I really enjoyed reading Lisa Lowe's "Heterogeneity, Hybridity, and Multiplicity" because a lot of what was said is what I have been feeling for a while now. I don't know how I feel about the term 'Asian.' Its accurate right? I'm from Asia, therefore I am Asian. But as I explore that term a bit more I take a step back. The problem is that the term Asian seems to put all these different type of people and categorize them as one. Lowe talks about this saying that the term Asian Americans have been constructed to mean different, not white, an other. I agree. I understand that I am different than white people and that I am an 'other,' but I am also different from Chinese people, Japanese people, Thai people, Viet people, and the list goes on. Like the readings says, "from the perspectives of Asian Americans, we are extremely different and diverse among ourselves." Many times I have corrected people,"No I'm not____. I'm Korean" and many times people have responded,"Well, same thing right?" NO. So many 'Asian' countries are different in respect to so many different aspects like language, culture, food, government, etc and to categorize this as all the same is not only offensive but wrong. I am Korean and even though I'm Korean, there are so many things that separate me from another Korean person so what makes it right to say that I'm the same as all other people of Asia. Yes, I understand that as Asians, we all share the same region of origin but that doesn't mean we're the same.
I think you commented on Lowe's critique of homogeniety perfectly. I think we are generally taught that it is a natural human desire to want to categorize people upon meeting them in order to quicken the process of understanding them. I'm not sure I agree that it is a "natural" human desire but I do think we have accepted it as such. This desire has lead to the dangerous essentialization of racial groups in the name of simplification. I think the only way to combat this dependence on stereotypes and broad racial categorizes is to emphasis an importance in culture, history, identity and personal experience. I'm not sure the best way to achieve this while still being practical about the fact that we can't always have a long conversation with everyone we meet about personal identity. That being said I think a good starting point is to ask, instead of assuming one's ethnic identity and like we have agreed to do in this class accept their answer as truth. The more curious we are about people's specific cultural and ethnic identities the more we can understand how to connect. Thank you for sharing this response, it was honest and to the point.
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