A01
Week 1
Dr. Valverde's "Fight the Tower" encompasses her fight for tenure, battling departmental figures, struggling to find accommodation for her disabilities, and dealing with discrimination as a woman, especially as a mother of color. Despite being an accomplished professor, the forces against her proved time and time to be ruthless. However, Dr. Valverde continued to fight on and eventually acquired her tenure.
Upon reading her piece, I see how racism, classism, and sexism can still be present even in a place like an Ethnic Studies department. Dr. Valverde is of Southeast Asian descent. In a department with predominantly East Asian presence, she still faced discrimination, despite the fact that of the 42% Asian presence on campus, the second biggest group was made up of Vietnamese American students. (Valverde, 2013).
However, I understand classism is very real in the world, but still, this part of her journal still shocked and hurt me. So far, I have not experienced much discrimination in or out of UC Davis. I personally am Chinese-American, but my partner and many of my friends are Southeast Asian, or the "bad Asians". I grew up going to school with them, hanging out with them. I never though of them lesser than myself. We were all just kids going through school, going through life. Though we got the same grades, and I admit, sometimes my friends would excel my own achievements, my Chinese parents were quick to judge them and urged me to find some "nice, smart Chinese friends". Their assumptions about the "inferior Asians" are sadly widespread among the Asian community. Though it will never affect me as heavily as it does my Southeast Asian friends, it's still a very toxic bias that may hinder these groups from excelling. Though I never wish this upon them, they will face many obstacles much like Dr. Valverde did. Despite this, I'm really happy to be at UC Davis, where there are resources like Southeast Asians Furthering Education (SAFE) for all those who do identify as Southeast Asian.
My question: How did your family support you during this period?
This video touches on the "model minority" stereotype of Asians and how it affects Cambodian Americans, and how a group joined forces to combat it.
References:
Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline (2013) "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 12 : Iss. 2 , Article 5.
N. (2016, August 09). Retrieved April 04, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2HQkQe9qVM
I will be writing more on the issues on intra-ethnic strife, including its origins and ramification to Asian Am identity and scholarship.
ReplyDelete