jen. Your essay should briefly summarize Waters’ argument, and then evaluate her position as it applies to at least three other authors.
Question: Is Waters’ idea a useful tool to analyze ethnicity as the other authors describe it? Do the other authors define their identities within the framework that Waters describes, or do they define themselves in ways that complicate Waters’ position or in a completely different manner from Waters’ position?