Jason Wong
ASA2
Section 2
Week 7

      In Valverde's article, Creating Identity, Defining Culture, and Making History from an Art Exhibit, Valverde talks about Chau Huynh's art installation caused controversy among the Vietnamese community. Huynh migrated from Vietnam, coming from a communist background, her family supported communist ideals, while her husband had a anti-communist history. Huynh created an art piece of pedicure basins painted in the colors of the Vietnamese flag to which many saw as a desecration to their country. People were outraged at the Nguoi Viet Daily for publishing an image of Huynh's installation. The idea was that the Nguoi Viet Daily had ties with communism, which these people were not a fan of.
    The article was particularly interesting as the people were not angry about the image itself, as in the article they stated it was not a concern. What was a concern was the publishing of the image itself because of the belief that the image would define Vietnamese culture in America. I found that particularly interesting as a previous course about Chicano studies also talked about ownership of a certain aspect. Throughout history, certain terms were used to label certain ethnicity, such as Chicano for Mexican Americans. But over time, youth movements take hold of the label and create a new meaning for these terms and I found this article interesting as it also talked about this idea of how a culture is define by those who portray their culture. This also goes with the tv show, Fresh Off the Boat. Controversy came about because, as a form of media, there is only one show that sort of classifies a group of Asians, to which some may not agree with. My ending question is, what is your take on the idea that media defines your culture or how you are perceived?

(Image depicts Huynh's "Marriage Quilt", next to her "Connections" art installations.)