Anderson’s and Lee’s chapter “Asian American Displacements” overviews the history of Asians in America and defines displacement. The beginning of the chapter briefly summarizes the history of Asians in North America from sixteenth century Filipino and Chinese merchants in Mexico to Chinese workers in California during the Gold Rush to the mass influx of Southeast Asians after 1975. Asian displacements have occured around the world, but many have occured in America for essentially as long as white colonials have been here. “The dynamics of the displacement framework lies in the fact that, as theoretical construct, displacement shares with diaspora the notions of physical dislocation, banishment and exile, but emphatically draws attention to the cultural dimension” (Anderson and Lee, 11). The physical effects of displacement are clear: immigrants are shifted from their familiar motherland and plopped into a whole new country thousands of miles across the Pafic Ocean. What is not as obvious is the non-physical effects. We discussed the psychological, emotional, and cultural effects of displacement in class. These factors are just as (and sometimes more) powerful than the spatial displacement. As a second generation Vietnamese American, I see the effects of my mother and father being displaced from their home country. My father especially talks about his love and pride for South Vietnam as he stands behind its flag. However, he left most of his family and all of his friends to come to America to make a better living for himself. I see how much he misses his family and former home country every day as he continues to adapt to American culture.
Question: How does displacement differ for different ethnic groups in Asia?
Bibliography
Anderson and Lee. “Asian American Displacements.” Displacements.
No comments:
Post a Comment