Manya Shiel | 18 | she/her | nationality & ethnicity:Indian
“Yellow”.
I’m Indian, but yellow for some reason reminded meinstantly of people
with typically very Asian features, monolids and paleskin tones. When I
was a little younger, around 13-14 I heard the termyellow skinned
being used to describe Chinese people, Japanese people,it never made
me sense to me though. The second thing that cameto my mind
immediately as I think of yellow is “haldi” or I guesswhat people know
as Turmeric. Haldi is a spice used widely in Indiancuisine and it’s bright
yellow. It’s also used as a face mask to essentiallybrighten up your skin
and so I associate it with aunties telling my darkerskinned friends to
use it on their faces and my grandmother also askingme to do it
occasionally.
“Asian”.
I think being Asian would definitely be related alot to your ties with
family, your culture, how you were brought up. I won’tsay upbringing
has a very important role but I think the other twodo. It’s a sense of
kinship and shared history, and ofcourse, being bornin Asia. I cannot
clearly imagine when one stop beings Asian, maybeit’s when you stop
having ties to your culture, or just don’t care about.Asians living in
America or Australia are still Asians, so I don’tthink you stop being an
Asian once you leave your home country. I think generationwise-if you
are only 0.2% Asian, and don’t have any ties to heculture or don’t
relate to it, don’t have that sense of shared historyyou wouldn’t be
Asian.
Ethnicity|part1.
Tradition, love, quite conservative, lot of emphasison societal living,
respect, high expectations from people.
Ethnicity|part2.
I think the reason I chose these words is the wayI was brought up and
how my interactions with society shaped me. We havea deeply rooted
sense of togetherness and culture and society is important,Indian
people are not individualistic but family oriented.They have high
expectations from children and are conservative especiallywhen it
comes to women.
I’d say my response to my ethnicity is a spectrum,sometimes it’s
positive sometimes negative.
However I do feel that genZ Indians perceive ethnicityand how they
relate to it different from millennial or boomer Indians.
Differ from Asian stereotype(s).
I’m not a science student, I go against my parents.Sounds insignificant
but in these ways I think I differ.
I believe Asian stereotypes are extremely harmful.While they not only
provide a really altered view of tradition and cultureof Asians to the
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mchaos
(mchaos)
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