From: vallamn@ucbeh.san.uc.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: What is Asian ?
Date: 6 Nov 92 14:44:07 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati



wenz@ucs.orst.edu (Wen Zongyao) writes :

>In article <1992Nov5.135700.2034@ucbeh.san.uc.edu> vallamn@ucbeh.san.uc.edu
>writes>
>>Are not Arabs, Iranians, Indians etc. Asians ?  This may be one
>>of the reasons why non-oriental(forgive me for being politically
>>incorrect) people of Asian origin do not post in this newsgroup.
>>The association of the word 'asian' with 'oriental' is of American
>>( read white ) origin, and that does not mean you ( and me ) should
>>accept it as what it is, namely a misnomer.  I am not criticizing 
>>here, just suggesting.  So don't flame without explanations please.
>>
>>
>>Nalini Mohan Vallampati
>>University of Cincinnati
>>Cincinnati, OH 45221
>>

>I think this is partially because the far-eastern people sharing
>similar cultures.  I consider Indians as Asians, but not Arabs.
> 		    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^	
>Geographically Arabian countries are part of Asia, but their culture
>is so much different from other Asian countries. 
>I think that is why they are called Arabians, instead of Asian. 
>
>Wen


Wen, I think that the Arabs are as Asian as Indians are. If they are 
not, then neither are Indians.  Another thing :  The Indian
culture has got more in common with the middle eastern cultures than
with the far eastern one. Heck, Indians & Arabs even look kinda similar!
There came Persians ( who are not Arabs, but have a similar culture )
and Central Asians into India a thousand years back 
and there was assimilation on a very large scale.  There were even 
people who came from as far away as Greece and assimilated.  The
middle eastern influence was primarily due to Islam.  I lived for a 
year and a half in the middle east, and was able to relate to the
native culture very easily.

The similarities between Indian and far eastern cultures that 
are seen in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Combodia are because 
of the Indian culture spreading eastward, ( I do not know the kind 
of culture existed there before the Indian influence - maybe someone 
can enlighten me on this ). But I can say that there was very
little far eastern cultural influence on India.  I would welcome
any arguments with facts indicating otherwise.

Alan Hu writes that the Indians are *like* native speakers of English.
Alan, it is not as if the Indians do not have any cultural adjustments
to make.  The first Indians to migrate to the United States came in
the 1950s and later, whereas the Chinese were here much much before
that.  For example, the number of Indians in the U.S at the time of
WW II is negligible.  And knowing the language will not necessarily
mean that Indians would be more welcome in the _American_ society
than the far-easterners. 

You are right in that the way the notion of race is perceived is
an important factor in inhibiting generalizations ( such as all
people from Asia being referred to as Asians ).  This is also
probably the reason why Indians feel they are different from 
East Asians.  Indians are still considered foreigners, even 
if they are citizens, as they have not been around for a *long* 
time.  This is because the Indians refuse to be identified as 
anything other than an Indian.  So when there is an asian american
newsgroup with all-oriental( please, no offence intended ) posters,
the Indian obviously feels that there is nothing he has to say
in a *different kind of* asian newsgroup.  


Nalini Mohan Vallampati
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45219

Xref: sparky soc.culture.asian.american:10026 soc.culture.bangladesh:5783 soc.culture.indian:36632 soc.culture.pakistan:16537 alt.discrimination:4609