Week 1 - Christopher Myers

In Sau-Ling Wong's article, Denationalisation Reconsidered: Asian American Cultural Criticism at a Theoretical Crossroads, the complexity in defining the field of Asian American Studies is highlighted. Three factors that contribute to this complexity are the constantly growing and changing perspectives of those trying to define these concepts, the blurring of the line between the terms "Asian" and "Asian Americans", and the shift of perspectives from domestic to diasporic (1-2). This complexity is not surprising, as most fields of academia that are older and outside of the realm of ethnic studies have similar issues today, psychology being one example. As such, I don't see this complexity being a result of the field of Asian American Studies being relatively new and don't expect it to be resolved anytime soon, if ever.
When discussing the term "diaspora" in class, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many other groups had also brought up the question among themselves of whether or not second generation Asian Americans are to be considered as part of the definition. This is my first ethnic studies class so maybe my reaction is abnormal and this is quite common. Being mixed, it is difficult for me to embrace the idea that I am a part of this diaspora because of the difficulty of identifying as Asian in the first place. I'm wondering if this is quite common among mixed individuals.

Source: National Geographic - "Changing Faces"

Source:
Wong, Sau-ling C. “Denationalization Reconsidered: Asian American Cultural Criticism at a Theoretical Crossroads.”