Thea | 20 | she/her | nationality: Indonesian | ethnicity:Javanese
“Yellow”.
Yellow reminds me of the warmth and rays of the sunbut also of
nostalgia. Since coming to Europe, I've missed theconstant, year-round
rise und setting of the sun, especially when wintercomes around.
“Asian”.
To that I will not be able to give a black and whiteanswer, simply
because Asia as a continent is home to such a diverseset of people,
culture, ethnicities, languages and history. Theseattributes can in turn
cross country boundaries, which means that peoplewho aren't born in
a particular asian country has every right to callthemselves Asian, as
long as they mantain cultural and/or ethnical heritage.It is simply a
gross overgeneralization to think of Asians as justpeople who have
monolids or speak chinese/japanese or have a particulartone to their
skin.
I am, however, reluctant to define boundaries of whoare "allowed" to
call themselves Asian. This can be detrimental tothe further
understanding of Asian cultures and historical backgroundsat best and
highly discriminatory and gatekeepy at worst.
Ethnicity|part1.
My ethnicity is Javanese, and one of the most obviouswords to
describe my ethnicity would be "originating from theisland of Java". But
other than that, I think we are a group of warm andfriendly people. I
have heard that we are one of the best at providingservice to others
because of that attribute as well, and by that I meanas a host or as
someone who works at the hotel or in customer servicejobs. Other
words -- or moreso phrase-- would be "rich in preserved culture". We
still use our own language (Basa Jawa) in our dailylives and the
Javanese script derived from Sanskrit is still beingtaught in some
schools.
All in all, I'm happy to be Javanese.
Ethnicity|part2.
It's moreso rooted in my experiences but also throughwhat I've heard
from other people and their perception of my ethnicity.I think that I
can have a more balanced view that way.
Differ from Asian stereotype(s).
I know more about european mythology than my own country's,but I'm
remedying that. I study hard, but know when I've donethe best I can
and not put my worth in numbers on the report card.I am
brown-skinned and a bit on the curvy side and I'mhappy with that.
When I think about it, I actually have more in commonwith asian
stereotypes like swearing by rice and noodles or being
soft-spoken/non-rebellious towards my parents. Thesestereotypes
actually seem more apparent now that I live in anothercounty for my
70
mchaos
(mchaos)
#1