E. San Juan’s “The Ordeal of Ethnic Studies in the Age of Globalization” criticizes ethnic and racial conflict in the United States in ethnic studies, globalization, and other topics under the guise of liberal multiculturalism. For example, 9/11 led to the “the murder, ostracism, and continuing harassment of thousands of South Asians and Arab Americans, coupled with the imprisonment by the government of hundreds of unnamed suspects who might be tried before
military tribunals” (Juan, 270). To this day, Islamophobia and prejudice against any person who may look like they are South Asian or Arab is still prevalent and problematic. I remember even when someone vandalized the mosque in Davis by throwing pig’s blood on it. As time passes, some people are still incredibly close minded and racist.
On the topic of ethnic studies, Juan had many interesting arguments. The Comparative American Culture Studies at Washington State University (WSU) had to jump through hoops every year due to budget cuts, downsizing, and retrenchment. This is an issue we just discussed in our Education Policy class, ASA189E. We talked about how students at SF State and UC Berkeley protested in 1968 for the creation of the ethnic studies department. Again, students protested in 1991 due to budget cuts, dismissal of professors of color, department, and mismanagement of funds and regulation in the ethnic studies department. It is disillusioning to see the same issues that happen in Berkeley at Pullman, Washington, too. That means that universities across America are not prioritizing funds to ethnic studies.
In addition to the dismantlement of this department around the country, Juan also criticizes the role of ethnic studies. He argues that universities advertise for ethnic studies under the guise of liberal multiculturalism. Rather than arguing for the outright abolition of the department, he wants ethnic studies to act as a social agent for change inside and outside the university (Juan 285). Since the university has the authority to allocate funds to certain departments and choose what type of classes are available, it has a significant impact on students and faculty. Juan also contends that “we need to attend to the problem of power. This would include the knowledge it produces and that legitimates it, the uses of such knowledge in disciplinary regimes, and its mutations in history” (Juan 286). In ASA 04, Professor Min also taught us about the branching relationship of knowledge and power. We discussed that knowledge is power, and power is knowledge. Power is everywhere. It does not simply sit with the people at the top (in this case university officials). The “common knowledge” we have now has been decided upon certain factors: media, word of mouth, literature, and more importantly what people of power decide is the right information.
Evelyn Hu-Dehart’s “Introduction: Asian American Formations in the Age of Globalization” declares that globalization can lead to economic success for individuals such as Gary Locke, but it can also lead to unmarred stereotypes revolving Asian Americans.
Gary Locke “appears to guide his fellow Asian Americans to cast their gaze spatially across the Pacific … as Asian Americans, we have the cultural attributes and personal connections to lead the way (Hu-Dehart 3). He is a pivotal example of a successful governor that can succeed as an Asian living in the United States. Globalization can lead to huge financial profit to traveling businessmen who act as translators and go-betweeners between the mother country and America (Hu-Dehart 3). My mom also travels often for work to consult with clients across America. Although her business is mostly national, she still makes a living for herself by traveling to different regions and consulting them not unlike Asian American workers who travel outside the country.
Another factor of globalization is the perpetuation of stereotypes such as the model minority myth. According to this myth, all Asians are inherently docile, smart, quiet, and innately successful. This myth not only pits Asian Americans against other “unsuccessful” minorities such as African Americans and Chicanos/x, but it also suggests that Asians’ prosperity comes from a vacuum.
After the Vietnam War there was another stereotype of Southeast Asians as refugees with no familial ties, little monetary access, and desperately fleeing a war torn country.
Question: What does Juan mean by “Ethicism, the absolutizing of ethnicity in the agenda of multiculturalism, occludes racism and delegitimize resistance to it?
Bibliography
E. San Juan Jr. “The Ordeal of Ethnic Studies in the Age of Globalization.”
Displacements.
Evelyn Hu-Dehart. “Introduction: Asian American Formations in the Age of Globalization.”
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