{"id":70,"date":"2017-03-19T20:51:33","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T03:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/?p=70"},"modified":"2017-03-19T20:51:33","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T03:51:33","slug":"ignorance-racism-and-hyphenated-identities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/2017\/03\/19\/ignorance-racism-and-hyphenated-identities\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignorance, Racism and Hyphenated Identities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a globalizing world, racial and nationalistic identities are more frequently becoming compounded and dynamic. In this blog, I will be discussing a submission from, \u201cThe Race Card Project<\/a>\u201d, an archival site created by Michele Norris, in which invites Americans to add to the conversation about race and their experiences. I will be discussing this submission in relation to Fred Wah\u2019s concept and commentary of a \u201chyphenated identity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wah explains in his biotext, Diamond <\/em>Grill, that a hyphenated identity, such as being \u201cChineseHYPHENCanadian\u201d, is a \u201creal problem for multiculturalism\u201d, for people usually perceive it as \u201ca sign of impurity\u201d. He adds that oftentimes the hyphen is \u201cerased\u201d, and people are identified as only one part of their identity, suggesting that the \u201cparts\u201d are \u201cnot equal to the whole\u201d (178). For example, Wah is Canadian, but of both Swedish and Chinese decent; throughout Diamond Grill<\/em> he explains his struggle of not being seen as Chinese in Chinese communities and for being seen as Chinese and discriminated against by people in white communities. The \u201cinbetweenness\u201d (179) and the idea that the hyphen places one in a \u201cno-man\u2019s land\u201d, or is a \u201cstain\u201d, is solely determined by one\u2019s perception that one must be undivided in order to be \u201cwhole\u201d (178). The issue is not the hyphen itself; the hyphen connects people to the multiple layers of their identity. However, as Wah mentioned, it is a \u201cproblem for multiculturalism\u201d (178) simply because of the intolerance that some have for an identity that does not follow the typical binary rules in which segregate us.<\/p>\n

However, Fred Wah\u2019s struggle is not uncommon. Many other people with hyphenated identities are having to deal with racism and ignorance. For example, in a submission on \u201cThe Race Card Project\u201d, Shagun Doshi, a woman from Naperville, Illinois, explains that although she was born and raised in America and sees herself as American, people continuously only see her for how she appears on the outside (Norris). Consequently, she is often asked, \u201cNo, where are you really from?\u201d when she answers American instead of Indian. However, she explains that not only white people made the assumptions, but Indian people as well as they would start to speak to her in Hindi, a language she does not understand. Although the solution to this problem may seem simple, it is not. Another submission on \u201cThe Race Card Project\u201d, by Brianna Leander from Texas, suggests a solution as she writes, \u201cI don\u2019t see color, only culture\u201d (Norris). However, this does not solve the ambiguity of certain identities, for culture can be hyphenated as well. In Doshi\u2019s case, she explains that her Indian culture \u201cinfluences a lot of [her] values and beliefs\u201d but that the American culture she has been brought up in \u201calso attributes for [her] personality and views\u201d (Norris). Doshi not only is hyphenated through her race being \u201c100% brown\u201d and her home country being the U.S., but she is hyphenated in having an Indian-American culture as well. Identities are complex and each part constitutes who we are as a whole. Therefore, the issue is not having a multifaceted identity, but being reduced by others who see the hyphen as a \u201cmi-nus mark, not an equal sign\u201d (Wah 179).<\/p>\n

With the frequent mixes of race and culture in present time, it is often no longer easy to define an identity. Therefore, it is important that we become accepting of parts of a hyphenated identity by respecting them as equivalent to each whole. However, with all said, perhaps the best solution to this racism and ignorance is simply to not assume, but ask.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–If you are interested in this topic, I urge you to check out Merial\u2019s blog post<\/a>, which also discusses Fred Wah\u2019s concept of a \u201chyphenated identity\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Wah, Fred.\u00a0Diamond Grill<\/em>. Landmark edition. NeWest Press, 2008. Print.<\/p>\n

Norris, Mellisa. The Race Card Project<\/em>. theracecardproject.com. Accessed 19 March 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a globalizing world, racial and nationalistic identities are more frequently becoming compounded and dynamic. In this blog, I will be discussing a submission from, \u201cThe Race Card Project\u201d, an archival site created by Michele Norris, in which invites Americans to add to the conversation about race and their experiences. I will be discussing this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44932,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44932"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/astuselena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}