In
Bindi Shah’s “Laotian Daughters,” she describes how they feel conflicted over
growing up with two cultures: the exterior American ideals surrounding them,
but the interior Lao, Mien, Khmu, or Laotian environment at home. The daughters
feel annoyed that their American counterparts lump view them as Asian and lump
them together with the Chinese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese, but they strongly disagree
because their culture is different even if it is not represented fairly in
mainstream society. Even if the young women do not partake in all the
traditional activities, they still feel a strong connection to their Asian
culture because they are surrounded by it with daily reminders - this reminds us of Vergara’s statement on how
culture is constantly changing and how there is no cultural authenticity. In
addition, the article discusses the struggle that the women feel when they
“talk back” to their parents and cannot go out as much, so they learn to live
two lives with other small acts of resistance since their parents refuse to
accept the hybridization of cultures.
In
Said’s film regarding “Orientalism,” he discusses how orientalism was an attempt
to answer people’s preconceived notions about people from the Middle East. Said
noticed that most of the perceptions were based off of abstracts (e.g.
paintings) and not from firsthand accounts, so he wanted to create a resource based
off of his own experience. Said notices that orientalism presents itself as an
objective viewpoint when in reality, it is the complete opposite – this notion
is still evident in today’s society, where people push their prejudices onto
Asian Americans. In fact, Shah mentions this in her article when the Laotian
daughters express discontent over being lumped into the “Asian” category.
Instead of generalizing people of different backgrounds and ethnicities, it is
important to learn about the nuances and appreciate the diversity within a
group of similar, but unique, people.
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