Week 8: Gender and Sexuality

(This is a funny video I found of Filipino Seafarers making a music video. )

          The main focus of diaspora deals with yearning for the homeland and the connection to and alienation from the homeland. How does gender and sexuality play a role in diasporic studies then?
            Gayatri Gopinath’s article “Nostalgia, Desire, Diaspora: South Asian Sexuality in Motion” shows how queer diasporic individuals try to find a sense of belonging in their homeland. Homosexual individuals feel that they are denied their existence in their new host country but also in their home country. Because “sexuality is either criminalized or disavowed and elided; it seen both as a threat to national integrity and as perpetually outside the boundaries of the nation, home and family” (Gopinath 263). Therefore, queer individuals living in a diasporic community constantly struggle with fitting into society. For instance, in the Indian Day Parade (which celebrates India’s independence day) the Federation of Indian Association (FIA) denied the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association from marching because the FIA could not envision women marching as “Indian queers” or “Indian lesbians”. The FIA who are made up of immigrant businessmen could not accept the idea that homosexual individuals existed in their nation. Gopinath also further gives examples of South Asian texts that describe homosexual experiences to show that “ home for a queer diasporic subject becomes not only that which ‘we cannot want’ but also that which we cannot and could never have” (269). Sadly, home becomes a place of disowning for queer individuals because they neither  feel accepted in society back in the homeland or the new host country.

             On the other hand, in his article “In the Shadow of Stonewall: Examining Gay Transnational Politics and the Diasporic Dilemma” Martin F. Manalansan IV focuses on how national culture, history, religion, class and region play an important role in determining gay cultural practices. While we must look at how diasporic queer individuals fit or do not fit into their diasporic community, it is also important to examine how “discourses of queerness are affected by developments locally, nationally, and transnationally,” (Manalansan 207). Manalansan mentions the Stonewall incident several times in his article but does not explain what the Stonewall riots were. According to the Civil Rights. Org The Stonewall riot is regarded as a catalyst for the LGBT movement for civil rights in the United States. This riot inspired LGBT throughout the country to organize gay rights groups. In his article Manalansan gives insight to how Filippino gay men in the diaspora use their own rhetoric to define what it means to come out of the closet.
            Gender roles also create conflict in women living in diasporic communities.  In Kyeyoung Park’s “10,000 Senora Lees”: The Changing Gender Ideology of Korean-Latina-American Women in the Diaspora.” some women express ambivalence and anxiety over their body type and felt “inferior” compared to the Brazilian and Western concepts of beauty. One immigrant recalls how she felt like she hated the way she looked because she didn’t have western features. She was teased as a child for looking Asian.
Korean immigrants in Brazil and the United States both feel conflicted with their appearance. As Park discusses, “we should explore how gender identities intersect with racialized, classed and cultural experiences” (162)
             Steven C. Mckay’s article “Filipino Sea Men: Identity and Masculinity in a Global Labor Niche” explains how the case of Filipino seafarers helps us understand gendered identities in diaspora. He examines why there are over 255,000 Filipino seafarers globally. Today the emergence of Filipino seafarers is due  “American colonial policies that modeled Philippine education while also racializing Filipino incorporation into labor markets abroad. Mckay’s article makes us think of how Filipino seafarers “men face a problem of double masculine consciousness: trying to assert themselves as men, but within a context of being both racially marginalized in the labor/market and often labeled effeminate by dominant groups of seafarers.” (McKay 79).

Week 7: Identity

        Identity plays a huge role in everyone. It is how you are determined of who you are and where you come from. In Valverde's article, she talks about the artist Huynh Chau and how Chau struggled to learn of her own identity through the Vietnamese American community.  As many controversies came upon Chau and her artworks, she did not give up for what her art pieces were about and her beliefs. Many Vietnamese in America today still struggle to find their identity in being an American and also Vietnamese. I understand that it is a difficult task for these Vietnamese Americans because it is also difficult for my own community, the Hmong. The Hmong people have a similar story to the Vietnamese where many have immigrated to America after the Vietnam war of 1975 and are living in a diaspora also. Many Hmong people now in America still tries to preserve and keep their Hmong identities alive in many ways. Just like how the Vietnamese anti-communists' group do by protesting to keep their collective memories of their identity alive,  one of the ways the Hmong help kept their identity alive is by holding huge new year celebrations each year.

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID3095/images/hmong.jpg

During the new year, the Hmong wear beautiful traditional clothing and perform traditional singing and games. A question to ask yourself is what does it truly mean to you to help preserve your own cultural identity and how can you do so? As Chau did, she kept her identity alive through her artworks.

   Identity, culture, and gender is a huge part of our identities and cultures. Purnima Mankekar analyzed the film, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (The lover wins the bride) and looked closely at the Indian overseas issues and "non resident Indians" from the west. How Indian culture portrays gender roles and a culture identity through marriage.

                                                Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

      In Theorizing Diaspora, Arjun Appadurai "argues against the notion that relationships in the new global cultural economy can be reduced to a simple center-periphery model" (25).
Appadurai describes the five different types of scapes and how they are important to us. For example, technoscapes, where technology is everywhere and that is how everything is seen worldwide through media, internet, etc. Appadurai says these are important because it is how "communities are forged transnationally..." (25).
   It makes sense to me and I do agree with Appadurai that these five scapes exists in our daily lives. It is how everyone communicate, travel, and learn today. It is important that we understand these concepts and know how it functions because it will be able to help us understand the process of globalization more.

Study Questions:
1) What are the "three spheres of influence" and their purposes? Explain how each one is able to effect Vietnamese overseas and also Vietnamese in America.

2) Explain what the term diaspora is according to Stefan Helmreich. How does the term diaspora come about in the film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge according to Makekar? What is important about the film?

3) What are the "five different types of imagined world landscapes?" Explain what is Appadurai's opinion on them and what is his argument on them.

4) What is "cultural insiderism?" Explain the idea and purpose of the term. Give an example.

5) According to Stuart Hall and other theorists of the Birmingham school, what does being apart of a subculture mean? Give examples from the reading and explain.

By: Jou Xiong

Week 6: Economics

          One of the greatest issues which our society has faced in the past decade has been immigration. While the media has delivered both the arguments of proponents and their opposition, little has been said from the perspective of those who are migrants. While we were constantly exposed to talking heads arguing back and forth over the issues of legality in regard to the immigrants, the public was left in the dark when it came to the important issues which surrounded the migrant workers, such as economic push-pulls as well as opportunities for them and their families. After reading this week’s articles, we were given a much greater sense of the ins and outs surrounding immigrants and immigration factors. As hard to believe as it is, immigrants aren’t out to take our jobs, they’re merely scouring the market for occupations that the typical citizen won’t even attempt to consider. Economically speaking, they’re merely filling the quota for demand in the market. If we can grasp anything from the readings, we need to acquire an understanding of the immigrant’s plight.     

Beginning with Evelyn Hu-Dehart’s “On Coolies and Shopkeepers: The Chinese as Huagong and Huashang in Latin America/Caribbean,” Dehart presents a less often told story of the lesser known Chinese diaspora within Central and South America. Dehart’s investigation into this matter was piqued by a mere observation; why were there such prominent figures of Asiatic descent in South America? Figures included in her observation are Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru and Cheddi Jagan of Guayana. In the Chinese Diaspora, however, there are no such Chinese figures of a like stature within Central or South America. Instead, the Chinese have simply built their diaspora around economic opportunities. Not unlike the diaspora of Chinese-Americans, the Chinese-Mexican diaspora have been catering to sites of economic boom, places where many other laborers are present to provide them with a solid clientele, such as mines, near railroads and places where there are large factories (of which employ many other laborers).As mentioned by Dehart, the investigation of certain diasporas throughout the world help to answer questions that may arise when diasporas are observed in isolation (meaning when they are only observed in one location). For example, the relatively recent issue regarding immigration and the so-called “problem” of illegal immigrants can be explained by economic needs or desires. Just as the Chinese came to the Americans because of economic opportunity which was unavailable in China, holds enough parallels to the current situation of socially unwanted but economically welcome undocumented workers.

welcome undocumented workers.

           In “Asians on the Rim: Transnational Capital and Local Community in the Making of Contemporary Asian America,” Arif Dirlik seeks to unwind the increasingly intricate definition of ‘Asian American.” As opposed to the coining of a political choice, which served as the defining element of “Asian American” in its inception, the term is now being engulfed with elements of the diasporic. To be more specific, Dirlik refers to those who are transnational and able to move in and out of countries without so much as a hiccup.  The problem, as he observes, is that the new term has socio-economic exclusivity. The main reason being the new definition refers solely to members who have the ability to move back and forth between nation-states, implying that they are socio-economically mobile. If you aren’t a legally blind, you may also observe individuals which may fall into this category. Within the academic environment, many new “Asian Americans” can also be referred to as parachute children, who come from Asia solely for the purpose of education.

While this transfer of intellectual currency is exciting, the idea that such economic exchanges between Asia and the U.S. is enough to constitute them being Asian American is troubling and contradictory to the original purpose of the term, as mentioned by Dirlik. Although as a pan-ethnic identity agendas become skewed and lost under those in power, the new connotations of transnationalism have far more drawbacks in terms of being a more encompassing or suitable definition.

In “Legal Servitude and Migrant Illegality: Migrant ‘Guest’ Workers in Taiwan,” Pei-Chia Lan explains the problems revolving migrant guest-workers in countries such as Taiwan. The main cause of the issues can be related to the sovereignty of the nation-state and the means it uses to go about protecting its borders. As a result, numerous fees are passed down to the documented migrant workers and inevitably make their lives less fruitful. In contrast, the lives of undocumented workers involve fewer hardships, mostly because they are off the nation’s state radar, and also because they are given room to negotiate their labor contracts, since no employers would particularly enjoy being cited for hiring illegals. Ultimately, Lan believes the resolution to this issue can simply be found in the improved treatment of guest workers. As they put it, the term ‘guest’ worker would be more applicable if the nation-states who have them made less of a fuss regarding the distinctions of citizen and alien. If we take a comparative approach, then it is clear that the countries such as Taiwan would benefit from giving their guest workers better treatment. In addition to the financial hardships faced in their journey to a new country of employment, the workers have to face issues in their personal lives as well, such as distance from families and the fear associated with adjusting to a whole new country. In the U.S., guest-workers also have these issues, but their proximity to one another and the ability to live and interact with others from their country of origin help ease the problem:

According Cohen in the chapter “Labour and Imperial Diasporas”, the Indians and British fall under the definition of diaspora in that they have strong sustained retention of group ties, a connection to the homeland, and lastly an exclusion in these societies they migrate to. These two groups differ in that they are at different ends of the spectrum: the Indian’s migration is considered a labour diaspora, whereas the British are a imperial diaspora. The Indian diaspora consisted mainly of indentured servants, where in exchange for passage to the plantations, Indian migrants would work to pay off their passage. Often they would continue to reenter indentured servitude in order to gain their own land, but this issue of land ownership would create more strife between the Indian migrants and natives of the land. Unlike the Indian diaspora, the British moved in order to colonize the lands. Because the Indians were laborers beneath the natives of the land they emigrate to, they were considered lower class. However, as colonizers, the British put the natives under their own rule thus creating a space for themselves as higher class. This emigration was considered as necessary, as the British needed to spread their culture, religion, as well as implement new social order. Initially, despite this geographical move, the British migrants still considered themselves citizens of the British empire. Cohen continues to explain how these two forms are diaspora are seen as transitional types. Eventually, the connection between the British empire back in Europe and those in British colonies weakened and rapidly faded.

Chinese and Indian Diaspora Groups | Source: The Economist

Cohen continues to describe a different type of diaspora in the chapter “Trade Diasporas: Chinese and Lebanese.” This trade diaspora is characterized by merchants who move back and forth and merchants who moved and settled. Cohen describes it as a interrelated net of commercial communities forming a trade diaspora. An example of this is the Chinese diaspora and Cohen distinguishes the difference between imperial and trade diasporas. Trade diasporas are not state sponsored while the former is not. Chinese traders were considered by colonial powers to be incredibly profitable but the Chinese immigrants were not essentially loyal to either the colonial powers nor the place. Rather, the place they felt most loyal to continued to be to their family and homeland. This impartiality Chinese immigrants felt towards these lands created strife between the Chinese and Malaysians in Malaysia.The Malays wanted to force upon them a form of citizenship while the Chinese wanted acceptance of their cultural and religious pluralism. Their compromise led to a federated Malaysia but ultimately ended in the withdrawal of Singapore to become and independent state. Cohen emphasizes the creation of Chinatowns as a unique institution in which the Chinese used to settle into societies. For Lebanese communities, the trade diaspora originated with the motive to get rich. However those who left Lebanon found different ideals and quickly embraced them. As a result, many Lebanese emigrants joined this emigration. Cohen describes the Lebanese diaspora as butterflies and caterpillers. There is a continuous flow between going home and back again abroad.

Similarly to how Cohen describes the Indian trade diaspora, Anannya Bhattacharjee highlights the exploitation of foreign workers in her article “Immigrant Dreams and Nightmares: South Asian Domestic Workers in North America in a Time of Global Mobility.” Like the indentured servitude of Indian migrants, immigrants in North America are facing working situations that verge on the point of slavery. Bhattacharjee explains how these women come to North America as a means to create an income for their families back at home. These jobs are often a step down from what she would be doing in her native country, and often beneath their abilities. This article discusses the problems illegal immigrants face upon finding domestic work. Because these house workers are illegal immigrants, the employers have a hold over them that they cannot easily escape. As a result, they are made to do intense physical housework, little to no privacy in their sleeping quarters, incredibly low wages, and threats of deportation by their employers. As a result, these immigrants are trapped into their jobs through fear of being discovered as an illegal alien. Furthermore, they are kept so isolated that it is difficult to leave. Bhattacharjee vividly describes how the poor living conditions domestic workers undergo when working under tyrannical employers.

By: Nick Chan and Tiffany Ly

1. What are two advantages about being an undocumented worker? Why? (Lan)

2.  What does Dirlik consider to be the two parts of contradiction in being ‘Asian American’? (Dirlik)

3. What is the difference between proletarian diaspora and mobilized diaspora as stated in Cohen? How would you classify the Indian and British diaspora?

4. What was at the root of the Lebanese diaspora?

5. Why did South Asian women remain in jobs demanding jobs with extremely low wages? Why did they even come to America?

R.I.P Whitney Houston

Week 5: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity

In “Ethnicity in an Age of Diaspora” R. Radhakrishnan discusses how diaspora is viewed by different generations and how that affects the understanding of their identity. Radhakrishnan gave an example of a recent festival he attended where he witnessed an old Indian man explaining the meaning of the Deepavali festival to a group of Indian-American children. However, he sees that both sides seemed to fail at understanding one another due to the fact that their childhood life may not have led the same lifestyle. Radhakrishnan quoted “It is vital that the two generations empathize and desire to understand and appreciate patterns of experience not their own” (Braziel, 2003, p. 123). Radhakrishnan is basically stating that younger generations are gradually assimilating into the American culture, consequently losing interest about their ethnic background therefore they should focus and spend more time listening to elders to grasp a different perspective of ethnicity from the older generation. On the other hand, instead of the being excessively attached to their homeland, the older generation needs to get more politically involved with the Americans because as time passes identities and perspectives will begin to shift even among their children.

Lisa Lowe theorizes Asian American differences by using the terms heterogeneity, hybridity and multiplicity in “Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity: Marking Asian-American Differences.” Lowe defines heterogeneity as the diversity within the Asian American groups, hybridity as cultural merging and understanding each other, and multiplicity as the standing of an individual along multiple axes of power (Braziel, 2003, p. 138). Lowe uses examples such as parent and youth issues to show the standing of Asian Americans’ culture in today’s generation as a way to show that old cultures and traditions are breaking apart as younger generation begins to assimilate with different cultures. To articulate the term identity, Lowe addresses with terms that Asian Americans often experience such as gender and class rather than race and ethnicity. In the end, it all comes down to understanding your own past histories and experiences and withstand it when encountered with difficult times. I believe that Lowe’s main concern is to build a better connection and alliance between Asian Americans and others.

According to Stuart Hall’s essay “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” he believes that there are two kinds of identity. The first kind of identity that Hall theorizes is the kind that makes an individual feel included and united with some sort of society. The other identity is more of a process of identification and wanting to belong. In this essay, Hall uses Caribbean identity as an example to explain why the first form of identity is essential in the new world, however the second identity is mostly tied to those with postcolonial circumstances meaning diaspora. Hall concludes that identity formation can sometimes be formatted strategically but sometimes it will be subjective.

Ryan Bishop and John Phillips explained how insignia of the military creates diasporic communities which often involve many violent acts. These violent acts operate through direct military conflict, such as the taping rebellion, or Perry's arrival in Japan, or china and Japan at war on Korean soil or the Vietnam War. This insignia spurred Chinese migration in the US toward the east coast, especially in New York's Chinatown, the largest Chinese community in the world.

Takeyuki Tsuda explains in his chapter on the radicalization of the Japanese Brazilians in Brazil in Japan. Tsuda explains that Japanese Brazilian are recognized as Japanese in Brazil because they only speak Japanese, however Japanese Brazilians are not recognized as Japanese in Japan because they do not have their cultural background or speak the language, so it creates a barrier between Japanese Brazilians to communicate with local Japanese people. 

Scott Wong stated how America developed and how it established to the own Hawaii, by competing economic, legal and ideological forces including the use of the American legal system to transform the socioeconomic, political and religious cultures of the islands. They started by over throwing the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 by American sugarcane plantation owners. 

Questions:

1) According to Lisa Lowe, what are the differences between heterogeneity, hybridity and multiplicity?

2) There are two kinds of identity according to Stuart Hall’s essay. What are they? And does he show any fondness to one than the other?

3) What does the author mean by the curses described as "deuteronomy"? What does the promise of their fulfillment in advance indicates?

4) What is an example of impact of transnationalism that formed the criminal laws of Hawaii?

5) When the Japanese Brazilian are considered Japanese In Japan and Brazil, were they also considered Brazilian in Japan and Brazilian also? Why ?

By: Chee and Allen

WEEK 4 "Politics"

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=948&bih=446&tbm=isch&tbnid=0FR2VcxymwvweM:&imgrefurl=http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2009/28_12/pages/nation_littlesaigon.html&docid=_tXM8FdELPdIlM&imgurl=http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2009/28_12/pictures/nation_littlesaigon.jpg&w=400&h=300&ei=LpElT5rrFoeniQLIztH1Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=258&vpy=140&dur=396&hovh=111&hovw=156&tx=133&ty=82&sig=108265914553088350242&page=1&tbnh=111&tbnw=156&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde’s “Whose Community is it anyway” explained how the Vietnamese community in San Jose was disappointed, and called Madison a communist for not using “Little Saigon” as the name of a San Jose business district. Unfortunately there were other aspects that also lead to the Vietnamese community truly believing Madison was a communist because she married a Vietnamese International student, and during the time of the wedding the Vietnamese President was visiting America (Valverde).

Although Madison came to the U.S. as an infant and worked very hard to support workers and the Vietnamese community in politics, Madison got lots of complaints in return. Madison helped organize a concert called “Rock and Vote” in order to help Vietnamese people get involved in politics. During her college career she also went to public demonstrations to fight for worker’s rights. Madison really cared about her community (Valverde).

Madison makes a point that Asian Americans were all financially stable and lacking in politics, but she may be wrong. “New Report Charts Dramatic Asian American Population Growth, Electoral Implication" claims, " the Asian American population nationwide now numbers more than 17 million and is poised to influence next year's Presidential election". Although generally only a small percentage of Asian Americans usually vote, the Asian American population is increasing so much that there are going to be many political decisions made by the Asian American community from now on. Also, not all Asian American communities are financially stable. Hmong, Bangladeshi, and Cambodian American are one of the most poor communities in the U.S. 

“Transnational Migration and The Globalization” by Michael Peter Smith calls transnational forms of political organization, mobilization, and practice “transnational grassroots politics”. Smith argues that because people are moving out of their nation-state, culture and politics is going to be different from before. Smith mentions that the media is spreading the culture of one nation state to other nation-states, making the characteristics of the nation-states less unique. Smith also makes a point that “borderless people”, or people who do not have one particular nation state they stay in no longer follows the culture of their original nation-state. The “borderless people” are the leaders of a new mixed culture. Many people travel to different countries to find a better job and give their family back home remittances (Smith).

In “Democracy, culture and the politics of gate-keeping in Cambodia” Caroline Hughes talks about the trouble of Cambodians’ unification after the Cold war. The Khmers, or refugees who came back to Cambodia had to unify with the Cambodians. The role of women refugees was to keep their “Khmerness”. Cambodia does not have a very distinct identity because it has had trouble closing its borders in the past. People of Vietnam and Thailand have come to Cambodia to incorporate their culture, language, people, etc. Miscegenation was discouraged because of the seventeenth century Khmer king who married a Vietnamese princess and made Vietnamese more powerful by setting up the customs posts in Mekong delta. This resulted in a mass of Vietnamese coming into Cambodia (Hughes).

Questions:

1.)    When the naming of a business district did not end up being “Little Saigon” what did the people of the Vietnamese American community accuse Madison of being? 

2.)    When Madison ran for city council, what did she promise her ethnic community she would make sure happen if she was elected?

3.)     Democracy, culture and the politics of gate-keeping in Cambodia what were the motives of people in Cambodia after the Cold War.

4.)    What does “transnational grassroots politics” mean according to Michael Peter Smith?

5.)    According to Smith what does “borderless people” mean? What does “borderless people” cause?

Anonymous, . NEW REPORT CHARTS DRAMATIC ASIAN AMERICAN POPULATION GROWTH, ELECTORAL IMPLICATIONS. (2011, November 2). Hmong Times,p. 7.  Retrieved January 29, 2012, from Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW). (Document ID: 2516532541).

By Natsumi Moudry

Week 3 - "Transnationalism"

  (Source: https://www.msu.edu/~apaspec/conf09/apaconf09abstract.jpg)

          Transnationalism, in the context of globalization, is a notion where immigrants are being connected socially and economically to multiple nation-states, specifically between their countries of origin and a new settlement. For this week’s reading, we focused on the idea of transnational and its importance within Asian American studies and Asian American identities. Some of the key concepts you should know for this week are transnational racism, transmigrants, and transnation.


          In his article, “Asian American Studies in the Age of Transnationalism: Diaspora, Race, Community”, Okamura criticizes the attempt of other Asian American scholars to focus Asian American Study within the boundaries of United States. The transnational perspectives in Asian American Study, or AAS, have its root since the first day AAS was born. During the 1968, students from the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) sought to link the struggles of colonized Asia, Africa, and Latin America with people of color in United States for the common cause. Trying to focus only on the domestic perspectives, while exclude the transnational / diasporas perspectives, would fail to make Asian American Study as a whole. The transnational direction also helps situate AAS within the context of global capitalism, the transmigrants and their diasporas experiences unique to every groups, and the new challenges of transnational racism and exploitations. In the era of globalization, technologies enable communities to be more connected to their supposedly homelands. Transnational racism works by emphasize the individual’s Asian background, cultural, and political opinions with an Asia nation, while denying his American status and ultimately his civil rights, privileges, and loyalties. No longer protected by laws, he is subjected to exploitations not only by United States employers, but also by Asian and Asian American business owners. “The smugglers and employers of cheap, docile, often female Asian migrant labor,” as the author cite the note of Evelyn Hu-Dehart, “are typically Asians and Asian American themselves.”


          Transmigrants, as defined by Nina Glick Schiller, are 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. Transmigrant, or transnational immigrants, is a new type of immigration in the era of globalization, different from the usually assumed immigrants as uprooted and has no ties with their homelands. There are three forces that cause individual to live transmigrant life. First, the restructuring of capital that destroyed selected economy of certain area, forcing them to leave for a better place in order to survive. Capital investment in only one part of the country, while structural readjustment programs strip away areas that were used for self- sustains lives. People leaves their homeland to settle in more developed countries for comparatively higher incomes, while investing in properties and provide support for families in their country of origin, thus created a transnational family. Second, the discriminations and racism in U.S and Europes make people feel isolated, therefore they seeks connections and support from families and other communities in their homeland or other areas. Lastly, Nations find ways to encourage immigrants’ loyalties to their respective nations and their “new home”. U.S required citizens to swear undivided loyalty to the nation and their identity politic to be within nation’s border, while Philippines, for example, considers every Filipinos to be part of the country even when they live permanently abroad.

           The growing interests of Asian American students, under the influence of globalization, cause Asian American Study to further explore the transnational / diasporas perspectives. Recent trend in ethnic study, along with explosion in scholar discussions suggests transnationalism is a renew turn for the field. Diasporas, as defined by Ien Ang, are transnational, spatially and temporary sociocultural formation of people, creating imagined communities who blurred and fluctuating boundaries are sustainted by real and/or symbolic ties to some original ‘homeland’. Recent scholarship on transnationalism and disaporas has show the instability of the term “Asian American”. It is necessary then to rethinking the concepts of Asian American Study and Asian American role in the global economy. The diasporas experiences of female Asian Americans and queer communities, for examples, have not yet fully understood and included. In a way, the exclusion of gender issues and queer identity help reinforced the hetero-normative and oriental stereotypes that were used as a tool for discrimination. In addition, reshaping our focus on transnational / diasporas perspective offers a way to disrupt U.S centric nationalism and boundaries, an old strategy of divide-and-rule politic in order to oppress and exploit Asian American population. Students in AAS are now more transnational than ever. Failure to address diasporas in the age of globalization is an inadequately representation of the community being studied.


          In the article, “Is There a Transnation? Migrancy and the National Homeland among Overseas Filipinos,” Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr. examines two categories of migrant groups in the context of transnationalism in order to explain the different viewpoints of transnationalism. Anderson explains that the notion of transalization does not form or erase the need for authentic identities. Transnationalism creates identities manifested in the connection of nations. Aguilar explains the possibility of different transnational identity due to modern technology. Technology has created access points for people to be connected to different nations in terms of culture, politics, and/or economics. He then describes the differences between first and second generation migrants. The first generation of migrants can be depicting as the basic definition of transnational. This idea that people are interconnected to different nation sates. Their identity is manifested in the terms of diaspora. Their bond with the Asian homeland is as important as their current nation state. There is a sense of loyalty to both nations by the means of economical, political, or another means of connections. The second generation of migrants, transnational is a route to a new “multicultural societies.” Aguilar claims that this second generation migrants forms a new nationalism with a nation that is not of their parents’ homeland. The identity create by the second groups is one that cannot fully fit into their parents’ homeland culture. Second generation migrants claim a different path compare to the first. Therefore, the concept of transnationalism can be seen in different ways. The idea of transnational is not bounded by the idea that Asian Americans are connected to only to their Asian homeland. Asian Americans connection to another nation other than their Asia homeland can be strength due to the new advancements. This opens the doors to new understanding of Asian American transnationalism.



Questions:
1)  How does transnational racism work to effectively exclude a group of individuals from their rights? Can you provide an example as study in previous Asian American courses? (Jonathan Y. Okamura)

2)  What are the three main reasons for Transnational migration? (Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.)

3)  Can you provide one example showed in Schiller’s article that support one of the three main points in Transmigrants? (Hints: transnational family)(Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.)

4)  In what way would the inclusion of Queer Asian American’s perspective help expand Asian American experience? (Crhistopher Lee)

5)  According to the reading by Aguilar, why would the Philippine state label migrant works as the “new hero”? (Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.)

By Tien Mai and Wingsze Lam

WEEK2 Contexts - "Globalization"

(Source: http://www.mcmcapital.com/2011/04/globalization-shapes-u-s-manufacturing-and-mcm-investment-strategy/)

The emphasis of Globalization is elaborated through the usage of diaspora, transnationalism, Ethnic studies, and global commodity networks. Globalization certainly helps move the world move on with the help of other nations helping other nations though trade and exchanging of ideas through education. Robin Cohen’s “Diaspora in the Age Globalization” chapter in Global Diasporas explains about the engine of globalization and how it works. The five factors in which globalizations work are the world economy, the forms of international migration, the development of global cities, the creation of cosmopolitan and local cultures, and the deterritorialization of social identity. Even though globalization should be helping us decrease the levels of racism, sexism, and other forms of social exclusivism; globalization increases these ideas, because of the many diasporas interacting with each other throughout the world. Meaning there will be more tension everywhere regardless. (Cohen 1997)

Due to transnationalism, there has been a globalization of capitalism that leaves destabilizing effects on less industrialized countries, a technological revolution in transportation and communication, global political transformations in terms of decolonization and the universalization of human rights, and the expansion of social networks that direct the remaking of transnational migration, economic organization and politics. In “The Locations of Transnationalism,” There is a distinction shown between the Hmong cultural brokers and the Miao in China about how the Hmong are below the standards of transnational action and the Miao are above it. Showing destabilizing effects on the Hmong cultural brokers. (Guarnizo and Smith 1999)

Ethnic nationalism can be shown from an Asian American with a position of power that displays achievements in the so called motherland, but with self conflicting ideals of identity can prove to be a problem. The question of being a certain ethnic race, or an ethnic race with the addition of American, or just being only American have all been jumbled up between all Asians in America. I believe that any Asian in America is Asian American due to the fact that we all do have a certain connection to Asia through blood, and we are in America for a reason, which is to move upward in mobility.  Asian Americans are “best positioned” to break down “cultural barriers” standing in the way of U.S. – Asian political and business relations. There is a problem in the business relations between the U.S. and Asia, because there are still sweatshops with Asians working to death in them. Another problem is the disaggregated data about Asian Americans in America that disregard the Southeast Asian refugees, because they are traumatized immigrants that did not arrive in America with families intact, and they do not come armed with social skills and human capital that can be readily adapted to modern American society. This certainly stabs into the false thought of the model minority theory. (Hu-Dehart 1999)

Ethnic studies certainly have been a factor of globalization. With the struggles through world events, ethnic studies strive for survival due to the fact that hate has spread from these world events such as 9/11. Hate towards South Asians have been uncontrollable with the assumptions of terrorism. Being in ethnic studies is to defend the persons being discriminated upon, which means forming student coalitions to counteract the hate being brought upon us here in America. Student coalitions will be used to educate the people. (San Juan Jr. 2005)

Global commodity networks are certainly factors of globalization. With this article’s example about the leather footwear industry and its partnership between Argentina’s leather and Brazil’s manufacturing companies prove to show that these partnerships generate a domestic political economy. Argentina sells their cheaper leather to other countries for the same price they sell their fine leather to Brazil. With Brazil having exclusive rights to Argentina’s fine leather, both parties are making profit, but Brazil has the better end of the deal since they are selling their products to America. This three way network certainly brings a high demand since there is a good quality of products sold to America. (Korzeniewicz 1992)

This week's topic of "Globalism" is an all-encompassing theme of the 21st century. Whether it be in the context of this classroom or around the world, most people in the world have had their lives directly (or indirectly) affected by the forces of globalization. Relating to current day global issues, this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/world/asia/us-presses-south-korea-to-reduce-oil-imports-from-iran.html?_r=1&ref=asia) reflects growing concern over tensions in the Middle East involving nuclear power. Through globalization and global interdependence, countries such as the United States have extended their influence across borders to countries like Iran and South Korea.

This article relates to the topic of globalism amidst growing concerns over a World War thought to develop later in Iran and the Middle East. The United States is flexing its influence over South Korea in its efforts to contain Iran from developing nuclear power. Due to globalization, the lives of people in nations across the world can potentially be affected if tensions spill-over, resulting in conflict worldwide.

1. What are the four specific factors that help explain the complexity of transnationalism?
2. What are the some of the counter tendencies to globalization (forms of social exclusivism) mentioned in "Diasporas in the Age of Globalism"?
3. Why does E. San Juan Jr. state Ethnic Studies is paradoxical?
4. Why are Asian Americans best positioned to break down cultural barriers standing in the way of U.S. and Asian political interests?
5. How do global commodities positively impact relations between countries?

By Michael Nguyen and Ricky Lai