Generality:“Yellow”. 229
Khoi | 35 | he/him | nationality: Canadian | ethnicity:Vietnamese
“Yellow”.
First thought that came to mind was the Coldplay song. I’ve never
been referred to as ‘yellow’ to my face so this worddoesn’t necessarily
hold any impact or power over me specifically. Ihave been referred to
as ‘White-washed’ a lot although that’s not a termI’m very comfortable
with these days.
“Asian”.
Being Asian is defined by birth for me. You are Asianif you are born
Asian. Asians (in my experience) are brought togetherby food and
other folks in the Asian community. I think you’reallowed to call
yourself Asian if you were born ethnically Asian. I’m sure there is
someone in the world who is not Asian by birth butI’d still consider
Asian; but I have yet to meet them.
Ethnicity|part1.
Genetics, culture, conservative, dinner, identity.
Ethnicity|part2.
Genetics: When I think of ethnicity I think of whereI biologically came
from. I am aware that it isn’t exact because if Ifound out that my
ancestry was wildly different, I’d still considermyself Vietnamese.
Culture: The idea of being Asian is also tied withour culture (in my
mind). Stuff like how the words for ‘you’ and ‘me’change depending on
the relationship you have with the other person.Or the way respect is
shown to elders.
Conservative: In my own experiences I have long feltthat Asian culture
to be fairly conservative. And so when I think ofsomeone who is Asian
I think of suffocating roles and life paths. Ideason what is ‘decent
clothing’ and who is considered a proper life partner.
Dinner: “This one could be lumped very easily withculture but I also
feel like the food is such a big part of being Asianthat I had to include
it as its own word to the list. Everything from whatis expected at
family gatherings, normal spices and sauces in thepantry rice being
served with every meal, the idea of tea is very specific,the idea of
physical health being framed as a balance of hot andcold.
Identity: I chose this word because being Asian ispart of who I identify
as being. Some of my experiences, challenges, insecurities,privileges,
feel common to other Asian people who I have met. And so the idea of
being Asian comes with a set of experiences that I,to some degree,
identify with.
Differ from Asian stereotype(s).
I am speaking about the Asian stereotypes that Igrew up with. I was
born in 1985
In terms of the stereotypes that I am aware of, Ihave a larger frame
from that of a the stereotypes. I possess a veryNorth American big city
mchaos
(mchaos)
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