Blog 10 | C. Nguyen (Section 1)

Casey Nguyen
Blog 10

Yellow Art

Phuong T. Vuong's poem has caused me to reflect on Western media's perception of Vietnam. Vietnam's rural lands have been glorified and the history of the Vietnamese people have been reduced to two pages of a history textbook that doesn't speak much of how the U.S.'s involvement in civil affairs have traumatically impacted and divided Vietnam and its citizens. Vietnamese American art is important. It provides a counter-narrative to the dominant misconceptions and romanticization of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, by allowing actual Vietnamese to share their side of history. Art, especially in the form of storytelling, is a powerful form of resistance. Historically, spoken word and other alternative forms of acceptable mainstream art forms have been used as tools to deconstruct and call upon the consciousness of their listeners. These forms of storytelling allow the artist to really engage with their audience and the share raw emotion and experiences they faces as every day Vietnamese. It's an intimate exchange that is often times more accurate than a textbook description because it doesn't gloss over the fact that the Vietnamese people are still suffering from the damage U.S. involvement has done even forty years later.

Q: Is engaging in spoken word and other alternatives to mainstream art an example of appropriating Black culture? If so, how can we (non-Blacks) while acknowledging the roots of spoken word and hiphop in Black culture, also participate without co-opting?

Bao Phi is a Vietnamese spoken word artist whose art aims to capture both the pain and the pride of theVietnamese people.

Blog 8 | C. Nguyen (Section 1)

Casey Nguyen
Blog 8

"I am a man with a heart"

Stories like Thi's remind me of why it's important to continue advocating for more resources to assist Southeast Asian youth. His story raises an interesting catch-22 that many SEA community members are often victims of. As a Southeast Asian, you are simultaneously expected to succeed due to your association with the model minority myth, but you are also assumed to be a delinquent because many members your community often to turn to violence and drugs as an alternative to an education that doesn't serve them. Because of the model minority myth, SEA students are held to unrealistic standards set by a community with stories are vastly different than their own but are not given any assistance or extra support to get there. Southeast Asian youth are likely to more be at-risk than any other group of Asians. This can be tied to diasporic communities forming mostly in low-income areas and children seeking fulfillment in spaces where they feel validated for their identities (despite this resulting in students opting into gangs and violence). Public education systems need to do a better job of making learning environments more inclusive by integrating SEA histories and narratives into the curriculum. Many SEA students' families and ancestors have all shaped the America and their experiences deserve to be heard.

Q: What other factors affect the success of Southeast youth besides socioeconomic status?

UC Davis Southeast Asians Furthering Education Youth Conference aimed at outreaching to SEA students coming from underfunded school districts and living in impoverished communities.

Blog 9 | C. Nguyen (Section 1)

Casey Nguyen
Blog 9

Why I love My Strict Chinese Mom

The stereotype of "Tiger Mom" for Asian mothers is a harmful one at best. It reinforces the idea that Asian parents are robotic and are incapable of showing love and affection to their children. Building off of very Western ideas of what parental love should look like looks like, the stereotype of Tiger Mom exists as a threat to the status quo. I appreciated how this article addresses different aspects of Tiger Mom-like behavior and how she interpreted it positively unlike her peers who have had more traditional American family lives. I wonder how Chua-Rubenfiled has used certain masculine characteristics of her mother to challenge dominant perceptions of Asian women and how docile and submissive they supposedly are. The practice of discipline and focus are not demonized in this article and are instead celebrated as tools for success. This article explains the harmful stereotype, as a form of parenting that many Americans are not used to. It does not suggest the absence of love, but rather the demonstration of it.

Q: How is the Tiger Mom stereotype related to the Dragon lady stereotype? Do these tropes challenge the ever growing dominant idea that most Asian women are servile?

Blog #10

Michael Ruan

Section A03

Blog #10

In Boyung Lee’s article, where she talked about Asian-American sexual identity and religious ideals, it relates to my childhood as well. Confucianism definitely had a lot of influence on me as I was growing up such as respecting your elders, achieving high academic goals, and doing chores at home. As for sexual identity, homosexual stories were never talked upon on the table during meals as if it does not exist. Heterosexual identity was promoted in Asian American families. Asian Americans also face a lot of discrimination at school such as being shy or not open about their sexual masculinity or feminine. There was a not a lot of LGBTQ groups that had Asian voices or backed by Asians which is why we do not see a lot of support for the Asian LGBTQ identity, rather they feel isolated until the recent years. I used to work as a peer health educator in high school and these were the studies and results as of 2008. Many whites and blacks were receiving more support compared to the Latinos and Asians combined.

Q: Why is that Asian-American parents never discussed about homosexual identities?

Blog 10: Asians and Sexuality

Angela Tran
ASA 2 - Section 3
22 November 2015

In the reading "Teaching Justice and Living Peace", Boyung Lee talks a lot of about the Asian American community and how they deal with homosexuality. It can be seen that some Asian Americans try to fit in with social norms, or try to Americanize, thus, it is obvious that to Asian American families, homosexuality is not the norm, and should therefore be hidden and kept a secret. I think Asian Americans find it shaming that their children are not what their parents had expected from them- and this goes along with Asian American parent being too domineering and superior in the children's lives; always molding their children the way they want them to become. Thus, I agree with Boyung in his writing about the shame parents try to hide. They accept their racial child but not their homosexual child. This could also be due to ancestral traditions. Having set marriages between men and women, and having a long history of patriarchal families- it really is against "norms" to have a heterosexual relationship now in accordance to some Asian American families. However, if gay marriage is legal now, and many white heterosexual relationships are coming out, would that make heterosexualism a "social norm" and change the views of shaming to Asian American parents?

Personification of Poems

Tao Manacmul
ASA 2
22 November 2015

Blog #10

In the poem "Yellow Art," poems are personified and take actions against oppression. They change and become people who stand up for those who have no voice. People are a lot like writing; they have a lot to say, but it doesn't matter if someone does not look at it. These poems take action into their own hands and this is what poetry should do; inspire until something happens. Words are powerful and make people move, but they are considered "bullshit" if they don't. As a poet, I agree that words hold a lot of weight, even though they are just air passing through one's mouth. The imaginary is powerful, whether you realize it or not. Words are what people arm themselves with and they are the forms of emotions that have long been suppressed. Words are beings and I love being in their company. Words seem to hold things together but we they are invisible, not tangible. Poetry to people of color is not seen as a leisure, but a form of expressing what they have been told to keep to themselves. Words are daggers and trauma just waiting to be used. 

Questions: What makes poetry connect to people?

Tien Hao Lee, blog 10. ASA 002

The article on Boyung Lee is very interested to me. In general, sexual identity has always been important to Asian American community. As far as i understand, Chinese has this tradition of wanting a son in the family in order to pass down their last name from generation to generation. Thus sexual identity is extremely important for passing on family identity. Homosexual are not tolerable in the Asian family due to religious belief and traditional value. Majority of Asian American community are Christian. This means that being homosexual is not an option. Also because homosexual cannot reproduce and pass down the family's last name. So having a proper sexual identity is extremely important within the Asian American community.

The Silenced Discussion

Sam Soleta

Blog 10

ASA 02 03

November 23rd, 2015

Lee’s article is centered around the clash between Asian American and sexual identity. In the article titled “Teaching Justice and Living Peace,” Lee explains that there is definitely a stigma amongst the LGBTQIA+ community. The whole entire community is seen as taboo and is often a hard discussion to start. Although I personally have not experienced these struggles, I do see many of my peers who go through these ordeals. Often times, many Asian Americans who identify as LGBTQIA+ are unable to confide in others that they see in their own community and family. Lee has identified three main topics: “separation of sexual identity from ethnic identity; shame; heterosexuality as normative, coupled with homophobia.” My friends who don’t identify as cisgender heterosexuals do experience these on a daily basis. Among Asian households, everything is very heteronormative and most people are raised to believe that heterosexuality is the “normal” and “expected way of life. The newer generations have been progressively working against these heteronormative teachings, but to avoid something so rooted into Asian culture is an extreme challenge. Sexuality is so incredibly stigmatized that it is an often silenced subject and there is little to no theological literature that has discourse on the topic. This has greatly affected all sexual minorities and has created leaps and bounds for these communities to feel welcome.

Blog #10

Jazmyn L Harris
Blog #10
Due:11/22/2015

Sexuality: Normalizing it vs Shaming it

 In TEACHING JUSTICE AND LIVING PEACE: BODY, SEXUALITY, AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN ASIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES by Boyung Lee, the discussion of sexuality in Asian American families addresses many of the cultural norms and taboos found around the subject. In his piece, Lee mentions that religion and the influence of Confucian practices has a lot to do with why Asian Americans choose to stray away from the idea of homosexuality. With the changes in contemporary society, I have noticed personally a smaller amount of Asian Americans in the LGBTQ community than many other ethnicity. Despite this, we can assume that this will change in the future as social acceptance becomes more equitable in the changing years. Boyung Lee states that even now, it is unheard of to speak about sexuality in any form publicly in this culture creating a separation of ethnicity and sexuality. However, this makes it harder for Asian Americans to come out to their peers and family members due to the predisposed ideas of homophobia, shame, and normative heterosexual being. With Confucian teachings coupled with the ideologies of the body, sexuality becomes all the more difficult to discuss due to the education of such topics in these communities and also more taboo due to their moral beliefs.

Question: When will Asian Americans be able to discuss their sexuality identity publicly without Shaming their family and how can this be achieved in a culturally appropriate/honorable way?

Week 11 Lenon Yoko Ono Ribhu Singh

This weeks reading by Hamamoto on the metaphorical "death" of the Asian american civil rights movement elucidated some scintillating questions that have implications that transcend the concern and purview of just the Asian American community. Hamamoto's reading, while interesting, propagates the complicity of the death of the Asian American community onto a very small segment of the Asian American population in a way that is antiquated and quite frankly preposterous. The premise of the Asian american community being "sold out" by a small subset of individuals who "engineered" the demise of the community for fiscal gain is a a cliched and trite presupposition that is inherently nuanced towards the suggestion that there is a some monolithic force that actively conspires against the hopes and goals of the community in a way that is intellectually platitudinous and reminiscent of the paranoid anti establishment ideology of the 1960's. This presupposition fits the mold of the stereotypical "conspiracy theory" to a tee, a fact corroborated by Hamamoto's reliance on small independent radio stations that are actively known to broadcast such material. Instead of focusing on vapid characterizations of the Asian American civil rights movement as a force that was destroyed by the actions of others, and trying to bolster the veracity of the conspiracy claims that are suggested by the proposition that the power that be are some monolithic force that actively try to retard the interests of the Asian American community we should be trying to find ways to solve some of the problems plaguing  the AAPI community. I am left wondering is such behavior as propagated by Hamamoto constructive?

Blog 10

Jingxuan Yang

Nov 22

Week 10

Boyung Lee says in “Teaching justice and living peace: body, sexuality, and religious education in Asian-American communities” that sexuality is a sensitive topic because of the Confucian philosophies. He described Asian's attitude towards sexuality as “shame”. As a Chinese girl, I agree that discrimination on women sexuality is pervasive in China, even in 21^st century. For example, in China, wives are supposed to be supportive to their husbands by doing all the chores at home. When it comes into disagreement, wives usually obey to their husbands. Also, in traditional Chinese culture, people always treat woman as inferior to men. I even heard some parents abandoned their kids after they found the kids are girls. I totally disagree with this view because I think woman are equal to man. In addition, many occupations such as pilots, employers usually prefer males over females even though they have the same skill set. Since women and men are both human, women are the same as everyone else. I believe more people will realize this equality in the future.

Brian Trat
Sec A01
Blog #10

In Response to "The Dream is Over: Lenono the Death of the Asian American Movement"

      Hamamoto offers a view of the 1960s counter-culture and its social unrest through the lens of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I was surprised to learn about the efforts that the CIA and FBI put into suppressing public dissent. These intelligence agencies were especially fearful of the sway that music icons had on America's youth. With the Edward Snowden revelation that the NSA has been collecting digital information on American citizens, it's not too farfetched that the same surveillance and tab-keeping is still happening but on a larger and more invasive scale. Tupac and Jimi Hendrix along with other artistic revolutionaries are said to be the targets of government agents to stop their influence amongst the population's youth.
     Seeing multiple examples of coopted movements and political assassinations throughout the 20th century and the resulting conservative pushback in the 80s, really paints a dark picture on the glamorized "hippie movement". However it's important to keep in mind that the sociopolitical struggles of Asian-Americans and other oppressed groups, even with aggressive government tactics, aren't entirely futile. It's important to keep the spirit of the 60's counter culture and resist the hegemony of the country's elites. Asian-Americans have been a powerful yet often ignored voice (like Yoko Ono) in the civil rights movement. As long as we do not grow complacent and continue to be wary of our government's dark history, the fight will continue on.

Question: Who are some contemporary artists that might be surveilled by the United States government?

Kimberly Pariyavanh

ASA 02, A03

22 November 2015

Blog 10

Response to “Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities”

            Before reading this article I was already familiar with some of the Confucian values related to what it meant to be a “good wife”. I never thought that a woman’s sexuality could be controlled or the property of her future husband. I did not think that one’s sexuality mattered to anyone else. After reading that it contributes to the maintenance of the patriarchal control, it made sense as to why the virginity of a daughter would be highly valued.

            It was also interesting to read that in Asian-American communities, sexual and ethnic identities are often thought of as different.  I did not realize that this separation existed. After reading the article, I can see why it would be beneficial to have discussions on these topics, although it may feel a bit intrusive, awkward, and difficult. The sexual aspect of the human is normal and it would probably be detrimental to act as if it did not exist. I would hope that these discussions can become more accessible and that the Asian-American community can become more open-minded towards it.

Question: If sexual and ethnic identities are though of as two separate components, are there any cases of Asian-American parents opposing sexual education being taught in schools?

Sexuality as a Taboo

Sherluna Vien
ASA2
11/22/15
Blog #10

In Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities, Boyung Lee talks about how sexuality and sexual identity in the Asian-American community is never talked about. As stated in the reading, sexuality is a taboo subject that shouldn’t be talked about in public. Being Sino-Vietnamese, I do see some Confucian influences on my family too where it is normal to be in a heterosexual relationship and anything other than that is considered inappropriate. Most of my Asian friends who identify as LGBTQIA do not disclose it to their family. Coming from a conservative family, I could see backlash in coming out and could see how Asian families would be ashamed and in denial. My friend, who identies as genderqueer, is publicly open about his sexuality on Facebook but still has not come out to his family. Upon reading his Facebook, someone ratted him out to his family. I am sure that my friend feels unsafe to come back to Sacramento after knowing this. Although he has loving parents, his parents most likely will try to silence him and say it is just a phase that he is going through. I believe this denial in the Asian-American community is very hurtful. Because of language barriers, it also contributes to a lack of understanding from each other.

Question: do you think the Asian-American community will be more open to discussion about sexuality in the future? How is our generation on this topic?

The dream is dead

Henderson Lu
11/22/15
Week 11

This article described the presence of Asian American in the Civil Rights movement and how influencial leaders were part of the Asian America community. Nowadays, we barely see any Asian American leaders who try to unite Asian Americans with other minorities. I feel that we as a community has succumbed to historical amnesia or choose not to be involved. This mentality has been seen throughout history, where Asian communities try to go along with the status quo and not step on anyone's toes. Personally, I try to avoid any unnecessary confrontation with the authority because any mistakes I make can and will affect my future.
How can we motivate others to learn about reality and continue to be a part of this nation wide movement that strives to improving our futures?

Yellow World

Aixin Huo

ASA 002

Blog 10

In these ten weeks, I learned lots of terms, history and culture about Asian American. I am not a person who loves to classify people into different groups. Therefore, I never thought that a person has specific behavior due to his/her identity, or an event, like Vietnam War, had specific influence to Asian American. Or I can say that, I never saw “Asian American” as a group. For example, in Lee’s article, he says sexuality is a taboo subject for Asian American. I never pay any attention to it. I only know my family, my friends and other people around me love avoiding this subject. But I never think this is the only problem of Asian. I never think of the lack knowledge about sexuality is a problem, which causes lots of discrimination problem in Asian American group. I never see yellow people as a group, so I never see problem in Asian-American-way until many weeks ago. I started to classify people in different groups, like white, black and yellow. I started to look at a history in different way and started to think how it affects Asian people, or black- like Black Panther Party helped protect many minatory groups from discrimination. Now, I can see the world in different way, and put myself in the yellow world.

Question: do you think is a stereotype that consider Asian American as lack of knowledge of sexuality?  

         (The images display Asian men from American culture that counter Asian anti-masculine stereotypes. )