Asian America: Confusion from Within, Abroad, and Why

By Johnny C | Monday, December 31, 2012 | 21 Comments

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The Economist article asking, “Do Asian Americans still exist?” is likely to rouse some sentiments. As usual, Asian America, with all its ethnicities, don’t just indicate a diversity of cultural groups under the large label of “Asian” but a striking variety of opinions and attitudes towards just what “Asian America” is exactly. For that very reason, it’s one of the fragile threads that manages to still keep people bound together, but tends to often confuse those outside the community, from other Americans to non-Americans, and even Asian Americans themselves.

I’ve met a number of Asian Americans who like to say “this is Asian, that is not” and say “Indians aren’t Asian, they aren’t a rice-eating culture and they aren’t anything like China” [author's note 1: yes, people this ignorant actually exist], or “Filipinos aren’t Asian, they aren’t connected to the mainland” [author's note 2: neither is Japan, Taiwan, or Sri Lanka and a host of other Asian countries]. Technically speaking, Asian American refers to peoples from a broad constituency of people everywhere including South, Southeast and East Asia, and the Pacific Islands. While in Asia, people will say, “I’m Chinese, I’m Korean, I’m Filipino, I’m Indian”. However, again with the divisions in Asian America, I’ve run across people who would still fall under the categorization of “Asian American” but say, “I’m not Asian, I’m Pakistani” not because they want to be more specific to their ethnicity, but because they either don’t recognize as being part of the greater category of Asian American, or they don’t think they are considered Asian at all.

But this divide doesn’t just limit itself to applying labels and having a complete ignorance of the categories that fall under those labels. Asian America is too sharply divided with opinion (when it isn’t complacent), even with the one issue that seems to get everyone talking: racism. In the 1970s, there were protests over the Broadway musical Miss Saigon, about actors wearing yellowface prosthetics, with one group advocating Asians to play Asian roles, and at the same time, there were arguments from another Asian American group protesting that the show should be outright banned because they saw it as promoting the “dragon lady” stereotype and exoticizing Asian women. The legacy of such responses are still present today, when Asian America will have a dozen reactions (including apathy) to issues of race, such as with the two very different situations of the films Red Dawn (its remake specifically) and Cloud Atlas: people can decry racism for Red Dawn, and it definitely has stronger overtones of xenophobia and bigotry, but Cloud Atlas, people automatically think that any use of yellow face is wrong and should have Asian actors (it does) instead, without thinking critically and realizing that that was part of the movie’s themes of reincarnation across multiple cultures, and was advocating for diversity.

So is it any surprise that much of the rest of the world thinks that America is petty?

Here’s the thing: it is “petty” to the outside world, but it is a very sensitive subject in America, which is difficult to understand without context, a context most people are unwilling to look at America with. Without that context, it’s dismissed as petty, which is unfair to Americans of all subculture groups, even if at times fighting for equality and recognition does include the occasional bouts of pettiness. Trust me: after living in eleven countries (eight of them Asian), I’m pretty sure I’ve got an idea of context.

American diversity for many monocultural groups in Asia especially simply dismiss Asian Americans as being Asians who have forsaken their mother culture, that being born or growing up in America does not make one American (it does). But at the same time, no matter how much you speak a language, how long you live in a country, or how well you understand the culture; you will almost never be an honorary member of their culture groups.

What is hard for people to understand outside of America is that 1) Americans are shaped by their ideals and the multicultural model, one part melting pot (people mixing and being one homogenous group), one part tossed salad (distinct parts/flavors retaining their own identities in the same bowl/country), 2) Americans have this funny idea that just because “the world comes to America”, that they understand other cultures (even if Indian and Chinese immigrants are predominant in a community, it does NOT give one a good understanding of those cultures since they exist in an American context, not their own), 3) many Americans and their “I don’t care about what the rest of the world thinks” attitude does not motivate outsiders to give the sensitivity that Americans demand, 4) people attend some classes, read a few books and take a framework of definitions, then superimpose it (example: post-colonial mentality), and then even if they do go to those countries, will suffer from confirmation bias for the theses they studied instead of seeing things as they are, pissing off locals,, and 5) America and its peoples are all vastly different from coast to coast.

What’s hard for Americans to understand with the world outside is 1) they don’t understand American diversity, 2) America itself is ambivalent and ignorant about its own definitions often, 3) some countries like France emphasize being French without a hyphen–you can be Moroccan, Ivorian, Cambodian, but you would never be (race)-French, you would just be French, so those diversity models are vastly different from America’s, 4) some bad elements of Asian America can’t decide who “legitimately belongs” (refer to paragraph 2), 5) most of the time people in America and Asian America only care about Asia when it involves scandals, attractive girls, “WTF Asia” memes, and disasters, and 6) Asian America is hypersensitive to even ask the simple questions that challenge paradigms, heavily restricted by political correctness (which is more political than it is correct).

What we can do is stop making assumptions about the rest of the world because we saw a few episodes on National Geographic or took a couple ethnic studies courses in university. The rest of the world does this about America as well, and I tell them the same thing: quit making asinine assumptions and start asking more questions before you start judging America. There’s a big world out there, and America is a tough corner of the world to understand, even for Americans themselves.

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LTE2

“Indians aren’t Asian, they aren’t a rice-eating culture and they aren’t anything like China” [author's note 1: yes, people this ignorant actually exist],”
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I do not see Indians as Asian either, Indians seem to be a distinct group and racially speaking most are Caucasian so in a sense they would be closer to Europeans than China.
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“Americans have this funny idea that just because “the world comes to America”, that they understand other cultures (even if Indian and Chinese immigrants are predominant in a community, it does NOT give one a good understanding of those cultures since they exist in an American context,”
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I disagree with this (moderately) because Japan or India is just a piece of real estate, it’s the people that animate those countries. While someone may immigrate to America and operate with in the laws and bounds of the country, the more subtle qualities of the original home grown culture remain. First generation will always be different than the children they have born in America but the parents make a good reference point to learn a culture from another land.
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Another way of looking at this maybe if I visited the southern most part of India, would I see the same India in it’s most northern part? Which is the real India? Do Indians understand all of India?
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I know in my own experience when I have probed deeper into an immigrant’s back ground, they see to appreciate the interest. I think they also see it as being accepted as more American, that the difference is explored and appreciated.
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“most of the time people in America and Asian America only care about Asia when it involves , attractive girls”
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Works for me, beats reading about a 6% increase in plastic pellet production in China.
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Happy New Year Johnny, I bet you’re in a bar in Bangkok boozing it up. I know you ex-pats do that because I had seen it in a movie.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Happy New Year to you too, my friend.

Firstly, Asia as a geographic entity versus cultural (not considering China, India, or anywhere a base) is how I refer to India being “Asian” here, but culturally, yes, even within its borders and compared to East Asia’s cultures, is contrastingly different. So if we hold China and East Asia as a base for Asian cultures, then yes, your assessment has merit.

Secondly, it’s good at least you as an individual are honest in that you prefer girls and other such news versus “6% plastic pellet production in China” though I’m sure there are other noteworthy bits there that other people could benefit from watching out for rather than having Asia occupy this nebulous mental space of what is “foreign and exotic, different, and weird”.

Thirdly, for my New Year, I was actually recovering from Sri Lanka, which you’ll have a chance to read soon enough. Best wishes for your 2013 as well, and continue commenting and participating–I hold you in good esteem because of your involvement that this site could use more of with a variety of opinions and voices. Do consider contributing a guest post every now and then, considering how much time you put into your comments. Best wishes.
zdrav

Asian-Americans have several obstacles they must overcome in becoming a more coherent racial category in America. For one, there’s the problem of being a multi-lingual bloc. Latinos, for all their diversity (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, etc.), still share a common language in Spanish. And obviously, groups such as Whites and Blacks speak English. But if you count “Indian” as Asian-American, then just within that sub-category of its own, you’ll have people who speak Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, etc.

There’s also the problem of differing nationalities. With groups such as Whites and Blacks, their ties to their ancestral homelands have largely been eroded by time, and those people mainly identify as Americans. However, the majority of Asian-Americans are foreign-born or are only 2nd generation, so their ties to their ancestral homelands are quite strong (whether they like it or not).

How is it possible to identify to Asian-American if you don’t even really identify as being American in the first place?

But this doesn’t mean that “Asian-American” isn’t a valid racial category, because it clearly is. For far too long, I think Asian-Americans have interpreted their lack of clear racial status in America as meaning that they should aspire to be White. But even after we’ve achieved success in education and socio-economic factors, we still feel excluded from the centers of power and influence. Why is that?

IT’S BECAUSE WE’RE NOT WHITE, AND WE SHOULDN’T TRY TO BE.

Asians are not second-rate versions of White people who can make some kind of final metamorphosis into our idealized Asian/White selves by trying to be as White as possible (culminating in marriage to a White partner). No, we are Asian-Americans, and we have our own path to plot.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

I think the multi-lingual situation will disappear over time. As Asian countries improve their living conditions, the US will see less immigration from Asia and generations of asians will grow up speaking primarily english. Not saying this is good or bad, but it’s probably inevitable, seeing as how most ethnicities lose the ability to speak their native/ancestral language past the 2nd generation. With the larger American born population, the ties to their homeland will lessen. Despite all of this, I’m not sure how much more cohesive Asian-Americans will become. Only time will tell.

Asian-American as a racial category is constantly changing and isn’t the same to everyone. I guess that’s one of the challenges. Ideally race shouldn’t matter in the world but we all know it does. That’s why it’s so important that we as asian-americans recognize the problems we face as a group and take steps to solve them. Recognizing problems is the first difficult step, as one of the problems among the AA community is lack of awareness that there are problems that AAs face specifically (ex. glass ceiling, stereotypes, etc.)

Agree 100% with not trying to be white. Far too many asians in america base success on how well they associate and compare to white america. Every person is different has has their own definitions of success.
zdrav

Well, Latinos have been living in America for decades, if not centuries, and many still retain their Spanish lingual heritage. If anything, I’d prefer that Asian-Americans continue to remain at least semi-fluent in their ancestral language.

I think that the Asian-American identity is way too polarized right now: you’re either totally Whitewashed, or you’re a FOB. There’s no in-between because there’s no such thing as Asian-American culture. So if you’re Asian and you want to fit into America, you have no choice but to strive to be White b/c you sure as hell ain’t Black or Latino. At its most extreme, this means associating predominantly with Whites, and at the least, it means hanging out with Asians but in imitation of White culture (e.g. Asian frats).

By the end of my lifetime, I hope to see the emergence of a Asian-American culture that is neither predominantly American nor Asian, but a genuine blend of both. I want to see young Asian-Americans have no problem associating with non-Asians, but I also want them to have genuine interest in Asian pop culture, history, and language. I want them to spread that interest to the rest of America so that it will no longer be a oneway street where Asians want to be like the West but the West doesn’t give a damn about Asia. I want young Asian-Americans to dream of visiting Kyoto and Shanghai and Bangkok and Seoul as much as they do Paris and Rome and New York City.

It’s a lofty dream, but I think we children of immigrants can do it.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Your dream is very attainable in this lifetime and you probably won’t have to wait until near the end with the way people are becoming more drawn to what’s out in Asia. Asian-American culture is still young and definitions are still being refined, but I do say that there is an Asian-American culture (or cultures) that might be hard to see from within right now. Trust me though: it’s there, and it’s got potential, and though it has evolved since the 1980s, there are still plenty of constants that shine on through.
david0688

“Culminating in marriage to a White partner.” How do you figure that? Also, there are some divisions between Spanish speaking peoples. Some Latin Americans do not want to be associated with Mexicans and some mainland Spanish speaking people do not consider Cubans as truly Hispanic.
zdrav

Yeah, it seems that every year, there are more and more Asian-Americans making a splash in American pop culture. I remember when “Harold & Kumar” came out when I was in high school, and that was a huge deal for me b/c it wasn’t a niche ethnic comedy, yet it still starred an Asian and Indian guy.

Then there were Asian-American guys like John Park making a bit of an impact on American Idol. Then there was Far East Movement being unapologetically Asian and still hitting #1 on Billboard. There was Daniel Dae Kim on “Lost”, Sung Kang in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise…

Just little things that added up.

Then 2012 was the huge year, with Jeremy Lin and PSY. Two Asian guys who became legit global superstars.

So yeah, I think you’re right. I predict that sometime in the near future, there will suddenly be this unexpected explosion of Asian-American blossoming.
zdrav

Many Asians think that half-white children are superior to full-Asian children, thus a strong desire to outmarry. The Asian women do it more easily than the men due to racist stereotypes of Asians as a naturally feminine race, but the men harbor similar idealizations of Whites.

In fact, if you look at the outmarriage rate of Asian men who were born in the U.S., it fluctuates around the 40% mark, which is near-identical to the rate that Asian-American women outmarry.
Erin S

When I was still living in the US, I worked for a year w/ an Iowa-based non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the local Asian American community. The “Asian American community” in question included anybody of Asian descent who lived, worked, studied, and played in Iowa, who, because we were a tiny minority, were encouraged to band together under a single banner identity to elevate the profile of Asian Americans as an integral part of Iowa life and to help one another navigate the challenges of living in Iowa/the U.S. and succeed. We were membership based and driven, and our members were largely community organizations representing particular national identities (Indian American, Nepali American, Lao American, etc.), so we definitely acknowledged and promoted the diversity of the Asian American community. However, at the same time, we also used the Asian American banner identity was a way to unite these different communities under a common cause, when there was otherwise no other common denominator pulling us together. Our circumstances were all very different. We had Southeast Asian communities who came to Iowa as refugees in the 1970s, after the governor at the time opened Iowa’s doors to give the so-called “boat people” a new home. We have people like myself who came to the U.S. as students and decided to stay a little longer after graduation. We had people who found jobs in Iowa’s major cities, who brought their spouses along, both of whom needed to find their own support and community. We represented different religions, different ethnic backgrounds, different languages, different cuisines. Nothing really held us together other than that we were all linked to this very large continent and the reality that, alone, these smaller communities did not wield as much power as they could when they were working with others under a common cause. Reading about the history of Asian American activism in the national context and looking back on my own experiences, it makes sense that the term “Asian American” was a political tool to mechanize crucial and strategic alliances, leading to broader action brought about by a critical mass. What is interesting and indeed dangerous is how this act of “strategic essentialism” (Gayatri Spivak) eventually became a way for younger people to try and codify what “Asian American” was and was not supposed to mean, arbitrarily excluding and including based on stereotypes and tired tropes. Certainly, it keeps the conversation energized; but the ongoing dialogue must keep in check the propensity to make “Asian America” monolithic rather than a malleable metaphor.
david0688

“Inaccurate images of Asia by their parents who are still stuck in the Immigrant Time Warp” well I don’t know what you’re to do about that, experiences are experiences. Some Immigrants will have good ones, others will have bad ones. I don’t know how you paint portrayals of hardship from Immigrant Asian who came from communist countries. Some countries are good in Asia, some are bad.

As for “many Asians think that half-white children are superior to full-Asian children” I’m not so sure. I know mixed Asians who aren’t that smart and I know full Asians who aren’t that smart either. So I don’t know if mixed Asians are superior to full-Asian children.

With interracial dating, there’s a lot of influences that come about. Where the person grew up, where they went to college, are they traveling for their job, things in common with the person that they like, etc. I think the reasons why Asians date out are a lot more than just racist stereotypes.

40% of Asians dating out is still a minority which leaves the majority Asian-Asian couples. Where I’m living, I see MANY Asian-Asian couples and Asian-Asian families. I don’t get the whole concern for it if the number is hovering around 40%. To add another thing, I see mixed Asians dating full Asians so go figure.
diaof

Honestly there’s nothing impressive about American culture or identity. Their ideological zealotry both left and right is disgusting. There’s no unity, no real nationalism, nothing truly worthwhile that would make this a cohesive, proud “nation”. Diversity is nothing to be proud of. As far as I know a lot of immigrants do live here just because it’s a nice place to live. No political allegiance required. The whites call it open-mindedness, I call it stupidity.

I would much rather keep my Chinese identity as a “backup” in case I ever find this country not worth living in anymore.
LTE2

“So if you’re Asian and you want to fit into America, you have no choice but to strive to be White”
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I think Asians “aspire” to be White because they see whites as far more accomplished than other groups. For better or worse, Europeans changed the world and how it thinks and Asians have always seemed to have the ability to adapt the things they like adding their own twists to it. China today is not your grandma’s China anymore (except in some tourist areas).
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I have a friend (ethnic Chinese) in Indonesia who toured Italy and she thought Italy most exotic. For her, going to China, well, that would be like seeing more of what she see’s everyday.
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There is no real need to create an “Asian-American” culture as media and technology is pretty much leveling all cultures. You’ll have a few ethnic hold outs like you have a few traditional tea houses in Japan, but the bulk of any society tends to like new.
LTE2

6) Asian America is hypersensitive to even ask the simple questions that challenge paradigms, heavily restricted by political correctness (which is more political than it is correct).
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Sad bunch those politically correct types, modern day descendants of Mao, they lack only little red books to wave around with in their never ending hunt to find something to be offended over.
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“I was actually recovering from Sri Lanka”
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I remember it as Ceylon, a wonderfully evocative name and like Bombay, provoked thoughts of exotic travel.
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Mumbai might be all fine and well, but the sensuality of the thought of warm tropical breezes disappeared with the name change,
LTE2

“There’s no unity, no real nationalism,”
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The United States was not set up to have strong nationalism, the intent was to keep the federal government as an umbrella, but the real action was supposed to be on the state and local level.
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Part of what you see today is the result of trying to centralize everything into the federal government which almost guarantees strife. Where on Earth is there any place 300 million people will agree on everything?
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I think it is safe to say China is not as cohesive as you may think.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Yes, very accurately put: practically missing their own little red book. And I do prefer the name Ceylon–a lot of people there still call it that too instead of Sri Lanka. India is the next deployment, BTW.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

The Chinese have a history of fighting amongst themselves after all, then add in all the minority groups who are not Han.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

While I haven’t been around many Latinos in my life are you sure those Latinos that speak Spanish aren’t 1st or 2nd generation? Seems to be the general rule among all immigrants that the language retention disappears after the 2nd generation. I don’t see why Latinos would be any different. But I do think Latinos and blacks have a more defined culture than Asian-Americans. Personally I don’t really see it as that important for post-2nd generation AAs to retain their language. It would be like wishing an Italian, German or African to speak their native language after being in America for generations. I mean it would be good, but also difficult. I do however, root for the rise of China/Asia in the future. Maybe with China’s rise, Mandarin will become a counterweight to the global dominance of English. A disclaimer here is that I myself can’t speak my ancestral language despite taking lessons in high school.

I’ve got to somewhat disagree about AA identity being polarized. I mean personally speaking, I have friends who are both Asian-Americans and so called “FOBs” but I might be a exception to the general rule. I also think there are AAs that find a balance in that they aren’t totally white-washed or FOB. These AAs usually live in large cities where there are large asian populations.

I think retaining ties to your homeland is important to a certain extent but like all other Americans, I know it’s also important to adapt to your environment. I won’t go into specifics, but I’d be satisfied with an Asian-American community that was confident in itself, interested in their roots but also willing to embrace new things, and plays a greater part in their communities (ex. political offices, entertainment, positions of power). Based on your perspective I was curious as to what kind of environment you grew up in (ex. small town mostly white, big city with lost of diversity, etc.)? Do you mind sharing a little? Sorry if you posted your background before but I don’t remember.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

I’ve heard many echoes of the infamous historical Chinese infighting. I think it needs to be seen in a unique perspective. The infighting was kind of almost the same as any other civilization. In many ways, China was more like a subcontinent and many groups fighting among “themselves” weren’t part of the same people per se (at least not yet, I mean, the Chinese people today have somewhat diverse origins). Imagine if the literally, the Roman Empire in Europe never fell, changed little, assimilated their invaders and guests, and sustained it’s institutions. That’s kind of how China is.

I know there’s more that can be said or debated, but this is just a brief comment I want to make.
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david0688

Such is the history of any nation. Look at how many dynasties rose and fell in China and across the ancient world.

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