Category Archives: Asian-American

Happy Family Doll Sets (Caucasian, Asian, African-American)

Looking through the Play Matters catalog I came across a dollhouse and the families one can buy to play with in the doll house.

We have “Happy Family Caucasian”

We have “Happy Family African American”

 

and we have “Happy Family Asian”

 

I have many questions about these ways of representing race in America.

1. Why is the only man wearing a tie in the Asian family?

2. Why is there an extra baby in the African American family?

3. How did these facial features get identified with the different races?

4. Can I special order a multiracial family or do I have to get two sets and mix them myself?

5. Are we to assume that the couples are heterosexual based on the even numbers, or could some of the families include same sex couples?

Then compare those families to these family play sets I found at S&S.

Caucasian Family Play Set

 

Hispanic Family Play Set

 

Asian Family Play Set

 

African American Family Play Set

 

I find this latter range of four sets more appealing (if racially segregated toys can be appealing).  Odd discrepancies do not jump out here except for the number of books shown in each family.  Is it intentional that more members of the Asian family are holding books and the one daughter is the only figure holding two books? Why is she the only figure wearing a skirt?

I think I will hand these images to some students to analyze as artifacts and draw conclusions.

 

Race, Jeremy Lin, and Additional Attention

Jeff Lang’s opinion piece “Why Jeremy Lin’s Race Matters” for CNN’s In America Blog is definitely worth reading.  Lang argues that Lin deserves the attention that he gets even if he is not statistically superior to other NBA players of other races.  He points out that the attention cuts both ways in terms of celebrating Lin, certainly, but also in terms of critiques that Lin alone experiences.  I am not sure I agree with Lang’s point that someone with Lin’s skill set who was not Asian would have gotten more opportunities to play high level college ball and would have had a greater chance to be drafted.  However,  I agree with Lang (and Lin) in that Lin gets more attention and from other players as they want to make sure they are not showed up player they would, according to crude racial calculations, be expected to beat.  To quote Lin:

 “Everyone looks me and says, ‘I’m not going to let that Asian kid embarrass me. I’m going to go at him.’ That’s how it’s been my whole life. … I’m not saying I get everyone’s best shot, but I would say people don’t want to be embarrassed by me because of my skin color.”

Lang goes on to expand on the idea saying:

“…the schoolyard dynamics of sports means that players facing opponents of nontraditional backgrounds go harder and rougher, put them on the ground if necessary, to prevent being labeled as “the guy” — the guy who got dunked on by an Asian baller, who got KO’d by a white boxer, who lost a scratch match to a black golfer.”

For some reason given the time of year, I wonder if the same thoughts play out on the schoolyard that is American politics.  No matter the party, are there times when a person loses and their partisans say, “I can’t believe you lost to a….”?

 

Movie on Girls Adopted from China and Quest for Identity

I look forward to seeing this movie I just heard about on NPR. The girls’ reflections in the trailer are fraught, optimistic and thoughtful.  In the report I also heard one of them metaphorically describe their mixed American (white) and Asian identities as “scrambled eggs.”  That is one food analogy for racial identity I had not heard before, and its creativity alone piques my interest.

Diversity Makes Me Hungry: Fuji Apple Egg Rolls

Just heard a piece on NPR where they talked to chef Ahn Joo about Thanksgiving foods and her family’s culinary heritage.  The piece made me very hungry, especially the mention of the fuji apple egg rolls (see picture).  Besides sounding awesome, this item (and the kimchi mashed potatoes) work nicely on the metaphorical level as cultural blends consumed and enjoyed.  I consider this mixing of cultures to be as American as apple pie.

Technology Assisted Racism: Make Me Asian App

Taking the work out of altering photos by hand to add stereotypical racist features, there is now a Make Me Asian App.

According the promotional material:

“Have you ever wondered to present himself as a person of another nationality? You can imagine, for example, Chinese or Japanese? No? Then immediately take your phone and download it amazing Android-application called «Make me Asian».

This is just a fun app lets you indulge you and your friends! You can for a few seconds to make himself a Chinese, Japanese, Korean or any other Asians!”

Here is an example of what it does:

 

I would just say that this seems like a bad idea put together by someone with too much time on their hands and just enough tech savvy to be dangerous, but I am afraid that somewhere in the world there are some impressionable youth using this app to modify photos, laughing uproariously and not at all understanding the actual import of their actions.

 

(Also available from the same brain trust the Make Me Indian App.)

Asian-American’s and Affirmative Action

I read Ethan Bronner’s New York Times piece “Asian Americans in the Argument” regarding the role Asian-Americans play in the debate over affirmative action.  The article for the most part rehashes information about the current Supreme Court case and the voices on both sides.  However, the author’s own opinion clearly shines through in the last two paragraphs:

More important, some argue, Asian-Americans themselves benefit from the campus diversity the system produces. Schools where admission is purely through a test, like the elite public New York City high school Stuyvesant, often have large percentages of Asian-Americans. The University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles are more than half Asian. That doesn’t help them integrate effectively, to pierce what some call the bamboo ceiling in the corporate and political worlds.

“I fear that if affirmative action is overthrown by the Supreme Court, our elite campuses will look like U.C.L.A. and Berkeley,” Mr. Burgarin said. “That wouldn’t be good for Asians or for anyone else.” 

While the penultimate paragraph does contain at the start the phrase “some argue” it appears that the author agrees with the idea that majority Asian schools (the result of purely test based admission) are bad for Asians themselves.  I wonder what the evidence is for this assertion.  The author would have done well to allude to studies of graduates from institutions of this sort and found negative outcomes when it comes to moving up the career ladder, economic success or political attainment?  Also, is the purpose of education to integrate with the dominant sometimes majority culture? That may be the goal in some cases, but what about Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

The last quotation then works on an assumption that “good” does not mean a greater number of Asian-Americans receiving an education at an elite institution, but involves a more amorphous definition that involves fewer Asian-Americans at those institutions.   That would appear to be a counter-intuitive definition.

I can imagine ways to argue that schools like UCLA and Berkeley evolving so as not to be representative of California’s population is negative for society, but I cannot imagine that one of those ways found at the end of this article.

 

Kung Fu Panda: Does Sandoval’s Nickname Mute Stereotype?

So the whole Kung Fu Panda concept plays on a Asian stereotypes, martial arts, pandas, other Eastern tropes.  However, I had not heard much about the film and its associated products until the publicity surrounding the San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval.  My quick query is whether the fact this Venezuelan third baseman has picked up the nickname makes the film somehow more universal and less stereotypical.  Does Pablo Sandoval’s success mean that anyone can be a Kung Fu Panda, so it is not just an Asian thing?

The new Kung Fu Panda

The original Kung Fu panda