Week 1_Anna Pak_ASA114

©2019, Eater article on “How Bubble Tea Became a Complicated Symbol of Asian-American Identity.” 

Define diaspora. If you said the outward expansion or displacement of a group of people from their “native culture” (Anderson & Lee 10), think more. Consider globalization as “a contemporary dynamic” of modern capitalism (Anderson & Lee 4) to contextualize this displacement--physical, cultural, etc.--within history. The creation of boba or milk tea, for instance, is thanks to globalism with “American foreign aid programs” in Taiwan during the Cold War (Zhang). In her recent article, Zhang notes the boba’s migration to the US is synonymous to Taiwanese immigration in 1965. Like this drink, Asian Americans have a complex connection to socio-political forces which transcend nation-state lines. Speaking of nations, should we question the language of the "host" or "adopted" land/country? Can these words be used interchangeably or, like the continuous debate over the hyphen in “Asian-American”, should we contest the usage of host/adopted when describing different experiences? For instance, Anderson and Lee describe the diaspora dealing with real or imagined notions of home, but their language of the “homeland” seems to exemplify the tensions between Asian Americans, diasporic identities, and nation-state’s agendas (9-10). 

Works cited:

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

Zhang, Jenny G. “How Bubble Tea Became a Complicated Symbol of Asian-American Identity.” Eater, Eater, 5 Nov. 2019, https://www.eater.com/2019/11/5/20942192/bubble-tea-boba-asian-american-diaspora.