Week 6: Culture

1. Cultural Identity and Diaspora by Stuart Hall. Reader

In the article, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”, Stuart Hall discusses the Caribbeans and “Third Cinema” addressing questions about identity, cultural practices, and cultural production. Hall states that there are two ways of reflecting on “cultural identity”, identity understood as a collective shared history among individuals affiliated by race or ethnicity that is considered to be fixed or stable, and identity understood as unstable, metamorphic, and even contradictory. Hall believes that identity should be seen as a “production”, because identity is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within. There are two different ways of thinking about “cultural identity.” The first position defines “cultural identity” as a shared culture, which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common. The second position recognizes that there are also critical points of deep and significant difference which constitute “what we really are” or “what we have become.” Hall states that cultural identities are the points of identification, the unstable points of identification or suture, which are made within the discourses of history and culture.

According to Hall, he brings up that there is a conception of “difference,” to rethink the positioning and repositioning of Caribbean cultural identities in relation to three “presences”: Presence Africaine, Presence Europeenne, and Presence Americaine. Presence Africaine is the site of the repressed. Africa was silenced through the power of slavery. As a result of the experience, Africa remains the unspoken “presence” in Caribbean culture. Hall brings up an example about him growing up as a child in Kingston, and how everyone had an their own identity, but years later, people started to see themselves as “black” which also connected to their past of slavery.  Presence Europeenne involves exclusion, imposition, and expropriation. Africa was unspoken, but Europe kept speaking and speaking about the Caribbean cultural identity. Europe introduced the idea of power which created a discourse of “difference” in the Caribbeans. Lastly, Presence Amercaine continues to have its silences. It is the presence of a “New World” where all these different cultures meet, a land where assimilations and creolization were negotiated. The “New World” also represents the beginning of diaspora, diversity, hybridity and difference.

2) Sunaina Maira. “Mixed Desires: Second-generation Indian Americans and the Politics of Youth Culture.” Displacements and Diasporas: Asians in the Americas

   People who are part of the second-generation, especially youth, are stuck between a rock and a hard place because they are torn between identifying with their ethnic culture and the mainstream culture. In “Mixed Desires”, Sunaina Maira does a research on second-generation Indian-American youth and how they come to identify with themselves as an Indian American and a “local”. Maira goes into detail about how these youths created a subculture, a mixture of the Hindi music and dance with American music, as well as Indian-styled jewelry with the latest American clothing fashion. Youths use the desi subculture scene to network with others in their area. Places where the youths can listen and dance to this kind of music help them find their “place” in a social hierarchy. The desi parties are only a temporary escape from reality where once the party’s over, the youths have to go back to their everyday routines. Gender plays a role in subculture as well. When it comes to fashion and wearing hip-hop clothing, it’s a double edged sword for men and women. The men are allowed to wear baggy pants and get away with it. When women dress in body hugging outfits, they’re considered “loose” and not marriage material. Youths and their families had to chose between black or white for their race. Those who were fortunate to have money were considered whites and those of lower- and upper-middle class were considered black. It seems to be that the second-generation youth tend not to apply the term “diaspora” to anything anymore or as much as the older generations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9sMBbPGpyQ

3) Kieu-Linh Valverde. “Defying and Redefining Vietnamese Diasporic Art and Media as Seen through Chau Huynh’s Creations.” Transnationalizing Viet Nam

   Kieu-Linh Valverde’s chapter called “Defying and Redefining Vietnamese Diasporic Art and Media as Seen through Chau Huynh’s Creations” discusses three issues involving art pieces that created backlash in the Vietnamese community. Valverde discusses how the smallest things can be taken out of context and blown out of proportion. Such as Chau Huynh’s Pedicure Basin exhibit, Nguoi Viet Daily news, and protests at art exhibits from anticommunists. Huynh’s first piece was her Marriage Quilt that she made by sewing pieces of both the Republic of Viet Nam (RVN) and SVN flags together, where both her and her husband are from. It wasn’t until 2008, in an article published by Nguoi Viet Daily news, when Huynh made headlines for her Pedicure Basin work that caused the most controversy. Huynh was accused of defacing and disrespecting Viet Nam and the Vietnamese community by putting the country’s flag in a foot basin. Just like Huynh, Nguoi Viet Daily news got off on a rocky start, filled with backlash and protest from the Vietnamese community. Their backlash began when they featured a picture of Ho Chi Minh’s tomb in 1989. Many art shows and exhibits and other newspapers also received negative viewpoints from the Vietnamese community for supporting communism. Protesters shut down multiple art exhibits over the ideology of anticommunism. The F.O.B. II: Art Speaks exhibit allowed over 50 artists from Viet Nam and the U.S. to participate in an event where they wouldn't be harassed by anticommunist protesters. Valverde states that “…art, and places that display art, can shape what is acceptable cultural production in society.” (Valverde, 92). Valverde shows that the anticommunists have the upper hand in most of these events because they weren’t afraid of speaking out and that they gained the most control over everyone.

(Photo courtesy: bolsavik.com, 2008)

Questions:

1) How is identity defined by Hall? Why does he bring up the three presences to position "cultural identities"?

2) Why is it that we don't see any Asian American artists in the mainstream music industry today?

3) What kind of influence does the hip-hop culture have on other Asian Americans?

4) Is it important for an artist or the media to have a solid understanding or background of their piece that they will be publishing?

5) Did Huynh and the Nguoi Viet Daily know what they were getting into when they created the project or article? Or do you think the community was overreacting?

Jessica and Adrian

Week 5: Politics

                              

Kieu-Linh Valverde. “Whose Community is it anyway? : Overseas Vietnamese Negotiating their Cultural and Political Identity-The Case of Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen.” Transnationalizing Viet Nam.

Whose Community is it Anyway? candidly reveals the transparency of a community cohesiveness could simply be rifted and diffused over differences of anti-communism sentiments.  Author, Caroline Kieu-Linh Valverde, candidly divulges the underpinning cultural values and attitudes that altered the unity, progress, social and political positioning of the Vietnamese community in San Jose. The incidents surrounding the people’s campaign for recall election of Vice-Mayor, Madison Nguyen, a Vietnamese American council woman, was an epitome of the deeply rooted political activism of Vietnamese Americans.  At times such as this, community’s strengths and weaknesses are apparent and easy to recognize. The author recognizes and honors the historical legacies of the Vietnamese older generation; at the same time, laments over the dichotomy of treatment toward Madison, an accomplished and independent council member who has in the past been praised and embraced by the community for her fight against social justices and betterment of the community. Madison’s triumph over the recall election signifies that if there were to be a hegemony voice of the community, it should be one that is representative of all members, not just those who could reverberate loudest and longest. 

Understanding of the reconstruction of Vietnamese community in diasporas requires the      knowledge of their long history of the Eastern    imperialism, Western colonialism, civil war and  diasporas. The emergence of Vietnamese in  diasporas was essentially a result of the lost of  South Vietnam to the North Vietnam communists.  The expulsion of the Vietnamese from their  homeland branded them with new status and  labels, such as boat people, refugees, political  prisoners and Vietnamese in diasporas. Vietnamese  in exile having witnessed the gradual expunging of  historical and cultural essences of the old Viet Nam and the mistreatment of those who stayed behind, beginning with their “Saigon” city now wears the name of their enemy, “Ho Chi Minh” City ignited an underlying visceral sentiment of love/hate relationship for the place they called “the burial place of our mother’s placenta”. Many are apprehensive to embrace it again due the psychological and physical wounds inflicted into their fleshes and memories. This is where the strengths and weaknesses of the Vietnamese communities lie, especially in the progressive world of globalization.
               
                    

The historical experiences  taught Vietnamese to be resilient across time and space;  however, appropriating the tenacious sentiments  of a distant past appears to be a dilemma in the  way they “imagined” their communities in  diasporas should be (Anderson, 1983).  With that  being said,  with all of their experiential wisdom,  they justified the deployment of political tactics  and treatments of the Madison Nguyen’s incident  was an attempt to protect the younger generations  from the infiltration of transnational  communist  government into the socioeconomic positioning of  Vietnamese communities in America.  The younger generations could not even imagine the deep rooted resentment from the elders due to the lack of shared experiences; thus, they can’t fully appreciate the sacrifices and the burden the older generations carried due to the lost of their country.  Granted that the trepidation for the  loss of cultural heritage and ethnic authenticity are substantiated and valid; however, the older generations should trust and allow the younger generations to learn by way of experience and reasoning; which are more meaningful than the belief by blind faith. Even more important, younger generations  who benefited from the lessons of previous generations should regard that trust with care and caution in order to avoid the pitfalls that many generations before us worked so hard for us to avoid.   After all, their experiences molded us into who we are today. Thus, trust, autonomy, empathy and respect are essential from both sides in order to close the gap between generations.  

True community is formed when people respect and listen to each other’s needs, showing compassion for an understanding of fellow members (Valverde, 2012). The “imagined” community that everyone aspires to build isn’t of “oness” but of multiple similarities and differences of composition, values and practices; never the less, moving toward common goals as one whole body make-up of diversity (Hall, 2003).    A divided community is stagnant and can’t position itself advantageously in the socioeconomic position of the social fabric of America and is an unfortunate situation (Valverde, 2012). The betterment of the community as a whole should prevail over sentimental disparity because socioeconomic positioning translates into social equality and better quality of life. 

Questions:

Given the fact that it has been more than 30 years, but many Vietnamese Americans couldn’t let go of their haunting past. Is it possible for them to find a common ground where they can build a neutral foundation for the future generation?  Or will their legacy continues to influence the cultural identity of the generations to come?

Will the new generations who are born and raised in an individualistic society be fully capable of understanding the sufferings and resentment of past generations?

For those whose hearts do not beat to the same “lop dop” rhythm of anticommunism be able to voice their opinions?

How much of self denying and sacrifice of personal freedom one is willing to live with so that  the community can progress toward a better socioeconomic positioning and social equality and justice  as a whole? 

Kieu-Linh Valverde. “Whose Community is it anyway?" : Overseas Vietnamese Negotiating their Cultural and Political Identity-The Case of Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen.” Transnationalizing Viet Nam.

   Valverde uses the case of  Madison Nguyen and her controversial rise in politics as a Vietnamese American woman to address the shadowed issues within the Vietnamese American community such as continued anti-communist sentiments, political discontent, and the four-step community building process.  In efforts to get the city to recognize the commerce contributions of the Vietnamese community while trying to please all submissions for a  prominent commercial area, Nguyen came up with the name, Saigon Business District. However, this decision was blown way out of proportion by a  number of individuals who favored to say the least, the term Little Saigon. The unresolved dynamics of these concerns turned a location-naming decision into a hostile debate on alternative, pro-communist motives of the entire San Jose city council and mostly brutal media attack on vice-mayor Nguyen. The attacks ranged from negative critiques of her physical appearance and gender to concerns of past romantic relationships to proposed alliances justified by her race.

   A key insight into the complexity of this case is predominantly the notion that the same Vietnamese community members who worked hard to elect and support Madison Nguyen into a San Jose school board and city council seat were at the frontline of her press conference yelling “you’re a traitor and a liar” and urging a recall of her standing position. Through a clear, in depth analysis of multiple perspectives engaged in this case, Valverde conveys Nguyen’s genuine commitment to the Vietnamese community and discusses the roots of miscommunication. A primary cause being “ the tensions in the continued efforts of Vietnamese Americans to produce their own reality” (130-131).

Question:

What other reasons may vice-mayor Madison Nguyen’s have had to refuse changing the name of the business district from Saigon business district to Little Saigon besides her beliefs that the pro-Little Saigon protesters were not representative of the entire San Jose Vietnamese American community?

Michael Peter Smith. "Transnational Migration and the Globalization of Grassroots Politics."

In Michael Peter Smith's essay, he states that, in world cities such as New York and Tokyo, the "inside" and the "outside" are rigidly defined in order to represent the flow of global space.  Global flows of information and technology are gathered and localized in these world cities.  This dichotomy of globalization and localization is highly problematic and can obscure the possibilities of global grassroots politics, which goes beyond the boundaries of the nation-state in which politics are defined.  This essay discusses the globalization of transnational migrants' culture and how global grassroots movements subvert the globalization/localization dichotomy.

            Rather than the typical "global reach" approach to the globalization of culture, which is attributed to "multinational capitalism and mass communications", Smith focuses on the "globalization of cultural and political practices produced 'from below'"(17).  What this entails is the ways that transnational migrants recreate and reproduce culture.  These transnational migrants or refugees live bifocal lives in which they remain connected to transnational networks and multiple nation-states, thus delocalizing the space in which they practice culture. However, because transnational migrants are not bound by space, they are also deterritorialized, living in imagined communities.  They respond to deterritorialization by attempting to reterritorialize another space, such as ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown.

The "think globally/act locally" way of thinking about transnational migrants and global grassroots politics still restricts grassroots politics into the binary of globally/locally by "restrict[ing] political action to resistance to the actions of local political and economic elites, such as mayors, urban service providers, 'growth machines,' business interests, and the local press" (25) and does not fit well into local politics. However, there are better ways to “reconstitute the notion of ‘grassroot’” politics together, which are practiced among the transnational migrants and refugees. Michael Peter Smith termed them as “cross-border grassroot politics”, which are thinking locally while acting globally, living bifocally (or thinking transnationally while acting multilocally), and thinking and acting simultaneously at multiple scales (25).

The process of “thinking locally while acting globally” is to think about the political sense of what the community wants/needs while doing something extraordinary in the political world to reach the goal. Smith used the Guatemalan refugees as an example of the process; they thought about returning to their home country while recruiting better representatives for their cause and putting the representatives as mediators between the Guatemalan government, UN, and themselves (25-26). This process was the idea to bring a movement to state what the people wanted and bring change for the better.

The second process is “living bifocally, or thinking transnationally while acting multilocally”; this process is to think about what the people in the home country need and what the other country could offer to be used as support, while using both knowledge from those two different countries to help shape a new transformation. A UC Berkeley organization called Students Against Intervention in Central America (SAICA) collected medical supplies, clothes, and other things to bring to El Salvador. In El Salvador, not only did they give out the supplies, but they also brought films and concerts and supported campaigns to support the people (26-27). Smith pointed this out as an example to the second process because of the impact that people from a different country with knowledge of both worlds makes a difference.

The last process is “thinking and acting simultaneously at multiple scales”, which is gathering on a big event about a topic and include many experiences/stories to ensure that they are told in order to create rights/laws for protection and justice. In 1993, on International Women’s Day, many women from all over the world came to the conference held in San Francisco and talked about protecting women’s rights and safety with their own experiences/stories from others (30-31). Smith thought of this as a combination of the other two processes and create it like an end result or last product of grassroot movement/politics.

With Smith’s three “cross-border grassroot politics”, he thought that it would be easier for the people to use them than to be repressed or follow the dominant order (31). They have the power and ability to create new grassroot ideas and politics to send their messages across the governments and maybe, the world. However, the present politics and order are not allowing new grassroot ideas/politics to blossom because ordinary people have been exploited, marginalized, and silenced by the dominant government order (32). If the people allow the government to step over them, it would be difficult to create new political ways to speak their words to make change.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzrWwvI8JpI (Fall of the I-hotel trailer)   

“Saigon, USA” Film

On April 30th, 1975, many Vietnamese refugees and people migrated to the United States to flee from the new regime. Some traveled through boats, some flew on American aircrafts, and others fled by foot to other countries to temporarily stay in refugee camps. The immigrants and refugees were trying to find a place to stay and start their lives over. In the United States, the Vietnamese people were separated from others, but they managed to regroup in Orange County and created a place for themselves, which is known as Little Saigon. There, they built a community and spread their culture, ideas, and beliefs of their homeland. However, it is not like the Communist Vietnam of today; it is more of their ideal image of what South Vietnam was like before the war. The loss of their ideal homeland made them feel nostalgic, which motivated the people to build Little Saigon in the United States and spread their culture to others and their next generations.
  Asian/Asian-Americans are stereotypically known to be silent or not resilient, but at some point when the situation hits at the core of the people’s ideals, they would come together to send a powerful message. Trung Van Tran hung up a poster of Ho Chi Minh, which enraged most of the Vietnamese community. They rallied in front of his store to make him take the poster down and stated that they are not communists or communist lovers. This shows that the Vietnamese community still clings to their pasts and ideals because of the war and its traumatic effects (i.e. loss of family members and home). They will not associate with any communists because it would insult their political ideas of what Vietnam should be. As long as they cling to the ideal Vietnam, they will not stand for any insults or aspects of communism that will tarnish their image of their new home.

  Overall, the film did a good job in taking into consideration the sentiments of anticommunist refugees as well as the sentiments of pro-communists while portraying the complex relationships and tensions within the Vietnamese community. However, its main location of focus for the controversy is placed not only ,of course physically, in the US but also in concept. As a result it fails to include/ capture the contemporary homeland politics as well and complexities of a people's historic trauma being carried over transnationally.

Posted: Jennine, Rosario, Jillian, Marryanne

Week 4: Economics

“Global Commodity Networks and the Leather Footwear Industry”

By Miguel Korzeniewicz

Commodity chains are a limited aspect of global economic interdependence, for it merely emphasizes interconnectedness in the production of goods.  Rather, the idea of Global Commodity Networks (GCM’s) offers a more holistic view of economic occurrences.  In addition to the normal routes of production, cultural aspects account for trade fluctuations and efficiency, while fickle consumer taste act as a gatekeeper for the fleshing and styling of the actual product.  This article performs a case study to validate these effects, using the interconnections between the shoe industries in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina as models.

In this simplified example, the United States serves as the ultimate acceptor, with Brazil and Argentina holding most of production.  Demand for imported footwear in the United States, which is indicated by the “value of footwear imports between 1967 and 1980 increasing tenfold...tripling to 9 billion in 1990 (317)”.  This prompted an increase in shoe production in Brazil, with Argentina as the base, with their high-quality leather goods.  Therefore, in this way, all three countries depend on each other for profit and a good outcome - an agreement that any one country cannot do alone.  Brazil appears to be the one pushed and pulled by both sides - one, by the demander, and two, its supplier of raw goods.  Much of the drama that is within production focuses on relations between Brazil and Argentina, while marketing the product and the product itself involves the US and other, larger ties with the rest of the world.

Globalization has brought its fair share of benefits - and consequences.  In the shoe industry, supply, demand, and the middlemen in between are all intertwined into one large mass, which offers plenty of production and innovation.  Such dependency through not just hard economic ties, but influences that are of cultural and ethnic relevance has noteworthy consequences.  For example, the Germanic background of many shoe manufacturers in Brazil produces “competitive collectivism” among themselves, paving the path to further output to the shoe-hungry United States.  Transnational identities - such as the Brazilians with firm German backgrounds - create a further sense of identity and obligation, influencing production to a large degree.  In this way, economic ties are strengthened by the sense of community that German-Brazilian shoe manufacturers had created for themselves.

Fashions and trends now go through a series of checks and balances before they are mass-marketed to the public’s tastes, which are increasingly more international - another indication of globalization.  Production, therefore, now has an additional step - evaluating the ever-fluctuating preferences of individuals at many corners of the world.  In this case, “intermediaries” go to “global cities” - New York, Paris, Hong Kong etc. to scrutinize the sizzling status of certain style, bringing back their findings for shoe manufacturers.  This observation hold significance, for it indicates homogeny among public tastes throughout the world, and how even preference is now dictated by factors that have been spread, thanks to the information age and ease of travel brought on by globalization.

(The quality and nature of advertisements for shoes are changing with technology. In Norway, there is a new way of looking at shoes in a magazine called “Augmented Reality.”)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKwLBWCKs94)

“Asians on the Rim: Transnational Capital and Local Community in the Making of Contemporary Asian America”

By: Arif Dirlik

Arif Dirlik discusses the understanding and meaning of an “Asian America”. First, he describes two news reports in AsianWeek published in January of 1996 by Matt Fong, California State Treasurer and Henry Der, from the California Department of Education. Matt Fong argues for a growth in global trade connecting California to the Pacific, while Henry Der argues for a commitment to the communities in California.

Dirlik illustrates the two contrasting ideas as: “looking to the Pacific” (2), connecting roots back to Asia, and “looking to communities rooted in California and their historical legacies” (2), connecting to the history and community of life in the United States.
Similarly, there is the tension between area studies and Asian American studies. Area studies is more of an orientalist study, focusing more abroad and globalizing with the world, whereas Asian American studies focuses on the culture, problems, politics, and community in the U.S.

So is Asian America based on two separate ideals: global or local?
Dirlik explains that it is increasingly diasporic. People move back and forth in multiple locations.

(Henry Der, Photo Credit: AsianWeek 2012)

Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant “Guest” Workers in Taiwan

Engaging in migrant work is an attractive way to help the economic state of families and associates.  However, there are two sides to this work - one of legal servitude, and another of an ironically undocumented freedom.  As Pei-Chia Lan’s article stresses, abiding by the rules can ironically breed corruption, while illegal work, though not without its own risks, enact freedom and a better chance at economic prosperity.  Labor of this kind can be a misconception - the reality is a dismal enslavement, tied up in metaphorical chains rather than fair, clean work.  This piece examines the consequences of too much labor and not enough demand for such in the relationship between the nation-states Taiwan and the Philippines - and the helplessness experienced by the guest worker, with the result of said worker breaking out by breaking the rules - by running away.

“Guest worker” is a term that is broadly encompassing.  One must place a distinction on the type of labor - blue-collar workers are subject to harsh rules and contracts, while white-collar professionals such as teachers and businesspeople are generally granted an unlimited range of stay, depending on a case-by-case basis (Lan, 258).  This article focuses on the plight of the blue collar domestic worker, mainly referring to women who take care of their employers’ household chores.  Coming from generally disadvantaged economic backgrounds, these foreign laborers hold the indignity of having to pull exorbitant amounts of money out of their own pockets in order to be placed in a job - something that Taiwanese brokerage companies have been in the practice of doing.  This investment of their own capital creates a sense of obligation in the worker, giving them little choice but to endure the abuse from employers.

The host and home countries also work together in order to continue the flow of guest workers The Philippine government, for example, displays the idea of a “nation-hero” - one who is in another country, working hard for their family back at home, while still being fiercely loyal to their country (Lan, 256).  This strategy is enacted in an effort to inspire a sense of national pride from those who had left the Philippines in favor of other parts of the world - thus inspiring transnational ties.  The country who receives these workers then reap in the benefits of a younger, more efficient cheap labor by restricting overseas contracts to one to three years, thus effectively kicking out aging workers (Lan, 256).  Sending countries, in this way, strike a contract with host nation-states to make a profit out of the ebb and flow of human workers - using the concept of labor as a commodity.  In this way, the individual voice can be lost, and corruption can easily pursue.

One of the main reasons for the movement of people to other places is the search for profit.  Better economic opportunity is in the guest worker’s mind - however, blue-collar workers in other countries are treated abysmally, with exploitation occurring even before they begin to work.  The spread of people across the world is not always welcome or a leap to progress, as the case of the guest worker clearly articulates.

In Hong Kong, there is a court ruling allowing application for permanent residency status for foreign workers after 7 years of legally working in the city - however, opposition abounds.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfQZTfOEQk)

QUESTIONS:

1. In “Global Commodity Networks and the Leather Footwear Industry: Emerging Forms of Economic Organization in a Postmodern World” by Miguel Korzeniewicz, how has fashion shoe trends affected globalization?
2. The US development in the shoe market is outlined from the 1920s, 1946-1960, and mid 1970s. What happened during each year?
3. In “Asians on the Rim: Transnational Capital and Local Community in the Making of Contemporary Asian America”, Arif Dirlik describes two contradicting ideals of Asian Americans: globally and locally. Discuss these ideals. Do you think it’s a contradiction?
4. In “Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant “Guest” Workers in Taiwan” by Pei-Chia Lan, many people overseas come to the United States to work and send money back home. This movement of bodies can lead to exploitation because they are considered “cheap labor”. What parallels of the past are similar to this?
5. What is the difference between white collar and blue collar jobs?

(BY: SHANTAL MOUA & JING MAI)

Week 3: Processes- Transnationalism

1. “From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration,” by Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch, and Cristina Szanton Blanc

The article discusses the topic of transnational migration, which Schiller describes as “immigrants whose daily lives depend on multiple and constant interconnections across international borders and whose public identities are configured in relationship to more than one nation-state” (48). This puts on a debate on immigration in the U.S. In the 1960’s, “transnational” was referred to as the establishment of corporate structures with established organizational based in more than one state, but now transnational processes have become part of a broader phenomenon of globalization.

Schiller then states that there are three main focuses for immigrants to live transnational lives: a global restructuring of capital based, racism in both the U.S. and Europe that contributes to the economic and political insecurity, and the nation building projects of both home and host society build political loyalties among immigrants to each nation-state in which they maintain social ties (50). However, immigrants still face situations of economic opportunity insecurities along with racial discrimination.

In the past, immigrants were forced to forget about where they came from, because the U.S. demanded that citizens, both native and naturalized identify the U.S. as “home”. In contemporary times, immigrants who permanently settled in a new country still maintained their ties to their “homelands”. For example, immigrants who have moved away to settle in the U.S. for better job opportunities, then sending money or any other necessities back to their family.

2. “Asian American Studies in the Age of Transnationalism: Diaspora, Race,Community”

by Jonathan Y. Okamura

In Jonathan Okamura’s “Asian American Studies in the Age of Transnationalism: Diaspora, Race,Community,” he argues that it is vital for AAS to “retain a primary concern with the community by situating it transnationally in the larger context of global economic and political forces and processes”(172). By embracing transnationalism as well, he believes Asian American communities become more “densely connected to Asia than before”(193).

The Asian American Studies department gained much popularity amongst students.

Individuals gained understanding of their community through theoretical developments such as poststructuralism, postmodernism, cultural studies, and transnationalism.

An example Okamura uses for transnationalism was Filipinos in diaspora who maintained cultural practices including: returning back to the homeland sending gifts, and communicating via telephone and email.

Even though Okamura provides readers with a sense of why transnationalism gave a strong framework for Asian Americans, there are also examples of how global forces, including Asian foreign investors, may negatively impact the daily lives of residents. Unfortunately in the past decades, San Francisco’s Filipino American community was demolished due to the global economy’s need for commercial and residential real estate. In this case, Okamura refers to other Asian American groups such as Chinese Americans and Asian Indians as “transnationalist capitalists, entrepreneurs, and highly-paid immigrant officials”(192). In his opinion, there are disadvantaged ethnic minorities that are still unable to resist the global economic forces of the New Economy.

Ultimately, Okamura urges the need for the community to “seek social and economic justice and local empowerment” for those who still continue to struggle in order for AAS to continue to advance.

3. Christopher Lee--"Diaspora, Transnationalism, and Asian American Studies: Positions and Debates"

The development of Asian American Studies as a discipline occurred as a result of a combination of historical, political and cultural demands. Because of burgeoning inequalities along race and ethnic lines in the United States during the 1960's, the civil rights movement took place; spawned Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies.

There is no doubt that transnationalism and diasporas are inherently part of Asian American history. However, Lee argues that the discipline has become "overly domestic in its research focus" (32). Lee is calling for a re-injection of transnational and diasporic centered thought for Asian American studies. This incorporation of both transnational and diasporic ideas has already been studied by many feminist and queer theory scholars (Lee, 29). The necessity for Asian American studies to refocus on transnational and disaporic thought is because the current focus is more so focused on the American side of Asian American dialogue. Lee's stance on "rethinking transnational/diasporic processes" in Asian American Studies, he argues that it is both "promising" and could potentially be "totalizing or illuminating" (30).

As we have mentioned and revisited every lecture so far, definitions of Diasporas are ever changing with every definition as a working definition. Transnationalism would also likely have an ever changing definition. Lee strongly suggests that the previous two concepts should be reintegrated back into Asian American Studies. Adding a diasporic approach for Asian American Studies would take into consideration a more intersectional; rather than a "U.S.-centric view" (32). On a final note, Lee reminds the reader that without a reinsertion of transnationalism back into Asian American studies, then the field may be inaccurately studying some of the communities which form its foundation (32).

Ho Chi Minh City December '09. 

(Photo credits Eldo Chan)

Questions:
1. Why does the hegemonic political ethic of the U.S. want its migrant citizens to forget about their ties to their homeland?

2. In your opinion, are the drawbacks of transnationalism(racism,exploitation,displacement) worth it? Or is it better to accept denationalization?

3. Even though transnationalism has been made easier through technology,has transnational racism decreased? Or is the stereotype of the perpetual foreigner still imminent in society?

4. If definitions of diasporas and transnational ideas are ever changing, how will academia (for Asian American Studies) decide what the "proper" baseline is for these two concepts?

5. When and if Asian American Studies incorporates more diasporic and transnational concepts, will this revive (or dilute) the stagnant state of the discipline?

Written by: Adrian, Nicole and Eldo

Week 2: Contexts--Globalization

Contexts--Globalization

Evelyn Hu-Dehart - "Introduction: Asian American Formations in the Age of Globalization"

            Hu-Dehart's essay involves a look at Asian American identity as players in both external/internal United States issues and global economics. Interestingly enough, Hu-Dehart explains that these identities are both self-assumed and placed upon one as a result of both historical and present demands. There seems to be internal conflict with Asian American identity especially in our modern multicultural, pluralistic United States. Asian American's in Hu-Dehart's essay, like many others constantly struggle to prove their American-ness and at the same time reinforce ties with the "home" country.

            In researching Asian American's role as an external player, Hu-Dehart refers to this group as "transnationals and bridgebuilders on the Pacific Rim" (9). The bridge that the immigrant has to their home country is not severed even if their offspring What this means is that the role of being a transnational participant is passed on from the immigrant to his/her offspring. An example of this is the reference to Gary Locke who was the first Chinese-American governor to be elected in the United States (Hu-Dehart 1-2). Locke was an example to Asian American's that "minority success" was possible and to the citizens of his ancestral home that one of their own had achieved status in the host country (2). Critics of Locke question his role as a bridgebuilder even though he does not speak his ancestral language.

            Internally, Hu-Dehart looks at Asian American's role in domestic politics as conflicted and praised at the same time. An example of this exists when referencing Bill Lan Lee, who was appointed to direct the Western regional office of the NAACP (Hu-Dehart 21). Lee's legacy as an accomplished attorney fulfills the model Asian progeny climbing up the ranks of the host country (not unlike Locke). Challenges occur when Lee finds himself blocked from his appointment to the U.S. Department of Justice by Senator Orrin Hatch (Hu-Dehart 21). This is clear evidence that the receiving country still sees the Asian American as an outsider, unfit for his or her position even if they are thoroughly qualified for it.

            Lastly is the issue of Asian Americans as a singular group. To lump Asian American success in both transnational and domestic realms as universal to all Asians merely reinforces the model minority ideology. Hu-Dehart points out that many (Southeast Asians) do not have the amount of cultural capital that many of the dominant Asian groups possess. This glossing over of Asian American success serves to de-racialize issues, implying that Asians have come up the ranks politically and that the "problem" is no longer.

1. Is one's "asian-ness" and competency as a transnational bridgebuilder require them to speak the language of their ethnic home?

2. If not, then is the bridgebuilder just a "familiar" face to be used in personal connections (guanxi) to facilitate international relations?

3. As a bridgebuilder, someone who links two different countries, has the Asian American really improved their status as an "outsider"?

Gary Locke as an "inbetweener", speaking on Internet Freedom in China:

E. San Juan Jr. - "The Ordeal of Ethnic Studies in the Age of Globalization"

            A post 9/11 world where heightened national security and an where neo-conservative rhetoric posits rationality is where San Juan Jr. places the plight of Ethnic Studies. San Juan does not argue that the inception of Ethnic Studies was a necessary one given a long history of racial inequality in the United States.

            However, given the now almost 13 year 9/11 incident, racial profiling of Arab and Arab Americans is rampant, with Ethnic Studies as the main ally for Arabs (San Juan Jr. 273). San Juan Jr. calls for a revamping of Ethnic Studies as a field of study in order to keep it progressive and on the forefront of social justice. He argues that the field of Ethnic Studies has lost its "steam" because ethnic pluralism and multicultural-ness have been accepted by the majority rendering Ethnic Studies less useful than previous historical events which called for it.

            Further arguments that San Juan Jr. presents for the necessity of reinventing Ethnic Studies is when he asks the reader if institutionalized racism and covert discrimination exist today (276). San Juan Jr. also mentions that post 9/11 conservatism sees pluralism as a threat to national security, fueling the pressure for assimilation rather than the acceptance of multiculturalism in the United States. Ethnic Studies has therefore lost its power as the steward of disseminating information for social justice. San Juan Jr. suggests that Ethnic Studies should reexamine its roots and formulate new methods to combat racial inequality which still exists.

1. Has globalization reduced the efficacy of Ethnic Studies, or is a result of the commoditization of education in the United States?

2. If Ethnic Studies was introduced to give the "Others" a voice, empowering those first underrepresented groups, how and who receives the pulpit to express their concerns today? Are they other ethnic minorities, or experts on the fields of these peoples?

Banning of Ethnic Studies in Arizona as a result of neo-conservatism:

(written by Eldo and Jennine)

Week 11: (Re)thinking Diasporas

(Re)thinking Diasporas

Dipesh Chakrabarty - “Notes toward a Conversation between Area Studies and Diasporic 
Studies”
         Chakrabarty critiques how liberal education in the West framed the study of non-Western countries by perspectives from Western countries. Chakrabarty states that this liberal perspectives of such studies tries to be enlightened and treat Asia in equal terms with the West. However although this education does not aim to exotify Asia, it still places the burden of “studying Asia” on the West as if intellectual study can only be done by the West.
        Chakrabarty also discusses the framework of critique done in engaging Area Studies and Diasporic Studies. What really are the connections the diaspora has with the “homeland”? What are the parameters that define an “area” that is studied (and by/for whom?) in Area Studies? Through his examples of literature and other art forms, he discusses how the diaspora can critically identify with the homeland in multiple ways such as, such as locality, class, economics, lanauge etc...
(written by Desun)

Anderson and Lee - "Crossing Borders of Disciplines" -Hyoung James Oh

           The hope, according to Anderson via San Juan, is not to build an Asian American studies through which to understand American Society but rather to build an Asian American studies with which to change the world.  Anderson discusses a new society in the wake of 9/11. 
Speaking on the violence towards Muslim-looking people, Anderson argues, “the current wave of globalization reflects the practice of everyday life.”  His point is that “Globally and locally, multiculturalism, the celebration of hybridity as a commercialized lifestyle, has become the ideology for managing the increasingly deep class and racial cleavages brought about by neoliberal economic policy.”  This in turn ultimately makes the lives of immigrants much more difficult.  Anderson illustrates the cause for growing difficulties for immigrants as a more intrusive and hostile state, decent housing and education placed beyond reach and the rise in exploitation current with unemployment.
           Anderson raises the issues on violence after 9/11 as a lead into a large idea.  He poses certain questions in regards to the epistemological, political, and institutional implications for our recognition of “Globalization from below”.  Also how our understanding of the Asian experience in the Americans as transnational or trans local experience of displacement shape our understanding of the processes of globalization, of empire, or identities. And what the disciplinary frameworks and institutional arrangements that will need to be built in order to accommodate that understanding.
           The goal of Anderson's article is to ultimately begin dialog among different disciplines.  He calls for Academic border crossing as a means of learning from other disciplines from other nations as a necessary and critical call for the opening of localities.    

Nancy Abelmenn - "Anthropology, Asian Studies, Asian American Studies"
           “Anthropology, Asian Studies, Asian American Studies: Open Systems, Closed Minds” by Nancy Abelmann discusses politics in academia.  Through various anecdotes, Abelmann explains how localities are made and enforced in academia.  She also proposes that we constantly reassess the way terms and ideas are classified.  Abelmann wants universities to encourage the continual learning of faculty members.  She wants professors to be given time in a collaborative environment so that they can rethink ideas and keep open minds.  This article goes along with the theme of rethinking diasporas because it talks about reevaluating the categorization of words such as “nation” and “diaspora” to cross various areas of study and become interdisciplinary.

Ien Ang - " "Beyond "Asian Diaspora" "
           Ien Ang discusses the inherent constant transforming of the categorization of "Asian Diasporas" but always with the fundamental idea of the relationship with the homeland. Ang also points out the importance of understanding how transnationalism and globalization directly characterize the concept of diaspora. To start off Ang discusses the origins of the term "diaspora" from the Jewish experience, in which it is often used negatively with the general meaning of forced dispersion and a strong desire to return to ones homeland (Ang, 286). However, "diaspora" is not longer used within negative connotations but rather in reference to many more groups who feel they do not belong or are partially alienated from the dominant culture of the host society (Ang, 286). "Diaspora" is also no longer "necessarily [a condition that] involves trauma and marginalization but also empowerment, enrichment, and expansion" (Ang, 287). This happens through crossing the nation-state boundaries and viewing themselves not as minorities but "transnational subjects" through the tools and abilities produced by globalization. As transnational subjects, multiculturalism/pluralism is fairly unavoidable and "diasporas" now have the power of "unsettling" the homogeneity of nation-states. Ang ends her short article by stating that "Asia" is a huge imagined construction that is used to suppress the internal heterogeneity of people (Ang, 288) and as subjects it is necessary to challenge the notion of "Asians" by understanding that is only a way of seeing people and categorizing. Ien Ang makes it clear that even with social constructions and categorizing, the transforming world into globalization and defying nationalism Asian diasporic communities will naturally "work towards its own productive analytical undoing" (Ang, 289).
(written by Mel)

Regina Lee - "Theorizing Diaspora: Three Types of Consciousness"
           Regina Lee discusses examining the theories of diasporic community through three main psychological states/forms of consciousness, "idealization of homeland, boutique multicultural manifestation, and transitional/transformational identity politics" (Lee, 54). Lee reminds their readers that it is necessary to understand the linkage between globalization, mobility and the economy to fully grasp the understanding of the previously stated consciences. 
            Homeland idealism is the idealization of the homeland by it's diaspora. Lee states, "the homeland-idealizing diasporic community is always marginalized because it is physically absent form the homeland (it's 'center') and (consequently) socially excluded from the host society and its narrative."  (Lee, 59). This idea provides the picture of the often occurring problem of finding a place to belong. Even with globalization allowing easier access to crossing national boundaries diasporic subjects are trapped in between the homeland and the host society. However, although they are caught in between often they reap the benefits of travelling to the host society which often allows for upward social or class mobility. Even within these beneficial economic circumstances diasporic subjects attempt to explain their conditions of being trapped. They aid in the narrative of existing as the "exotic Other community" which is of value to the host society and is known as "boutique multiculturalism" (Lee, 61).
          Boutique multiculturalism talks about diasporic subjects playing the multicultural game in which they choose to "have" their multiculturalism as opposed to actually being multicultural.  This idea is created by the western perspective of the "colonizer who feels looked at by the native's gaze and therefore has to work at producing the image of the native as object, silent and passive." (Lee, 62). This multiculturalism is casted upon diasporic subjects. However, there are "new diasporas [who] identify less with concerns of their predecessors" (Lee, 64) and are now beginning to disrupt the centrality of the fantasy of white supremacy. Within the idea of boutique multiculturalism, ethnicity, race, and politics are essentialized and therefore can easily be manipulated to increase the separation of the other and white supremacy or allow for sincerity in different aspects and groups of multiculturalism.  
Lee than discusses the importance of the hyphen in the dichotomy of diasporic identities. The hyphen acts as something that separates as well as joins two terms and Lee argues that is where diasporic communities sit now and determines where the future of diasporic communities will be. The indeterminant space in between (the hyphen) acts as potential to disrupt a lot of hegemonic ideals of national identity. Although this space does offer opportunity it is also tough for all diasporic subjects to have access to such a space, therefore there is a need for those that can access this space to make "this transitional consciousness as positively charged on" (Lee, 72). However, even with this urgency the hybrid space poses difficulty because it must be broken down to multiple components but at the same time must have some sort of coherence to enable the ability to move forward. 
Lee concludes that the problematizing of diasporic identity and its existence is the moving forward of diasporas. The hybrid space  created by the "hyphen" is where urgency is created and transforming of diaspora takes place. The consciences discussed as well as the phenomena of globalization allude to the concerns and issues facing diasporas today. 
(written by Mel)



Questions:
1. Does a "diasporic experience" have to be an experience that is experienced by the majority diasporic subjects within a certain diasporic group?
2. Is hybridity the same as multiculturalism?
3. What ways can Diasporic studies challenge and problematize  Western-centric perspectives of Area Studies?


Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DalYj2xvZo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNXoBFyolL8