So, I don’t know what y’all think about “Asia Asians”-but they suck. Whew! That said, I DO have FOB family members. Moving on, I am sort of testing the waters here, with my new project, Mestizo Revelations, and I hope that people reading this will have replies and comments that can help me form new ideas or inspirations for this ‘zine, which will be about ethnic identity and culture.
Questions: Does being a certain kind of ethnic mean you have to like your fellow ethnics, or the culture they hail from? Can one still be proud of something one has no desire to entertain? In what is pride being taken in, then?
Returning to the Motherland/Ethnic Pilgrimaging-A trend since the ’60’s radical identity movements.
Questions: Is it a motherland? Or do I stand where I stand? How much of our identity is truly formed by our ancestors’ culture or more truthfully formed by our own experiences? I’ve got to say (and I don’t want to write too much here about it, since it’s part of my project, and I need to keep some tender nuggets of writing material to myself), I myself subscribed to the belief that “going home” would actually fortify something in me.
I was wrong.
I realized I am American.
(What a profoundly obvious conclusion, sucka!) It’s American style, my way. We’ve got to wake up to the unlikely realization that we are Americans, regardless of ethnicity, politics, etc. It sounds shitty, coming from a progressive, rail against the man perspective, but it’s infinitely and smug smilingly true. If you’re ethnic, just try and go to a country where you look like the people and realize how not them you are. Our attitudes, styles, preferences and experiences all have a unique tinge that people in less diverse, less bitchy and in your face, individual rights-asserting-til-death countries will not have, for better or worse. My experience with LA ethnoburbia is that it’s very, very rare. I feel quite privileged to have grown up in such circumstances for many reasons, especially after visiting Asia.
What do you all think about being American? It has such a dirtiness to it, I know. I don’t mean the obvious reactionary, flag waving, apple pie Americana, but just the simple fact of our lives: being either born and/or raised here.
Discuss. I’m feeling ferklempt.
(the corner market)
him: so you’re married?
her: heh yes i am
him: he’s chinese too?
her: heh yes he’s korean
him: heh you never had american boys?
her: no no heh thank you very much see you tomorrow!
Comment by Michael Nhat — July 25, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
Pretty thought provoking. I plan to go the DNA route to search for my
african roots.
Have no scientific proof but I think Black right-wingnuts display ancestral traits of those who beggged to stay on the plantation when slavery ended.
Comment by BobbieJ — July 26, 2008 @ 12:34 am
i totally agree, we are such americans. and i do think you can be proud of where you came from even if it doesnt affect you directly and you are disgusted with some of it. i am constantly trying to piece together my politics around being mixed and bordering chicano nationalism shit and not actually having anything to do with it other than where my dad and his dad and his dad were born. damn, i need to get on this writing thing.
Comment by adrienne — July 26, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
aren’t i exotic?
Comment by + — July 27, 2008 @ 5:46 am
“If you’re ethnic, just try and go to a country where you look like the people and realize how not them you are.”
I don’t know, but being Mexican (Mexican-American, Chicana, whatever ones preference) makes things different…Mexico is our neighbor and so when I visit, family values pretty much everything we do – patriotism, the latest trends and even plastic bags now.
I think it is different for everyone, even if they are from the same country. And there is also the distinction between rural vs. urban within the same country.
p.s. Love your blog! Thought provoking!
Comment by Silvia — July 29, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
I want to hear more about why “Asians in Asia are Assholes,” in order to refrain from thinking you’re one yourself:P
Oh, and add a picture of yo fine self.
Comment by liz — July 30, 2008 @ 1:28 am
Yeah, Liz, you’re right, I did forget to mention why they’re assholes. They just don’t accept anything outside of their own notions of the world. They don’t accept mixed people often (unless they’re Filipinos), and tend to have a brashness to their interactions with others. More to come…
Comment by Manushkin — July 30, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
“They just don’t accept anything outside of their own notions of the world.”
Hmm…don’t people around the world think the same thing about Americans? You’re pretty much illustrating that point with your blatant generalizations.
Just because you’re confused about your own identity, and the fact that you didn’t “find your roots” in China…doesn’t mean you can generalize an entire population as “assholes.”
Well actually, you can. But it’s a pretty ignorant statement.
Comment by kathy — August 5, 2008 @ 5:15 am
Hah, I love being Filipino…
Comment by Prometheus — August 6, 2008 @ 7:11 pm