Critical Reading Journal: 5/16/17

“Family, Culture, Gender: Narratives of Ethnic Reconstruction” by Bindi Shah

The clumping of many different ethnic groups that originate from Asia all under

the same title of Asian cause some of these groups to be insufficiently represented.

In this article, the Laotian community does not receive as much recognition as

Chinese and Vietnamese communities. The reminds me of the struggle between the

titles of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. When Asian Americans and Pacific

Islanders are placed under the same category of Asian Pacific Islander, Pacific

Islanders like Filipinos are underrepresented. Another recurring theme presented in

this article is the different perspectives between immigrants parents and their

children growing up in the United States. The immigrant parents’ culture and

ideal is different from the children's’ culture with influences of American

individualism. I can relate to this situation where our present society really

emphasizes individualism as a key aspect of being successful whereas my

relatives believe that women do not need to be independent and it is the

men's’ job to care for the women. This also relates to the concept of cultural

hybridity where the 2nd generation is producing their own culture with a mix

of American culture and their ethnic culture. The general ideal of dating and

marrying a person of the same ethnicity is another conflict of understanding

between immigrant parents and their children. I believe these ideals can still

be somewhat prominent but are not as commonly found in our present

society. I believe immigrant parents would want their children to have a

spouse of their same ethnicity because of the comfort of being able to relate

to the spouse and their family.  

"Edward Said on Orientalism" film 

     According to Said, Orientalism consists of preconceived notions of how to understand 

the "others". Orientalism is still a prominent issue faced by Asian Americans with the 

history of colonization and continuity of immigration. I believe the ideas of the model 

minority and yellow peril within the notion of Orientalism are the most heard of

ideals. The idea of yellow peril has become more modernized and instead of attacking

mostly Asian immigrants, it also now attacks the growing generations of Asian

Americans. The idea of model minority still persists in its effects on Asian American

communities but more subtly in a similar manner of subtle racism. Orientalism gives

the West what they perceive as a justifiable reason to conquer the East due to the East

being supposedly mysterious with monsters. The notion of Orients being uncivilized

indirectly defines the West as being civilized. The idea of Orientalism adds effects to

the belief of the West being more superior to the East, but as seen in modern society

this is not deemed true.