Aung Lin-Week 11-Blog 11

I will write this week’s blog on Parrenas and Siu’s article “New Conceptions, New Frameworks.” I love this reading because it talks briefly about all the articles we read in Asian Diaspora book. Personally, I experienced diaspora because my parents brought me to America for a better life and a better future and we still have connections to our homeland and even went back there for a visit back in December 2008. I feel like I’m displaced in America because it wasn’t my choice to come to America. I was a young child and my parents brought me here and I can’t afford to disconnect my family. For several years I felt lonely and depressed in America but I moved on and got use to my new life. This article also talked about diasporic labor in Taiwan and Philippines. This part reminded me of my relatives because they went to Taiwan and Philippines to work and sent remittance to their families in Burma. People in Burma are desperate to leave the country and they would go anywhere. I love this article because I felt like my family is part of diasporic labor in Taiwan and Philippines. This reminded me of Burmese people that are all spread out in other countries outside of Burma. Also in class, we talked about remittances to many home countries in Asia. I think Filipinos sent back the most amount of money to Philippines. I know for sure they're a lot more than Burmese. 

Question:

Diaspora only gained significance in Asian American Studies in the early 1990s. Why? What happened before that? Diaspora is very important part of ASA and why didn’t we study that before 1990s?

 Work Cited

Parrenas and Siu. “New Conceptions, New Frameworks.” 2007. Asian Diaspora.

California: Stanford University Press. 

Map of Asian Diaspora