Skip to main content

Who are you? (A reflection of the semester)


1) Who are you? (Think about how you answered this before, you can even look at what you stated. This time, try to answer it with a renewed sense of identity. Think about the various identities you carry and state if they have changed at all-or maybe it has not changed at ALL? Keep in mind this is about YOURSELF). Of course you haven't changed, but maybe there is a change in understanding of the Chinese American community/experience?

Prior to this course, I did not know that Asian-American identity issues was a “thing.” In my limited circle of friends, when I discuss the different sort of racism and “nationlessness” that Asian-Americans face, I was told that “it’s just me.” I’m glad that the identity-exclusion issue has been pointed out: Asian-Americans face not quite the stereotypical racism that African-American media has made known, and are regarded as an outsider in both Asia and America. 

2) What are your take-aways from this course? 

I learned about the origins of Chinatown in both SF and NYC. Prior, I wasn’t sure why SF was Cantonese-speaking and NYC was Mandarin-speaking. The race-based crimes we studied were also jarring. 

I wish we had a more consistent textbook, though it seems that many Asian authors often go off a tangent to research their own ethnic past - in our case, Hawaii might not be that relevant to the general milieu. 

What are your thoughts on Iris Chang’s The Chinese in America? 

3) Look at the Syllabus to find the Student Learning Outcomes (you all posted one each in an early Check-In) and state one of the Student Learning Outcomes that you think we have covered in this class and how. (You can simply state the week's material or topic we have covered. This can even be your own research paper).

I learned from Andrea Louie’s work that one can write a non-memoir personal book in disguise as an anthropology or ethnography book and get published by Duke University Press mostly from oneself as a subject. Prior, I had thought that research was incredibly meticulous and peer review would burn you at crucifixion for doing that. However, it seems that Asian-American studies just isn’t as competitive and cut-throat as other humanities majors — more articles seems to be needed. Just searching on CCSF’s limited access to JSTOR, it’s clear that there just aren’t enough published works on Asian-American studies, as compared to many other topics in the humanities. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Second Wave

1) What are the main differences between the first wave Chinese and the post 1965 Chinese immigrants? (Lists are fine) Second Wave vs First Wave - Post 1965 immigrants, had better gender balance as they were past the days of the exclusion laws.   - Many immigrants were better educated, not exploited for entry to meet burgeoning pre-industrial revolution high demands of cheap labor.   - They were also more ready to take on urban civilization, being already accustomed to cities, rather than rural environments.   - Came from all areas of China, rather than just the impacted areas in first wave.   - Finally, the numbers. Not mere thousands or hundreds, but millions. 1 million in 1965 to 14 million in 2010   2) What are the main differences between an ethnic enclave and an ethnoburb? a)How do they function differently?  b) Why would one choose to live in one over the other? (Who lives in each location).  An ethnic encl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is history repeating itself? - 832

1)  What are the similarities or differences in the motivation, community reactions, and legal outcomes in any of the hate crimes presented this week (the weblinks and the Chin case) and the runout/burnout periods that you have studied before?    The similarities between the runout/burnout periods and the Asian American hate crimes is primarily due to economic supply-demand reasons. Asians are often willing (or need) to work under lower pay and sub-par conditions that a white or fairly-unionized worker would not go for. Thus, they are perceived to take both jobs and fair work conditions away from white workers. The main difference is that for the Chin case, the Asians were able to seemingly build a national civil rights platform - while in the earlier cases, the various hate crimes seems scattered across the country.   2)  Why do you think there is little known about Asian American hate crimes?   Little is known about Asian American cr...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Wave Chinese Immigrants

Part 1 1) What do the Chinese agricultural worker and the agricultural workers of today have in common? (Think in terms of contributions, need for labor, and treatment of laborers). 2) What do Asian owned businesses of today such as: nail shops, convenient stores, gas stations, and dry cleaning businesses all have in common with the laundrymen of the past? (Think about how/why would they enter into these types of businesses? Is it a skillset brought over from the homeland? A "trend"/niche that a couple people learned and trained their fellow countryment to do?) Part 2 In the Choy, Takaki and Kwong texts, the role of associations within the Chinatowns were discussed. Membership depended on surname, village, district, and sometimes through initiation. Kwong's text provided a deeper examination of the internal conflicts that these associations face amongst members, as well as with the Chinatown community whereas Choy allowed for examination of specific associations within S...
1 comment
Read more