K. Scott Wong. “Diasporas, Displacements,
and the Construction of Transnational Identities”
A stark
proclivity toward a globally multicultural hybrid identity created by “transnationalism
and global exchange” is inevitable according to Wong. That is, Wong evinces, due to communicative technological
advancements, ease of access to global trade, and subsequently (perhaps the
single most salient rationale) realistic and obtainable opportunities in the
accumulation of massive capital, these isolated, pure, and authentic identities
of the world demarcated under arbitrary bordered countries, nation-states,
cities, and villages, have or will become indistinguishable under the pretense
of capitalism. This alchemic phenomenon
characterized under transnationalism,
whether serendipitous (the implied imperialistic, highly fictitious, narrative
in which both sides benefit) or methodically orchestrated (militaristic
aggression in which ultimately reconciliation and sympathetic admittance of
guilt on behalf of the “good intentions” is the strategized solution to appease
the victims, and to sustain good relations with the world) by those influential
few with an insurmountable amount of power, has finally come to fruition.
The logic of
identity deformation, reformation, and re-reformation in sectors and domains of
the world is thus complicated, warped, and manipulated by these fantastical
processes of interaction and perceived friendships built strictly on power, and
oscillated between global capitalist markets through sheer ostentatious display
of superfluous capital gains. The dream
of a utopian, authentic, and concomitantly harmonious identity or group of
people in which the exchange of goods (monetary, cultural, spiritual, etc.) oscillate
effortlessly, becomes the dominant narrative.
Individuals living under this newly designed, universal deformed mask of
authenticity produced by hegemony must acquiesce, that is more clearly, reform
their self-identity on the basis of differentiation, in order to merely survive. Nevertheless, the efficacy of the logic of
identity, however implemented under this transgressive power, is twofold.
In result, a suspended
oft-paradoxical narrative of universal identification subsisting on the rhetoric
of heterogeneity as a means of freedom (Reconciliation?) from these hegemonic
forces is put into action. Individuation
then, consequently and as a reactionary mechanism to oppression, racism, etc.,
becomes a powerful tool for authentic self-identification, subservient to, of
course, the enduring hegemonic society. As
identity transforms and adapts, or discovers new ways in which to escape its
own vices, so does hegemony. The United
States of America, given its history of nativism as a combative action against
immigrants and outside influences, has since I believe, exhorted the conceit of
an authentic American identity due to its uncontrollable growing and diverse
demographics. Although internally
nothing has changed: even if this absolute, pure and authentic American
identity becomes a reality, hegemony will perpetually discover new ways to
adjust its narrative and rhetoric in performing insidious control.
The two articles
below closely examine the concept of a formulated authentic identity (the deformed
mask) forced on by these superpowers but thwarted by these displaced
individuals’ connections with their homeland politics, cultural values, and
societies. The result is a reformation
of both territory and population (native and outsider) following the logic of
identity, and this global push for a common hybridized idea of identification.
Questions:
1.
Is
the strict process of establishing a global authentic identity, regardless of
interaction caused by global trade, diaspora, or transnationalism, a subversive
ploy implemented by hegemony?
2.
Subsequently,
do we, by portraying and performing our “otherness” (strive for a heterogeneous
population each with its uniqueness) forge the very edifice of hegemony? Although the idea of the “Melting Pot” and
assimilation has been criticized and dissected for its oppressive underpinning,
does our individuation lubricate the mechanized system of hegemony?
3.
Finally,
to what extent will our independence, perhaps that which will be viewed as a
global mixture of sociological, cultural, and political ideologies, breed
cynicism amongst those who view harmony and peace as regression?
“ When Minorities Migrate: The Racialization of the Japanese
Brazilians in Brazil and Japan “ -Takeyuki (Gaku) Tsuda
In the article
“ When Minorities Migrate: The Racialization of the Japanese Brazilians in
Brazil and Japan,” Takeyuki Tsuda argues that diasporic subjects fundamentally
“de-essentialize” race. According to Tsuda, to “de-essentialize” means to
challenge the notions of racial conceptions of ethnic groups. The article
focuses on the conflicts of Japanese Brazilian people. This diasporic community
embraces their Japanese heritage in Brazil because being racially Japanese has
positive cultural connotations. For example, Japanese Brazilian people’s
success is seen as relating to their Japaneseness. Therefore, Japanese
Brazilians allow Brazilians to outwardly refer and greet them as “Japonês” and
to make slanty eye gestures, although those actions are clearly racially
distinct. However, in Japan, Japanese Brazilians explicitly segregate
themselves from the homogeneously constituted Japanese majority ethnicity. They
do so by practicing Brazilian traditions, such as through their greetings to
each other, their clothing, dancing the traditional samba dance even though
they don’t know it, and speaking Portuguese. Japanese Brazilians deliberately
resist assimilation into Japanese culture because they want to demonstrate they
are not Japanese despite their appearance and should not be held to
Japanese cultural expectations. (written by Thanhthao and Mel)
Question:
4.
How
does de-essentialization relate to cultural hybridity?
Bernard Scott Lucious. “Into the Black Pacific: Testimonies
of Vietnamese Afro-Amerasian Displacements”
Amerasians day laborer in Ho Chi Minh City, 1992
In his article
“In the Black Pacific,” Bernard Scott Lucious focuses on the testimonies of
Vietnamese Afro-Amerasians band their Diaspora. These testimonies are the
manners of defining, redefining, proclaim, and affirming one’s body. The
author makes a number of interesting points on the Diaspora of these Vietnamese
Afro-Amerasians. These people not only face national displace but also racial
displacement in and outside of Vietnam because they are mix race. The
Vietnamese in Vietnam views them as the children of the Americans even though
they are only half American, but can we even consider them American if they
never experience living in America? Lucious talks about three types of contact
zones. The three contact zones are: corporal, national and then international.
By contact zones Lucious meant that the Vietnamese Afro-Amerasians is displace
because their skin color. The Vietnamese (in Vietnam) associate anyone not
fully being yellow to not be true Vietnamese. Also, the darker the skin color,
the more discrimination Afro-Amerasians would experience. In the corporal zone,
racial discrimination is physical. It can be seen on the person’s skin, or
body. These injuries are the direct result of the feeling of being mixed race
and discriminated. Not only black is devalued but being an Afro-Amerasian woman
is more unfavorable and is exploited more as well. The National zone is
displacement within society. these are displacement within the family,
the Saigon’s street culture (also known as the street of Saigon), in school,
and in labor camps. The international zone is Vietnamese Afro-Asian hoping to
escape the discrimination in Vietnam. They either displaced on Cambodian
borders or in America (known as “Vietnamrica”).
This is a song
by Tasha, a Korean artist whose father was black and her mother was Korean.
This song is about her life being mix raced in South Korea. It touches on the
topics discussed in Lucious article of colorism, displacement and contact
zones. Notice that the music video is in Black and White.
Questions:
5.
Many
French-Vietnamese Eurasians migrated to Europe and was granted citizenship.
What are the possible reasons Vietnamese Amerasians did not travel to America?
6.
What
are the implications, pertinent to Dubois’s dual
consciousness, which Lucious evinces in the Afro-Amerasians? Not only are the perspectives of the
individual through colored lens, but also what is the significance of this
vision ultimately distorted by class and gender? In relation to skin color, what can you make
of class stratification, societal underpinnings, and ideologies that accompany
a mixed-race immigrant individual?
By Ving Lee, Thanhthao Nguyen, Melody Tan, Mai Nguyen, and Shoun Thao
By Ving Lee, Thanhthao Nguyen, Melody Tan, Mai Nguyen, and Shoun Thao
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