As you know, next week is the last week of classes. I want to devote this post to reminding you of what I plan to do and you need to do for this final week. First, I should be handing back the Interview assignment which was due this past Tuesday (11/27). If for some reason you have not turned it in, do so ASAP. Second, next Tuesday (12/4) essay III is due. I distributed a hard copy of this in class. If you didn't get one, check with a classmate or family member. Third, don't forget the final family activity in which you will have a chance to make up some more short-answer questions for the final exam. Those questions are to be emailed to me (ginocchioga@wofford.edu) NO LATER THAN NOON ON WEDNESDAY (12/5). You should be reading Yellow. I plan to cover as much of it in class lecture next week as I can. Finally, we'll talk in class about possibly scheduling a review session sometime before the final exam.
Final Exam Schedule:
240A (1:00) -- Thursday December 13 9-12
240B (2:30) -- Wednesday December 12 2-5
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Follow-up Comments on "My America, or honk if you love Buddha"
Below are my follow-up comments on the video some of you saw last Tuesday, Nov. 20th. Remember, it is these comments that you need to pay attention to for the sake of the final exam. Also, don't forget your Interview paper is due when we come back on Tuesday, Nov. 27th. And I'll also be handing out a write-up of your final essay, which you will have a week to work on.
"My America, or honk if you love Buddha"
I would first of all call your attention to the narrator of the film. Her name is Renee Tajima-Pena. She is Japanese American, and at the very end of the film she marries a Mexican American with the last name of Pena (pronounced painya), which is a bit unusual among Asian Americans.
The documentary is basically a search for identity -- are Asians still an "alien nation," don't belong. (Frank Wu talks about the "perpetual foreigner syndrome" in Chapter 3 of Yellow.)
Victor Wong (actor, artist, photographer, beatnik, Jesus-freak,etc.) is someone the narrator comes back to time and time again. His rebellion against his father who was so Chinese (and the mayor of Chinatown in San Francisco) is typical, very American. Lots of Asian American families go through this, which can be the source of much pain for parents.
1.) Victor talked about why he liked the beatniks (of the 50s), because they were open, nonjudgmental; they accepted him as "one of the boys."
We switch then to Chinatown in New York City, and Mr. Choi, who manufactures fortune cookies, among several other jobs. Seems to fit the stereotype of Asians as "work-a-holics". In this context the narrator mentions the immigrant dilemma: to come to the U.S. for freedom, equality, or "take the money and run."
In the context of the Filipino enclave in New Orleans (the oldest Asian group, having come here in 1765), among other things, the narrator comments on the complicated formula for race-mixing. Generally prefer Asian, followed by white, and then other groups, with blacks being the least desirable. I would say this clearly reflects a degree of prejudice against blacks, which I might add often goes both ways -- blacks having prejudice against Asians (as was evident in the Los Angeles riot when blacks attack Korean stores).
Bill and Yuri Kochiyama, the Japanese American couple who the narrator caught up with in Mississippi. Reflects on the Japanese internment experience, Bill fighting in Europe during WWII, and their involvement in the civil rights struggle. One of their sons participated in the Freedom Summer campaign in Mississippi in 1964. Yuri was a friend of Malcolm X's. Shows Asians did participate in the Civil Rights struggle. (In Yellow, Frank Wu urges more Asian Americans today to join that ongoing struggle and not see themselves as above it all.)
1.) In this context, the narrator mentions briefly how Asian Americans benefited from the Civil Rights Movement.
In her own family, the narrator notes how "all-American" her family strived to be, yet still they were not accepted. Mentions the Japanese proverb (which I believe is widespread throughout Asia): "the nail that sticks up, must be pounded down." But she resisted eventually, and ironically began to feel more "comfortable in her own skin" and even more American, as she participated in protests.
The Hmong family in Duluth, Minnesota clearly was struggling. Had been on welfare for a number of years and now working at a low-wage job, and still told to go back where you came from. The father who had just lost his job and was no longer the breadwinner of the family, looked depressed and longed to return to Laos. It has been tough for many refugee families in similar circumstances.
In this context, Victor Wong made a very appropriate comment about how many Americans associate an Asian face with "the enemy," since we fought so many wars in Asia.
Finally, just a word about the "Seoul Brothers," who clearly break the mold of the submissive Asian. They are clearly "in your face," one of them wearing a t-shirt depicting Malcolm X's saying, "by any means necessary."
The above are just some highlights. As we get into Yellow, I may have occasion to elaborate on some of these points.
"My America, or honk if you love Buddha"
I would first of all call your attention to the narrator of the film. Her name is Renee Tajima-Pena. She is Japanese American, and at the very end of the film she marries a Mexican American with the last name of Pena (pronounced painya), which is a bit unusual among Asian Americans.
The documentary is basically a search for identity -- are Asians still an "alien nation," don't belong. (Frank Wu talks about the "perpetual foreigner syndrome" in Chapter 3 of Yellow.)
Victor Wong (actor, artist, photographer, beatnik, Jesus-freak,etc.) is someone the narrator comes back to time and time again. His rebellion against his father who was so Chinese (and the mayor of Chinatown in San Francisco) is typical, very American. Lots of Asian American families go through this, which can be the source of much pain for parents.
1.) Victor talked about why he liked the beatniks (of the 50s), because they were open, nonjudgmental; they accepted him as "one of the boys."
We switch then to Chinatown in New York City, and Mr. Choi, who manufactures fortune cookies, among several other jobs. Seems to fit the stereotype of Asians as "work-a-holics". In this context the narrator mentions the immigrant dilemma: to come to the U.S. for freedom, equality, or "take the money and run."
In the context of the Filipino enclave in New Orleans (the oldest Asian group, having come here in 1765), among other things, the narrator comments on the complicated formula for race-mixing. Generally prefer Asian, followed by white, and then other groups, with blacks being the least desirable. I would say this clearly reflects a degree of prejudice against blacks, which I might add often goes both ways -- blacks having prejudice against Asians (as was evident in the Los Angeles riot when blacks attack Korean stores).
Bill and Yuri Kochiyama, the Japanese American couple who the narrator caught up with in Mississippi. Reflects on the Japanese internment experience, Bill fighting in Europe during WWII, and their involvement in the civil rights struggle. One of their sons participated in the Freedom Summer campaign in Mississippi in 1964. Yuri was a friend of Malcolm X's. Shows Asians did participate in the Civil Rights struggle. (In Yellow, Frank Wu urges more Asian Americans today to join that ongoing struggle and not see themselves as above it all.)
1.) In this context, the narrator mentions briefly how Asian Americans benefited from the Civil Rights Movement.
In her own family, the narrator notes how "all-American" her family strived to be, yet still they were not accepted. Mentions the Japanese proverb (which I believe is widespread throughout Asia): "the nail that sticks up, must be pounded down." But she resisted eventually, and ironically began to feel more "comfortable in her own skin" and even more American, as she participated in protests.
The Hmong family in Duluth, Minnesota clearly was struggling. Had been on welfare for a number of years and now working at a low-wage job, and still told to go back where you came from. The father who had just lost his job and was no longer the breadwinner of the family, looked depressed and longed to return to Laos. It has been tough for many refugee families in similar circumstances.
In this context, Victor Wong made a very appropriate comment about how many Americans associate an Asian face with "the enemy," since we fought so many wars in Asia.
Finally, just a word about the "Seoul Brothers," who clearly break the mold of the submissive Asian. They are clearly "in your face," one of them wearing a t-shirt depicting Malcolm X's saying, "by any means necessary."
The above are just some highlights. As we get into Yellow, I may have occasion to elaborate on some of these points.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
New Family Activity & Reminders
Yesterday I showed "My America, or honk if you love Buddha". I'll be posting some follow-up comments soon, but today I wanted to let you know of something I handed out in class yesterday. It is a write-up of our final family activity which involves each of the families making up 4 short-answer questions on material we've covered since the midterm. So, if you have a spare moment give it some thought. You will have until Tuesday, Dec. 4th to submit your questions to me for consideration.
Of more immediate concern is your Interview assignment, which is due on TUESDAY, NOV. 27TH, WHICH IS THE CLASS RIGHT AFTER THE BREAK. I EXPECT YOU TO BE READY TO TURN IN YOUR PAPER AS WELL AS GIVE A VERY BRIEF (5 minutes or less) OVERVIEW OF YOUR INTERVIEW IN CLASS, HIGHLIGHTING THE MOST INTERESTING AND INSIGHTFUL THINGS YOU LEARNED.
Finally, remember that we have one final essay to write, and it will have to be out-of-class. I'll hand out the topic on Tuesday, when we come back, and it will be directly related to our last book, Yellow, which you should be reading.
Have a good Thanksgiving.
Of more immediate concern is your Interview assignment, which is due on TUESDAY, NOV. 27TH, WHICH IS THE CLASS RIGHT AFTER THE BREAK. I EXPECT YOU TO BE READY TO TURN IN YOUR PAPER AS WELL AS GIVE A VERY BRIEF (5 minutes or less) OVERVIEW OF YOUR INTERVIEW IN CLASS, HIGHLIGHTING THE MOST INTERESTING AND INSIGHTFUL THINGS YOU LEARNED.
Finally, remember that we have one final essay to write, and it will have to be out-of-class. I'll hand out the topic on Tuesday, when we come back, and it will be directly related to our last book, Yellow, which you should be reading.
Have a good Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 16, 2007
The Votes Are In! A Key Passage & Reminder
The votes are in from yesterday's "story-off", and the complete results are:
240A (1:00)
Garcia (Yellow) 4
Frankie& Linda (Red) 6 WINNER!
Hector (Black) 2
Brother citizen/alien (Green) 1
LA & GA Schools (Yellow) 4
Trujillo (Blue) 2
So, the Red family earns 2 bonus points.
________________________________________________________
240B (2:30)
Victor Ley & Sergio (Red) 6 WINNER!
Americanismo (Blue) 3
Brother citizen/alien (Green) 2
Frankie & Linda (Green) 4
So, the Red family earns 2 bonus points.
I am not sure yet whether I'll make up any questions based on the winning stories. If I do, I will post them on the blog.
KEY PASSAGE: as I noted when I handed back your essays yesterday, I believe the following passage from Chapter 8 of Killing the White Man's Indian really gets at the crux of meaning of the title of that chapter, "the hollowness of a person needs to be filled."
"The lost opportunity to integrate culturally intact Indians into American society may have been the greatest failure of public education in American history. It is a failure that strongly suggests that Indians, like most other people, will only grudgingly submit to schooling that they perceive as hostile to their own values. In an era when an ever-more complex world market is creating new kinds of opportunities for the educated, young Indians might theoretically be better off learning German and Japanese than the tongues of their ancestors. However, it cannot be surprising that Indians feel urgently compelled to reclaim what remains of their cultural heritage before they embrace the wider world." (p. 297)
REMINDERS:
Next Tuesday (11/20) we'll be seeing the video program, "My America, or honk if you love Buddha!"
You should also begin reading Yellow.
Finally, your Interview paper assignment is due on Tuesday 11/27, right after we come back from the break. In addition to the paper, please be prepared to give a brief synopsis of what you learned (no more than 5 minutes, max.)
240A (1:00)
Garcia (Yellow) 4
Frankie& Linda (Red) 6 WINNER!
Hector (Black) 2
Brother citizen/alien (Green) 1
LA & GA Schools (Yellow) 4
Trujillo (Blue) 2
So, the Red family earns 2 bonus points.
________________________________________________________
240B (2:30)
Victor Ley & Sergio (Red) 6 WINNER!
Americanismo (Blue) 3
Brother citizen/alien (Green) 2
Frankie & Linda (Green) 4
So, the Red family earns 2 bonus points.
I am not sure yet whether I'll make up any questions based on the winning stories. If I do, I will post them on the blog.
KEY PASSAGE: as I noted when I handed back your essays yesterday, I believe the following passage from Chapter 8 of Killing the White Man's Indian really gets at the crux of meaning of the title of that chapter, "the hollowness of a person needs to be filled."
"The lost opportunity to integrate culturally intact Indians into American society may have been the greatest failure of public education in American history. It is a failure that strongly suggests that Indians, like most other people, will only grudgingly submit to schooling that they perceive as hostile to their own values. In an era when an ever-more complex world market is creating new kinds of opportunities for the educated, young Indians might theoretically be better off learning German and Japanese than the tongues of their ancestors. However, it cannot be surprising that Indians feel urgently compelled to reclaim what remains of their cultural heritage before they embrace the wider world." (p. 297)
REMINDERS:
Next Tuesday (11/20) we'll be seeing the video program, "My America, or honk if you love Buddha!"
You should also begin reading Yellow.
Finally, your Interview paper assignment is due on Tuesday 11/27, right after we come back from the break. In addition to the paper, please be prepared to give a brief synopsis of what you learned (no more than 5 minutes, max.)
Friday, November 9, 2007
Looking Ahead to Next Week
A couple reminders for this next week. On Tuesday (Nov. 13th) I plan to talk some more about Muslim and Arab Americans, and then make a quick transition to our last major group, Asian Americans. I will be referring to the xerox material I handed out yesterday in class. As I also suggested, by the end of the next week you want to begin reading Yellow, our last book. I plan to cover all of it and in more detail than Translation Nation and Black Wealth/White Wealth. Also on Tuesday I will give the families some time to try to determine which two stories you'll be telling on Thursday (Nov. 15th), which will be largely devoted to that family exercise.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Bordewich on "Sovereignty"
As I promised, below is the entire passage from Bordewich's Killing the White Man's Indian which I quoted in class. In terms of context, I would just say that he brings out some examples of sovereign Indian tribal governments treating Indians and some non-Indians on reservations in a racially discrimnatory way and being allowed to get away with that. So, in criticism, Bordewich comments:
"On a deeper plane, the ideology of sovereignty seems to presume that racial separateness is a positive good, as if Indian bloodlines, economies, and histories were not already inextricably enmeshed with those of white, Hispanic, black, and Asian Americans; it seems to presuppose that cultural purity ought to, or even can, be preserved. With little debate outside the parochial circles of Indian affairs, a generation of policymaking has jettisoned the long-standing American ideal of racial unity as a positive good and replaced it with a doctrine that, seen from a more critical angle, seems disturbingly like an idealized form of segregation, a fact apparently invisible in an era that has made a secular religion of passionate ethnicity. As Arthur Schlesinger has written in The Disuniting of America:
Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own, America increasingly sees itself in this new light as a preservative of diverse alien identities. Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own unhampered choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more or less ineradicable in their ethnic character.
The belief that Indians are somehow fundamentally different from other Americans, however romantically the idea may be expressed in terms of native "tradition" or magical notions of affinity for the earth, implies a failure of basic American values, for it leads inexorably toward moral acceptance of political entities defined on the basis of racial exclusion. Although the concept of tribal sovereignty has parallels in other ideologies of racial and ethnic separatism, it is potentially far more subversive, for Indian tribes, unlike the nation's other minorities, possess both land and governments of their own and have at least the potential to transform not only their hopes and creativity but also their biases into political power in a way that others never can. It should, moreover, be obvious to anyone that legitimizing segregation for Indians will set a precedent for its potential imposition upon black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans."
Finally, let me take this opportunity to remind you that the essay on Chapter 8 of Killing the White Man's Indian is due next Thursday (Nov. 8th). You also want to begin reading our next book, Translation Nation. See you Tuesday.
"On a deeper plane, the ideology of sovereignty seems to presume that racial separateness is a positive good, as if Indian bloodlines, economies, and histories were not already inextricably enmeshed with those of white, Hispanic, black, and Asian Americans; it seems to presuppose that cultural purity ought to, or even can, be preserved. With little debate outside the parochial circles of Indian affairs, a generation of policymaking has jettisoned the long-standing American ideal of racial unity as a positive good and replaced it with a doctrine that, seen from a more critical angle, seems disturbingly like an idealized form of segregation, a fact apparently invisible in an era that has made a secular religion of passionate ethnicity. As Arthur Schlesinger has written in The Disuniting of America:
Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own, America increasingly sees itself in this new light as a preservative of diverse alien identities. Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own unhampered choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more or less ineradicable in their ethnic character.
The belief that Indians are somehow fundamentally different from other Americans, however romantically the idea may be expressed in terms of native "tradition" or magical notions of affinity for the earth, implies a failure of basic American values, for it leads inexorably toward moral acceptance of political entities defined on the basis of racial exclusion. Although the concept of tribal sovereignty has parallels in other ideologies of racial and ethnic separatism, it is potentially far more subversive, for Indian tribes, unlike the nation's other minorities, possess both land and governments of their own and have at least the potential to transform not only their hopes and creativity but also their biases into political power in a way that others never can. It should, moreover, be obvious to anyone that legitimizing segregation for Indians will set a precedent for its potential imposition upon black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans."
Finally, let me take this opportunity to remind you that the essay on Chapter 8 of Killing the White Man's Indian is due next Thursday (Nov. 8th). You also want to begin reading our next book, Translation Nation. See you Tuesday.
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