Week 1 - Douglas Tran ASA114

Douglas Tran 

ASA 114

In “Displacements and Diasporas: Asians In the Americas,” by Anderson and Lee, the first chapter ties together two main ideas, diasporas and displacement. The book describes a diaspora as a, “signified collective trauma, a banishment, where one dreamed of home but lived in exile,” (Anderson, 9). This is the reality for some diasporas who have been displaced due to social, political, or economic reasons. The book then talks about the idea of “home” when it came to members of a displaced community. This week in class, we talked a lot about defining a diaspora and this provided a segway into this reading because as we defined a diaspora, the reading gave us more clarifications on the idea of displacement and the feelings behind it. Displacement and “home” are two interesting concepts in that, it describes a lot of our families as Asian Americans in the United States. Taking into account the idea of “Asians being forever foreign,” how does one make a home of a place that is built to reject them? The readings piqued my curiosity about how diasporic communities battle the sense of belonging and rightful place in society.

Works Mentioned

Anderson, W. W., & Lee, R. G. (2005). Displacements and diasporas: Asians in the Americas. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Image: https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/1973/10561724/where-is-home-the-travelling-light_670.png