ASA 114
November 22, 2015
Week 11 - Regina Lee
People love authenticity.
Authenticity bears a sort of legitimacy, a mark of superiority if you will,
that the holder is in the right and appreciates the heritage and meaning behind
whatever they are doing. However, I firmly believe that the notion of authenticity,
especially in regards to ethnic portrayals of food, clothing, or otherwise, is
relative to the perception of the viewer. A perception that often stems from
wild representation in the media, literature and finds itself at odds with the
actuality of the situation regardless of whether it knows it or not. And the
subjects here, the individuals who are the recipients of this attention know it
full well and more importantly how to portray it to fulfill these external
expectations. Though the diasporic communities that participate in this
exchange are usually quite aware of the situation, it is vital to their own
success that they remain in such a state despite their disagreements with the
superficial understanding of their way of life by the larger community around
them. This phenomenon is very apparent in the world around us and has only grown inexplicably over the past years. I feel like our society was gradually pushed in this way to supplant the hegemonic power structures in place, to keep people divided, and populations misdirected.
What would be the result of the U.S. population looking past the trendy, superficial things around them, and actually caring deeply about collective American values and the heritage behind the many diverse groups?
Works Cited
Lee, Regina. “Theorizing Diasporas: Three Types of Consciousness”. Asian Diasporas: Cultures, Indentity, Representation. Ed. Robbie B. H. Goh and Shawn Wong. Hong Kong University Press, 2004. 53–76. Web...
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