ASA 114
Week 10
In Theorizing Diasporas: Three Types of Consciousness, by Regina Lee, the author discusses the ways in which diaspora is looked at through ideology and themes of perception. She directly notes three types of diasporic consciousness, which include Homeland Idealism, Conception of diasporas as exotic, and conception of a transnational/transitional identity. She also mentions how significant the concept of "forgetting" is. This is deeply analyzed in a journal called Imagined Homelands, by Salman Rushdie. He dissects how being away from the homeland commonly leads to the creation of false memories or fictions of the place, people, etc. Another post he makes is the way people can create these fictions by making up happenings in their minds based off of old pictures.
This is an experience that greatly impacts the Asian diaspora due to the lostness and reminiscing feeling that is present after immigrating. Many immigrants just see their homeland as their normative standard of living, however, when venturing to a new land, it is likely that outsiding nations conceptualize the immigrant nation and the diaspora to be exotic or mysterious. There are so many factors that lead to the misconceptions of Asian countries and its people, but Lee touches on key themes that interrupt the diaspora. How does knowing these theories impact readers of the Asian diaspora?
No comments:
Post a Comment