The Asia-Asian : Asian-American Divide
Unknown talked about her surprise in encountering Asian intra-racism in her college. I am even more surprised to know that she is new to this phenomenon. Part of it I guess, stemmed from the fact that she "hardly hang around Asians at school, or any American born Asians".
My initial encounter was in the first year of Grad School. None in undergrad because I mostly hung out with the international students (including some Europeans, but mainly from the Asia-Pacific region), and my college was overwhelmingly white (>90% for my major; not surprising given the racial make-up of the state).
There was this pair of Asian-Americans (AAs), one Chinese and the other Korean amongst the first-years. The other Asians in the entering class were like me, holding non-US passports and with one exception hailing from S. Korea and China. (I am not counting in the Indians here.) So you know the department tends to pack first years with a heavy course workload, and we need to form study groups to tackle the homework assignments as well as the mid-terms/exams. The pair of AAs started to spend lots of time with me and another 'international', who also did her undergrad in the US. They were frank with us about the reason though - "We tend to stick with you rather than the others because you are culturally closer to us and comfortable with English."
I was also close to the PRCs (aha! Despite my love-hate relationship with the Chinese language, grad school is the time I thank my lucky stars for being *quite* bilingual). They don't like to mix with the AAs too, and tend to view most of them with contempt - something along the line of "rootless bananas" or "whitewashed". Many feel that the Asian Americans have this air of "superiority" when dealing with the non-American Asians simply because they speak better English or are integrated into the mainstream *white* culture.
It feels weird at times, to see and listen the views from both sides. Sometimes I wonder where I stand. "Surfactant" comes to mind.
Interested readers can also refer to a previous post about the roadblocks I encountered when it comes to interracial mixing.
Edit (Mar 29): loiseaurebelle comments in her blog.
4 comments:
The following views might be skewered by a stomach full of Italian food and I have been speaking and listening to Italian for the past 4 hours.
Frankly, it can be *very* frustrating to make conversation with people who can *barely* speak English. Especially if they're your study group mates. Some people might not want to deal with such a situation. Not that it's a "correct" thing to do, but I can understand where such attitudes might arise from.
I try to make accomodations for people who might not have as much experience with the English language as me - the way my Italian conversation group is understanding towards my command of Italian. I like associating with people who try hard to master English, but I get annoyed by those who clearly have no imperative to improve their English skills. How do you wish to succeed in America? By speaking Esperanto?
Maybe I'm making sweeping generalizations, but I have noticed that Asians (or Asian-Americans) have a greater tendency to exhibit insular behaviors, or swing towards the other extreme, that is, reject Asian culture. Which may explain the phenomena you have described. I think a lot of it stems from our insecurities - on one hand, we view "white" culture as superior, and on the other hand, we scorn the decadence and immorality of "white" culture. (" " doubly emphasized.)
I should probably write my own post instead of spewing more drivel here, and I've a lot more thoughts for another time.
The other face of this is that both 1st generation American-Asians and FOBs are united in their racist attitude toward inter-racial dating.
First generation Asian-Americans also tend to exhibit a particularly intense disdain towards their own culture. Such zealousness is only paralleled by the behavior exhibited by recently-converted Evangelical Christians. Thus, they abandon everything that has to do with their culture and freely embracing the most popular one that comes their way. This is why you see so many Asian-American wannabe gangsters flashing gang signs and being stupid.
They call me "FOB."
I call them "Chiggers."
I think the portmanteau > the acronym.
>First generation Asian-Americans also tend to exhibit a particularly intense disdain towards their own culture.
Some of them might have migrated because they didn't like the culture back home.
There are *a lot* of things I'm not particularly favorable of in Chinese and Singaporean culture, most notably the unquestioning deference to authority. It isn't just about the government, but also workplaces, schools, and especially families.
I think there's a difference between outward expressions of culture and the cultural system you base your beliefs and values on. I think a lot of the Asian wannabe-gangster thing is just a superficial act, when it comes to the crunch, most of them will probably fall back on Asian value systems. Heh... I could name a few people...
Interestingly, I don't dress in a very "American" way - no jeans and t-shirt, no big bright slogans showing off the American brands that I can(not) afford, actually my style is a lot more European. I don't speak with a distinct American accent (I've watched videos of presentations I've given), but it's a very long stretch to classify my accent as Singaporean. But somehow in the last year, I've noticed that many people thought I was born in America or migrated at 2 years old. I've gotten variations of "...and you Americans" and "so when did you come to America? Three years ago?!!?!?!?!?" from both locals and foreigners. I'm still figuring out what about me spells American.
A little less relevant, but nonetheless still pertinent:
Part Asian, 100% Hapa is the product of Fulbeck's last three years, spent traveling the country and photographing fellow hapas (a term derived from the Hawaiian phrase "hapa haole," literally meaning "half white") from a wide range of ages and backgrounds. It's the book that Fulbeck says he wishes he had growing up.
"I grew up in unincorporated L.A. county, in a town with roads but no streetlights and no police," he says. "My half-brother was the first Chinese kid to go to my school, and I was the second, so I got the whole 'ching-chong' thing, and I got stuffed into trash cans and rolled down stairwells. But when I got together with extended family on weekends in Chinatown, well, me and my dad, we were the only ones who didn't fit in."
http://tinyurl.com/gl3qz
Post a Comment