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| "ABC" and "banana" |
By:
Evangeline Selden |
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A professor of mine once told a story about when she traveled to America to study.A native of Eritrea, she received a scholarship to pursue a degree at an American university. The university has organized a trip to Disneyland for her and the other international students. Before the group of international students went to Los Angeles, the coordinators of the tour informed students from Africa, they should wear their "traditional" costumes, not clothing.Why West? The coordinators were concerned that African students would be "wrong" for African-Americans simply because their skin color was also dark.At the time of the 1960 were still very blatant racial discrimination against Afro-Americans.Insgroupsto avoid trouble, the coordinators would be assured that their African students do not see African-American.
He finished the story by asking us to think about what we thought it was before we met. His last name is Italian, think he was Italian? When we saw him, we do not assume that it was a black American? How do we really know about a person based on hair color, skin color, facial structure or body shape?
Identity is a difficult subject to discuss because it is so personal and it's even more difficult to describe the identity of a person indicates in a country like USswheresjust the family all came from elsewhere. My teacher, until she left Eritrea has always considered Eritrean.When she came to America, but people looked and saw a black woman, not an Eritrean woman. Similarly, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese come to the United States and is often referred to simply as "Asians". The appearance is used as the main condition for the identity, even if appearances can be quite disappointing.
Is there a difference between a Chinese born in China and a person born in the United States of parents from China? Most people would agree that there are certain phrases that people use often insgroupsto is.There define Chinese American identity. The two terms most heard is "ABC", ie, a Chinese born in America, and "banana" One is often seen as an acceptable label for people of Chinese origin born in the United States. In Canada, there is the term for "CBC" Canadian-born Chinese.The second term, the banana is considered derogatory and offensive, and refers to someone who is "yellow" on the outside but "white" inside.
ABC used the term so common that many people think it is an adequate description of the Americans.However Chinese, the phrase is hiding what I think is a very dangerous belief about identity. Identity is developed and learned, not given to birth.To saying someone is an American-born Chinese was to suggest that if the person was born anywhere else in the world, he / she is still basically the Chinese, because China The quality of being Chinese, is inherent in the ABC person.It implies that China is the first and just happened to be born in the United States.Yet be Chinese is not an inherent quality of a person simply because he or she looks Chinese . Just about every Chinese-American recognizes that there are large differences in the aspect of personality, behavior and physical with each other and with native Chinese counterparts.
These differences are what the term "banana" addresses.Bananas is yellowing of the skin, but with white pages - for people, this is supposed to describe people who look Chinese, but if the "guts" is to say, their behavior and personality, is "white" But this also carries a connotation of degrading and insulting. that these people are only half true, they are neither completely Chinese, or even white. Even worse is the term sometimes used to suggest that Chinese-Americans really wish they were white.Being white, of course, assumes it means to be an American, who is third misconception.Not all Americans are white, and in no too many years, most people in America will not be white (ie, pure European strain) at all.
Identity is all about experience and circumstances, not the color of the skin or appearance.What general terms, such as ABC and banana to ignore this aspect of the China-America form the true identity of their right.Chinese-Americans necessarily between the Chinese-American identity and West.The East is one that has evolved through many generations in the United States (from 1840), but can also be divided to recent immigrants and their families.It is important because it is different because is the product of the fusion of social and cultural influences, and these differences must be recognized and not to push it aside.
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