Blog 1 by Hannah Ng (Section A02)

Since a young age, I have identified myself as a Chinese-American, because my parents and ancestry are from Hong Kong and China and I was born in the United States. I felt that this identification method was natural and that everyone—EVERYONE—would understand… until I visited my relatives in China in high school. Because I’ve always been very active and athletic, my skin tone is relatively tan compared to most other Asian girls; so I was constantly asked, “Where are you from?” “What is your ethnicity?” “Are you Chinese?” In the United States, I easily answered these questions with “San Ramon, in the Bay Area” and “Chinese” without question. However, I hesitated a little bit when a person of another nationality asked me these questions because I was not completely sure about what piece of my identity they were asking for. I then realized that one’s “ethnicity” and “race” are defined differently depending on the area, community, region, culture. Therefore, I agree with Geron et al. in “Asian Pacific American’s Social Movements and Interest Groups,” which states: “Panethnic categories… are political and social constructions, with their boundaries and significance under constant negotiation and reconfiguration.” Since these categories are not “real,” why do we humans need to implement them?