Asian culture

Invisible and Struggling Asian Americans are generally known for their diligent work ethics, their high levels of education and the high paying job that follows from their education. This stereotype is even supported with statistical data, Asian Americans holding a higher median household income, $66,000, compared to the general population’s $49,800 (Pew Research Center). With a rise in Asian immigrants and the Asian American populace as a whole and how they are projected to be the largest…

discrimination. Asians are underrepresented and when they do appear in movies or television shows, they are often portrayed as successful professionals like doctors. However, throughout history, Asian women have been portrayed as submissive, oriental, or cunning gold diggers. Although racist stereotypes and discrimination have subsided over the years, it still occurs today. As an Asian American woman, I have faced discrimination because of my ethnicity and my gender. Growing up as an Asian…

Book Report 2: Invisible Asians 1 In the book, “Invisible Asians,” written in 2016, the author Kim Park Nelson argues that even though Korean adoptees have only been depicted positively, there are various problems Korean adoptees are facing. Media especially emphasizes three things: 1) heroism of internationally adoptive parents, 2) a way of American families to be culturally enriched at a time of increasing interest in multiculturalism, 3) rescue of the Korean orphans from the “war-torn…

I do not live the typical Asian American life. I reside in a state of limbo, somewhere between being full American and full Asian. My well-off, Wisconsin bred parents are not what people expect when they see me from the outside. From the exterior, it’s easy to assume that my parents (or at least one of them) are Asian. However, from the inside, I am actually an adopted child to white parents. My assimilation process happened in the blink of an eye. I was adopted at 2 ½ speaking Cantonese,…

in the world, but rather by becoming aware of our everyday unconscious behaviors that fuel racism, and all the other -isms that corrupt our personal humanity. We must accept that racism is intricately woven into the human experience and American culture. We all are both victims and perpetrators. Once we understand this truth, we can stop wasting our time with blaming. Instead, we can learn to take pride in catching ourselves in the act of old behavior, and make new choices.” (Lifford).  We…

southeastern Asian parents’ eyes, marrying within the same ethnic group also counts as being the “perfect” son or daughter. At a young age, Jeff Yang’s mom illustrated his road map into the future, “‘One, practice piano. Two, go to a good college. Three, become a doctor. And four, marry a nice Taiwanese girl” (Yang). Chinese and Vietnamese parents make sure their child is well rounded in everything, and that includes speaking the parent’s native tongue and understanding the culture — it is the…

Comprehension: 1. Trask: Describe the pre-haole (pre-foreigner, European, white colonialism) political system in Hawai’i as an interdependent system, using incentive instead of oppression as a means of gaining status. Trask writes, “ … an interdependence was created where by the maka’ainana (people of land) were free to move with their ‘ohana (extended families) to live under an alibi of their choosing … the result was an incentive for the society’s leader to provide for all their…

Chinese-American Students: The Model Minority The United States is often regarded as a melting pot of culture and race, as the people who reside within the nation’s borders claim many different homelands around the world. Due to this mixture of ethnicities, events of prejudice and stereotype are inevitable. Citizens whose ancestry and heritage can be traced to Southern Asian countries are not excluded from such occurrences. Young people of this origin are often thought to be determined do…

don’t discuss Asian or even Asian American History. African American, Native American and even European histories are all extensively covered in history classes. Many students have at least some knowledge of African American slavery, forced cultural assimilation of Native Americans, and the civil rights movement. From an early age, children are taught that the U.S. is a country created by immigrants; however, American history classes have shown a trend of teaching that excludes Asian Americans…

un-American. When I was a child, I loved every aspect of my culture. I would constantly beg my mother to buy me an insatiable amount of ao dai’s (the traditional Vietnamese dress) simply because they represent the pride of Vietnamese people. Nonetheless, I would always hold my head high because I wanted to represent my culture proudly. To be young and Asian in America is a special brand of torture. There is an unspoken dictum of silence that grips Asian youth, a denial of our place in society.…