Week 8: Gender and Sexuality

(This is a funny video I found of Filipino Seafarers making a music video. )

          The main focus of diaspora deals with yearning for the homeland and the connection to and alienation from the homeland. How does gender and sexuality play a role in diasporic studies then?
            Gayatri Gopinath’s article “Nostalgia, Desire, Diaspora: South Asian Sexuality in Motion” shows how queer diasporic individuals try to find a sense of belonging in their homeland. Homosexual individuals feel that they are denied their existence in their new host country but also in their home country. Because “sexuality is either criminalized or disavowed and elided; it seen both as a threat to national integrity and as perpetually outside the boundaries of the nation, home and family” (Gopinath 263). Therefore, queer individuals living in a diasporic community constantly struggle with fitting into society. For instance, in the Indian Day Parade (which celebrates India’s independence day) the Federation of Indian Association (FIA) denied the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association from marching because the FIA could not envision women marching as “Indian queers” or “Indian lesbians”. The FIA who are made up of immigrant businessmen could not accept the idea that homosexual individuals existed in their nation. Gopinath also further gives examples of South Asian texts that describe homosexual experiences to show that “ home for a queer diasporic subject becomes not only that which ‘we cannot want’ but also that which we cannot and could never have” (269). Sadly, home becomes a place of disowning for queer individuals because they neither  feel accepted in society back in the homeland or the new host country.

             On the other hand, in his article “In the Shadow of Stonewall: Examining Gay Transnational Politics and the Diasporic Dilemma” Martin F. Manalansan IV focuses on how national culture, history, religion, class and region play an important role in determining gay cultural practices. While we must look at how diasporic queer individuals fit or do not fit into their diasporic community, it is also important to examine how “discourses of queerness are affected by developments locally, nationally, and transnationally,” (Manalansan 207). Manalansan mentions the Stonewall incident several times in his article but does not explain what the Stonewall riots were. According to the Civil Rights. Org The Stonewall riot is regarded as a catalyst for the LGBT movement for civil rights in the United States. This riot inspired LGBT throughout the country to organize gay rights groups. In his article Manalansan gives insight to how Filippino gay men in the diaspora use their own rhetoric to define what it means to come out of the closet.
            Gender roles also create conflict in women living in diasporic communities.  In Kyeyoung Park’s “10,000 Senora Lees”: The Changing Gender Ideology of Korean-Latina-American Women in the Diaspora.” some women express ambivalence and anxiety over their body type and felt “inferior” compared to the Brazilian and Western concepts of beauty. One immigrant recalls how she felt like she hated the way she looked because she didn’t have western features. She was teased as a child for looking Asian.
Korean immigrants in Brazil and the United States both feel conflicted with their appearance. As Park discusses, “we should explore how gender identities intersect with racialized, classed and cultural experiences” (162)
             Steven C. Mckay’s article “Filipino Sea Men: Identity and Masculinity in a Global Labor Niche” explains how the case of Filipino seafarers helps us understand gendered identities in diaspora. He examines why there are over 255,000 Filipino seafarers globally. Today the emergence of Filipino seafarers is due  “American colonial policies that modeled Philippine education while also racializing Filipino incorporation into labor markets abroad. Mckay’s article makes us think of how Filipino seafarers “men face a problem of double masculine consciousness: trying to assert themselves as men, but within a context of being both racially marginalized in the labor/market and often labeled effeminate by dominant groups of seafarers.” (McKay 79).

Week 7: Identity

        Identity plays a huge role in everyone. It is how you are determined of who you are and where you come from. In Valverde's article, she talks about the artist Huynh Chau and how Chau struggled to learn of her own identity through the Vietnamese American community.  As many controversies came upon Chau and her artworks, she did not give up for what her art pieces were about and her beliefs. Many Vietnamese in America today still struggle to find their identity in being an American and also Vietnamese. I understand that it is a difficult task for these Vietnamese Americans because it is also difficult for my own community, the Hmong. The Hmong people have a similar story to the Vietnamese where many have immigrated to America after the Vietnam war of 1975 and are living in a diaspora also. Many Hmong people now in America still tries to preserve and keep their Hmong identities alive in many ways. Just like how the Vietnamese anti-communists' group do by protesting to keep their collective memories of their identity alive,  one of the ways the Hmong help kept their identity alive is by holding huge new year celebrations each year.

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID3095/images/hmong.jpg

During the new year, the Hmong wear beautiful traditional clothing and perform traditional singing and games. A question to ask yourself is what does it truly mean to you to help preserve your own cultural identity and how can you do so? As Chau did, she kept her identity alive through her artworks.

   Identity, culture, and gender is a huge part of our identities and cultures. Purnima Mankekar analyzed the film, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (The lover wins the bride) and looked closely at the Indian overseas issues and "non resident Indians" from the west. How Indian culture portrays gender roles and a culture identity through marriage.

                                                Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

      In Theorizing Diaspora, Arjun Appadurai "argues against the notion that relationships in the new global cultural economy can be reduced to a simple center-periphery model" (25).
Appadurai describes the five different types of scapes and how they are important to us. For example, technoscapes, where technology is everywhere and that is how everything is seen worldwide through media, internet, etc. Appadurai says these are important because it is how "communities are forged transnationally..." (25).
   It makes sense to me and I do agree with Appadurai that these five scapes exists in our daily lives. It is how everyone communicate, travel, and learn today. It is important that we understand these concepts and know how it functions because it will be able to help us understand the process of globalization more.

Study Questions:
1) What are the "three spheres of influence" and their purposes? Explain how each one is able to effect Vietnamese overseas and also Vietnamese in America.

2) Explain what the term diaspora is according to Stefan Helmreich. How does the term diaspora come about in the film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge according to Makekar? What is important about the film?

3) What are the "five different types of imagined world landscapes?" Explain what is Appadurai's opinion on them and what is his argument on them.

4) What is "cultural insiderism?" Explain the idea and purpose of the term. Give an example.

5) According to Stuart Hall and other theorists of the Birmingham school, what does being apart of a subculture mean? Give examples from the reading and explain.

By: Jou Xiong

Week 6: Economics

          One of the greatest issues which our society has faced in the past decade has been immigration. While the media has delivered both the arguments of proponents and their opposition, little has been said from the perspective of those who are migrants. While we were constantly exposed to talking heads arguing back and forth over the issues of legality in regard to the immigrants, the public was left in the dark when it came to the important issues which surrounded the migrant workers, such as economic push-pulls as well as opportunities for them and their families. After reading this week’s articles, we were given a much greater sense of the ins and outs surrounding immigrants and immigration factors. As hard to believe as it is, immigrants aren’t out to take our jobs, they’re merely scouring the market for occupations that the typical citizen won’t even attempt to consider. Economically speaking, they’re merely filling the quota for demand in the market. If we can grasp anything from the readings, we need to acquire an understanding of the immigrant’s plight.     

Beginning with Evelyn Hu-Dehart’s “On Coolies and Shopkeepers: The Chinese as Huagong and Huashang in Latin America/Caribbean,” Dehart presents a less often told story of the lesser known Chinese diaspora within Central and South America. Dehart’s investigation into this matter was piqued by a mere observation; why were there such prominent figures of Asiatic descent in South America? Figures included in her observation are Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru and Cheddi Jagan of Guayana. In the Chinese Diaspora, however, there are no such Chinese figures of a like stature within Central or South America. Instead, the Chinese have simply built their diaspora around economic opportunities. Not unlike the diaspora of Chinese-Americans, the Chinese-Mexican diaspora have been catering to sites of economic boom, places where many other laborers are present to provide them with a solid clientele, such as mines, near railroads and places where there are large factories (of which employ many other laborers).As mentioned by Dehart, the investigation of certain diasporas throughout the world help to answer questions that may arise when diasporas are observed in isolation (meaning when they are only observed in one location). For example, the relatively recent issue regarding immigration and the so-called “problem” of illegal immigrants can be explained by economic needs or desires. Just as the Chinese came to the Americans because of economic opportunity which was unavailable in China, holds enough parallels to the current situation of socially unwanted but economically welcome undocumented workers.

welcome undocumented workers.

           In “Asians on the Rim: Transnational Capital and Local Community in the Making of Contemporary Asian America,” Arif Dirlik seeks to unwind the increasingly intricate definition of ‘Asian American.” As opposed to the coining of a political choice, which served as the defining element of “Asian American” in its inception, the term is now being engulfed with elements of the diasporic. To be more specific, Dirlik refers to those who are transnational and able to move in and out of countries without so much as a hiccup.  The problem, as he observes, is that the new term has socio-economic exclusivity. The main reason being the new definition refers solely to members who have the ability to move back and forth between nation-states, implying that they are socio-economically mobile. If you aren’t a legally blind, you may also observe individuals which may fall into this category. Within the academic environment, many new “Asian Americans” can also be referred to as parachute children, who come from Asia solely for the purpose of education.

While this transfer of intellectual currency is exciting, the idea that such economic exchanges between Asia and the U.S. is enough to constitute them being Asian American is troubling and contradictory to the original purpose of the term, as mentioned by Dirlik. Although as a pan-ethnic identity agendas become skewed and lost under those in power, the new connotations of transnationalism have far more drawbacks in terms of being a more encompassing or suitable definition.

In “Legal Servitude and Migrant Illegality: Migrant ‘Guest’ Workers in Taiwan,” Pei-Chia Lan explains the problems revolving migrant guest-workers in countries such as Taiwan. The main cause of the issues can be related to the sovereignty of the nation-state and the means it uses to go about protecting its borders. As a result, numerous fees are passed down to the documented migrant workers and inevitably make their lives less fruitful. In contrast, the lives of undocumented workers involve fewer hardships, mostly because they are off the nation’s state radar, and also because they are given room to negotiate their labor contracts, since no employers would particularly enjoy being cited for hiring illegals. Ultimately, Lan believes the resolution to this issue can simply be found in the improved treatment of guest workers. As they put it, the term ‘guest’ worker would be more applicable if the nation-states who have them made less of a fuss regarding the distinctions of citizen and alien. If we take a comparative approach, then it is clear that the countries such as Taiwan would benefit from giving their guest workers better treatment. In addition to the financial hardships faced in their journey to a new country of employment, the workers have to face issues in their personal lives as well, such as distance from families and the fear associated with adjusting to a whole new country. In the U.S., guest-workers also have these issues, but their proximity to one another and the ability to live and interact with others from their country of origin help ease the problem:

According Cohen in the chapter “Labour and Imperial Diasporas”, the Indians and British fall under the definition of diaspora in that they have strong sustained retention of group ties, a connection to the homeland, and lastly an exclusion in these societies they migrate to. These two groups differ in that they are at different ends of the spectrum: the Indian’s migration is considered a labour diaspora, whereas the British are a imperial diaspora. The Indian diaspora consisted mainly of indentured servants, where in exchange for passage to the plantations, Indian migrants would work to pay off their passage. Often they would continue to reenter indentured servitude in order to gain their own land, but this issue of land ownership would create more strife between the Indian migrants and natives of the land. Unlike the Indian diaspora, the British moved in order to colonize the lands. Because the Indians were laborers beneath the natives of the land they emigrate to, they were considered lower class. However, as colonizers, the British put the natives under their own rule thus creating a space for themselves as higher class. This emigration was considered as necessary, as the British needed to spread their culture, religion, as well as implement new social order. Initially, despite this geographical move, the British migrants still considered themselves citizens of the British empire. Cohen continues to explain how these two forms are diaspora are seen as transitional types. Eventually, the connection between the British empire back in Europe and those in British colonies weakened and rapidly faded.

Chinese and Indian Diaspora Groups | Source: The Economist

Cohen continues to describe a different type of diaspora in the chapter “Trade Diasporas: Chinese and Lebanese.” This trade diaspora is characterized by merchants who move back and forth and merchants who moved and settled. Cohen describes it as a interrelated net of commercial communities forming a trade diaspora. An example of this is the Chinese diaspora and Cohen distinguishes the difference between imperial and trade diasporas. Trade diasporas are not state sponsored while the former is not. Chinese traders were considered by colonial powers to be incredibly profitable but the Chinese immigrants were not essentially loyal to either the colonial powers nor the place. Rather, the place they felt most loyal to continued to be to their family and homeland. This impartiality Chinese immigrants felt towards these lands created strife between the Chinese and Malaysians in Malaysia.The Malays wanted to force upon them a form of citizenship while the Chinese wanted acceptance of their cultural and religious pluralism. Their compromise led to a federated Malaysia but ultimately ended in the withdrawal of Singapore to become and independent state. Cohen emphasizes the creation of Chinatowns as a unique institution in which the Chinese used to settle into societies. For Lebanese communities, the trade diaspora originated with the motive to get rich. However those who left Lebanon found different ideals and quickly embraced them. As a result, many Lebanese emigrants joined this emigration. Cohen describes the Lebanese diaspora as butterflies and caterpillers. There is a continuous flow between going home and back again abroad.

Similarly to how Cohen describes the Indian trade diaspora, Anannya Bhattacharjee highlights the exploitation of foreign workers in her article “Immigrant Dreams and Nightmares: South Asian Domestic Workers in North America in a Time of Global Mobility.” Like the indentured servitude of Indian migrants, immigrants in North America are facing working situations that verge on the point of slavery. Bhattacharjee explains how these women come to North America as a means to create an income for their families back at home. These jobs are often a step down from what she would be doing in her native country, and often beneath their abilities. This article discusses the problems illegal immigrants face upon finding domestic work. Because these house workers are illegal immigrants, the employers have a hold over them that they cannot easily escape. As a result, they are made to do intense physical housework, little to no privacy in their sleeping quarters, incredibly low wages, and threats of deportation by their employers. As a result, these immigrants are trapped into their jobs through fear of being discovered as an illegal alien. Furthermore, they are kept so isolated that it is difficult to leave. Bhattacharjee vividly describes how the poor living conditions domestic workers undergo when working under tyrannical employers.

By: Nick Chan and Tiffany Ly

1. What are two advantages about being an undocumented worker? Why? (Lan)

2.  What does Dirlik consider to be the two parts of contradiction in being ‘Asian American’? (Dirlik)

3. What is the difference between proletarian diaspora and mobilized diaspora as stated in Cohen? How would you classify the Indian and British diaspora?

4. What was at the root of the Lebanese diaspora?

5. Why did South Asian women remain in jobs demanding jobs with extremely low wages? Why did they even come to America?

R.I.P Whitney Houston

Week 5: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity

In “Ethnicity in an Age of Diaspora” R. Radhakrishnan discusses how diaspora is viewed by different generations and how that affects the understanding of their identity. Radhakrishnan gave an example of a recent festival he attended where he witnessed an old Indian man explaining the meaning of the Deepavali festival to a group of Indian-American children. However, he sees that both sides seemed to fail at understanding one another due to the fact that their childhood life may not have led the same lifestyle. Radhakrishnan quoted “It is vital that the two generations empathize and desire to understand and appreciate patterns of experience not their own” (Braziel, 2003, p. 123). Radhakrishnan is basically stating that younger generations are gradually assimilating into the American culture, consequently losing interest about their ethnic background therefore they should focus and spend more time listening to elders to grasp a different perspective of ethnicity from the older generation. On the other hand, instead of the being excessively attached to their homeland, the older generation needs to get more politically involved with the Americans because as time passes identities and perspectives will begin to shift even among their children.

Lisa Lowe theorizes Asian American differences by using the terms heterogeneity, hybridity and multiplicity in “Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity: Marking Asian-American Differences.” Lowe defines heterogeneity as the diversity within the Asian American groups, hybridity as cultural merging and understanding each other, and multiplicity as the standing of an individual along multiple axes of power (Braziel, 2003, p. 138). Lowe uses examples such as parent and youth issues to show the standing of Asian Americans’ culture in today’s generation as a way to show that old cultures and traditions are breaking apart as younger generation begins to assimilate with different cultures. To articulate the term identity, Lowe addresses with terms that Asian Americans often experience such as gender and class rather than race and ethnicity. In the end, it all comes down to understanding your own past histories and experiences and withstand it when encountered with difficult times. I believe that Lowe’s main concern is to build a better connection and alliance between Asian Americans and others.

According to Stuart Hall’s essay “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” he believes that there are two kinds of identity. The first kind of identity that Hall theorizes is the kind that makes an individual feel included and united with some sort of society. The other identity is more of a process of identification and wanting to belong. In this essay, Hall uses Caribbean identity as an example to explain why the first form of identity is essential in the new world, however the second identity is mostly tied to those with postcolonial circumstances meaning diaspora. Hall concludes that identity formation can sometimes be formatted strategically but sometimes it will be subjective.

Ryan Bishop and John Phillips explained how insignia of the military creates diasporic communities which often involve many violent acts. These violent acts operate through direct military conflict, such as the taping rebellion, or Perry's arrival in Japan, or china and Japan at war on Korean soil or the Vietnam War. This insignia spurred Chinese migration in the US toward the east coast, especially in New York's Chinatown, the largest Chinese community in the world.

Takeyuki Tsuda explains in his chapter on the radicalization of the Japanese Brazilians in Brazil in Japan. Tsuda explains that Japanese Brazilian are recognized as Japanese in Brazil because they only speak Japanese, however Japanese Brazilians are not recognized as Japanese in Japan because they do not have their cultural background or speak the language, so it creates a barrier between Japanese Brazilians to communicate with local Japanese people. 

Scott Wong stated how America developed and how it established to the own Hawaii, by competing economic, legal and ideological forces including the use of the American legal system to transform the socioeconomic, political and religious cultures of the islands. They started by over throwing the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 by American sugarcane plantation owners. 

Questions:

1) According to Lisa Lowe, what are the differences between heterogeneity, hybridity and multiplicity?

2) There are two kinds of identity according to Stuart Hall’s essay. What are they? And does he show any fondness to one than the other?

3) What does the author mean by the curses described as "deuteronomy"? What does the promise of their fulfillment in advance indicates?

4) What is an example of impact of transnationalism that formed the criminal laws of Hawaii?

5) When the Japanese Brazilian are considered Japanese In Japan and Brazil, were they also considered Brazilian in Japan and Brazilian also? Why ?

By: Chee and Allen