From: shaw@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: What Separates Us?
Date: 14 Aug 92 06:54:34 GMT
Distribution: soc
Organization: MIT Lab for Computer Science, Cambridge, Mass.

In a previous post, I mentioned that the first order of business in
actually creating an Asian-American identity as a group is commitment and
definition.  Without knowing who we are and why we are a group, and what we
have in common, there is no motivation for individuals to work together as
group to achieve common goals.  It's not necessarily even clear what those
goals should be.

In the next few posts, I will describe a few areas where we are _divided_.
I don't think I've seen a coherent post about those divisions: just a lot
of flaming back and forth from people within those divisions who may not
even have a clear idea themselves about what those divisions actually are
-- they just know that their interests and experiences do not match with
those of others within our putative "group".

Off the top of my head, I can think of three big divisions -- naturally,
there are many others, and this list should not be considered exhaustive.

1. RACE and CULTURE -- this is probably the major stumbling block.  Despite
the fact that we are supposedly in a group called "Asian-Americans", each
of us identifies with at least one smaller group within the
"Asian-American" group, whether we are Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian, etc.

  a.  There are historic enmities between many of our groups: in
particular, perhaps between Chinese and Japanese, as well as Korean and
Japanese, and to a smaller extent, between Chinese and Korean.

  b.  Southeast Asians such as Vietnamese, Thais, Filipinos, Laotians,
Cambodians, and others may feel they are in a different situation than
Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.  Quite frankly, there is a problem of
status, and relative power of those groups in a global sense, and a problem
of historical attitudes and prejudices which are of a different character
than the hatred described in a.

  c.  Are Indian-Americans Asian-Americans?  I think so, but why?

Our root cultures are so different, why should we work together, and what
do we have in common?

2. SEX -- Obviously this has been a major area of flamage recently.  If
anyone didn't understand this before, is should be clear to even the
densest reader that the experiences and problems of Asian-American MEN and
Asian-American WOMEN are very different.  They are different to the degree
that some of us have taken to making rather ugly charges to members of the
other group, and those charges are going in both directions.

A smaller problem, but nonetheless, I think, a very illuminating set of
problems is that of Asian-American gays, both men and women.  What can we
learn from the types of problems they have?  I think it's fascinating to
notice that gay AA men have some of the problems of straight AA men, and
some of the problems of straight AA women, and that the _real_, underlying
problem is one of power, and the lack of power that AA's have, which
extends to our sex lives and our experiences as men and women.

If Asian-American women and men have such different problems, why should we
work together?

3. "FOB"'s vs. "ABAA"'s -- Asian-Americans are relatively recent immigrants
to the US.  The experiences, problems, and expectations of first generation
Asian-Americans are quite different from nth generation Asian-Americans.

Often, this causes fights between first generation and nth generation
Asian-Americans who feel that the other group is "selling out" the other.

Also, different racial groups have different levels of first vs. nth
generation members.  Japanese-Americans are almost all nth generation,
whereas Southeast Asian-Americans are almost all first generation.  This
exacerbates the differences.

Frankly, I don't think this is as big an issue, since all first generation
members will eventually have to deal with nth generation problems if they
decide to stay any length of time in the US and have kids.  On the other
hand, a _LARGE_ percentage of Asian-Americans are, and will continue to be
first-generation, since Asians are one of the largest groups of current
immigrants.  Immigration is an Asian-American issue.

If first generation member's problems are so different from nth generation
problems, why should we work together?

some other divisions which I can think of are:

4. Geography -- I love hearing about the perspectives from Hawaii and CA,
where Asians have much more power than where I came from (Cleveland, OH)
and where I live now (Boston, MA).  Clearly, our experiences are amazingly
different.  I also like to hear about Texans and other sorts of experiences
of AA's living in the South.  People who've lived in more than one area
bring a great perspective to the issue.

5. Political Orientation -- we're all over the map, from ultra-conservative
(Arthur Hu) to ultra-liberal (Judy Tseng)  (and maybe me).  Are
Asian-American concerns only those of so-called "radicals" like myself?  I
don't think so.

6. Economic Status -- Not all Asian-Americans are well off.  I taught
English to several recently immigrated Vietnamese refugees who were living
on welfare last year.  What do they have in common with me, a PhD candidate
at MIT?  (besides our take-home check, I mean.  just kidding.)



Naturally, all of these divisions have some sort of relationship with other
divisions.  However, I think it would be a good exercise to deal with each
in isolation, hammer it down, and try to understand it before dealing with
interacting issues.

As for myself, I fall into the following divisions, so that people will
know my biases:

1. RACE,CULTURE: Chinese/Taiwanese-American
2. SEX: Male
3. Second Generation (Parents were immigrants)
4. GEOGRAPHY: From Ohio, now in Massachusetts
5. POLITICS: Mostly Liberal
6. ECONOMIC STATUS: Currently poor grad student, but hopefully bright
future

-Andy
Xref: sparky soc.culture.asian.american:8186 soc.culture.china:23298