From: rw@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Russil Wvong)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: East and South Asians
Date: 11 Jan 1993 03:27:02 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

Tariq M. Haniff writes:
>Thanks for your posting.  I've been reading this group for ~2 years,
>and have been waiting for something like this.

You're welcome.  Thanks for your feedback, too; like I said, I don't
know much about the South Asian community, and I was wondering how many
wildly inaccurate statements I'd made. :-)

>Agreed.  I have been subject to a lot of of anti-Arab racism even though
>I am not an Arab-American.  During the Iran hostage crisis, I was an 
>"Oil guzzling Iranian."  During the Gulf war, many people thought I was
>Iraqi since I share the same first name as Iraqi Ambassador Tariq Aziz.

Dumb question, if you don't mind my asking:  What's your background?
(I'm pretty clueless about South Asian names.)

>On the other hand, I've had my share of racism from East-Asian groups
>also. Mostly comments about dark-skin.   The important thing is that 
>I won't attribute those comments to the beliefs of all EAA's or other 
>readers on this net.

Much appreciated. :-)

>Agreed.  South Asia is definitely poor and third-world.  Many don't like to
>admit it, which I find quite absurd.  Many of the educated are leaving 
>the country for a better life in the US or elsewhere.

On the other hand, I understand the Indian government is supposed to be
doing a reasonable job of reforming the economy.  (From the Economist.)
I've also heard that companies are setting up software operations in
India, which is interesting.  But this kind of thing doesn't propagate
to the mainstream image very quickly.

>Perpetual debt is the "justification" of human slavery in many parts
>of South Asia.                         ... A father's debt is passed
>to his children, so there is always an abundance of slaves.

Cruel...  Do people ever just run away?  How much of the economy depends
on this system?

>That's right.  There's a Tennis player by the name of Vijay Amrhatraj
>who has played in a few flicks (including one James Bond film) as a
>sterotypical "raghead."

Yeah, I remember now.  "Octopussy".  ("We've got company!"  "That's all
right.  This is a company car!"  Proceeds to blast the pursuers with the
built-in rear-mounted submachine guns.  Something like that.)  Of course,
I couldn't have told you his name. :-)

I guess there's also Hanif Kureshi (sp?), the writer of "Sammy and Rosie
Get Laid" and "My Beautiful Launderette".

>>Language skills.  This is a gross generalization, but I think South Asian
>>immigrants are generally much more comfortable with English, and generally
>>have better verbal skills, than East Asian immigrants.
>
>This is because much or all of South Asia was colonized by the English.

Mm -- it's probably a major factor, but Hong Kong was also colonized by
the English, and Hong Kong Chinese don't seem as comfortable with English.
(Yet another gross generalization.)

>Doesn't this sound like the Confucian "Benevolent Dictator" syndrome?

Not sure what you mean, actually.

>There is a large amount of pride associated with a person's name in SA
>culture I guess. Every male in my family has the same middle name (which is
>actually a first name).  It goes back to before my grandfather, so it's
>kind of tradition.

There's some sort of Chinese tradition which is similar; there's a series
of names which rotates among the generations, or something like that.
It seems to get discarded over here, though.

>                                            My own experience is that 
>SAA's are religious for social purposes.

Ah.  Rings a bell. :-)

>>                  there doesn't seem to be much interaction at all between
>>South Asians and East Asians; they really do seem to be separate communities.
>
>Yes, and I feel it is due to the difference in physical characteristics.
>I know I'm going to get flamed, but I really believe this.

(Actually, I think you probably won't.  Just a hunch. :-)  Seriously, I'd
think that cultural differences would be more important, actually.  That
may not seem so important for the second generation, but on the other hand,
I know a lot of Chinese-Canadians because our parents know each other.

>Don't have a .sig yet.  Actually it's rare that I have time to post like
>this.

Thanks again for your comments.  Appreciate the feedback.

--Russil
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american