Last week, I scoured through Topside, trying to spend as much non-refundable money from my Declining Balance Account as possible by splurging on enough food to last me through finals. While looking through the instant noodle selection, I picked up a package of "Oriental Flavor" Ramen. I pointed this out to my Chinese-American friend and we both cracked up. We found it amusing that the geographical and cultural vastness of a continent could be summed up in a single, MSG-laced flavor.
Yet every day, we effectively reduce vast stretches of nations, ethnicities, histories and cultures as "Asian," despite the fact that terms like "Asian" and "oriental" are based on an arbitrarily bounded landmass.
"Asia" also has different implications on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. In South Korea, the main focus of broader self-identification lies on one's national identity. While I knew that I lived in a geographical location called Asia, I hardly if ever identified myself as an Asian, similar to how an American-born citizen probably would not refer to herself primarily as a North American. After moving to the States, however, my Asian identity took on a growing importance despite the fact I had virtually no preexisting ties to Cambodians, Vietnamese, Filipinos or Bangladeshis.
As such, a singular Asian-American identity, like the geo-cultural landmass itself, is largely imaginary. Yet it persists through institutionalized categorizations such as census reports and college applications. For non-Asian Americans, this perpetuation could easily be attributed to lack of cultural cognizance. Yet why do Asian-Americans continue to affix the label upon themselves?
The existence of an Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month an annual May celebration of the culture, traditions and history of Asian-Americans may provide one explanation. The fact that there even is a need for such a specialized occasion implies that there is not a sufficient outlet of expression or understanding in mainstream society. Currently, Asian-American representation in conventional media such as television and film is all but absent (save the over-representation of token female Asian news anchors known as the "Connie Chung syndrome"). In addition, various modes of Asian thought, including culture, medical systems, philosophy and traditional rituals are collectively separated, exoticized, marginalized and considered backwards to Western modernity. While external factors do facilitate social and cultural segregation of Asian culture, the need to express the legitimacy of their own cultures causes Asian-Americans to collectively identify as such.
The label of "Asian-American" is not without its drawbacks. Hidden behind the imaginary veil of an overarching pan-Asian unity, distinct cultures are not evident to the outside perspective. Yet the social and cultural connotations of the labels cannot be ignored. The term "Asian-American," therefore, is a label that that embodies the discontent against both cultural alienation and demands of cultural assimilation from mainstream American society.
Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to confront the problems of separation. Asian-American population in America, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, hovers just below 5 percent. They do not yet have significant political clout, save for areas of dense Asian-American population such as San Francisco. As such, the most effective vehicle for change must come from academic institutions. Currently, Dartmouth's Asian-American studies department only has two faculty members, both of whom I personally admire for their tremendous dedication to expanding their fledgling field. Yet our paltry support for Asian-American studies is not an isolated anomaly. Recent demands for Asian-American studies have been made in our peer institutions such as Princeton and Harvard with little success.
As Asian-Americans take on more visible roles in American society, there must be greater efforts to foster mainstream understanding of what Asian-Americans are and what they are not. We are not, for instance, a package of Ramen noodles. Instead, we are a sumptuous feast, each with distinctly rich cultural and historic flavors.
