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Forum nameOkay Activist Archives
Topic subject"asian" is virtually void of national/political connotations
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=26262&mesg_id=26287
26287, "asian" is virtually void of national/political connotations
Posted by rawsouthpaw, Fri Mar-04-05 03:08 PM
>although "south asian" etc do require a bit of geographical
>knowledge that not everyone has...

well i can't be responsible for "everyone's" ignorance. south asian/geographic terms are a mad basic way to approach this. people who represent "the other" are always given the responsiblity to educate the ignorant... cats got to search and be accountable for what they bring to the table. this thread is kinda like "school me, then watch as i attempt to undermine what you bring to me"- arrogance and condescension.


>
>however, I don't see how "asian" is free of colonial
>implications, or how "oriental" is loaded with them when
>most people say it


yes the word asia may have been created by europeans, and yes using it could be participating in colonialism to some extent. we don't live in a theoretical vacuum.

that said, it's far easier to use south/east/west/central asian to describe people if one's unsure. when you want to know if someone is filipino or chinese or whatever, ask them. are they ethnically filipino (which is very diverse in itself) and/or indigenous filipino, a citizen of the philippines, or were they or their parent from there? btw the chinese have been in philippine society for centuries giving you an idea of how deep it gets when trying to be precise, and getting nationality confused with ethnic identification.

when you don't know where someone of asian descent is "from", you can get above most layers of colonialism by going to the more or less globally recognized geographic/continental name for their region.











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