Time Magazine has an article that summarizes many of the trials and tribulations young Asian Americans experience as they grow up Asian in America. These common experiences that many of them share include growing up in predominantly- or all-White neighborhoods and schools, enduring racial taunts from classmates, rejecting their Asian roots and culture so that they can fit into their surroundings, then reacquiring their Asian identity during college, and then forging a new Asian American identity that incorporates elements from both cultures:

Jack Tchen, director of Asian/Pacific/American Studies at N.Y.U., says these second-generation immigrants are beginning to find a middle ground and to “define a new modern form of Asian modernity, not necessarily the same as American modernity.” That is what sociologists call identity building, and for the second generation, it is based not on a common ethnicity, faith or language (except English) but on shared experience.

Which is what the six around the New York City table are discovering. For nearly three hours, they tell stories about their families, their work, their heartaches, their joys. They discuss their Asian identities and American habits. And they confess how hard it has been to walk an often lonely path. . . .

The talk about themselves provides some insights about their parents too. Rob Ragasa, 31, a Filipino-American high school teacher raised in New Jersey, reflects on his parents. “They had to come here and struggle. They had to be the first,” he says, then pauses for a moment. “Maybe we are like our parents,” he adds finally. “We are going to be pioneers too.”

It almost seems like a rite of passage to experience this form of assimilation by Asian Americans — rejection, rediscovery, then rebuilding. I’ve gone through it, almost all of my Asian American colleagues have gone through it, and many of my Asian American students are currently going through it.

It just goes to show that even though a young Asian American in this situation may feel that s/he is alone and isolated, s/he is actually going through what thousands, even millions of others have already gone through. Perhaps it can be a source of comfort to know that a seemingly personal process such as assimilation is also quite communal.

A perfect example of sociology in action, in fact.

You may remember that Michelle Wie is the 16 year old Korean American phenom who is predicted to set the golf world on fire and become the female equivalent of Tiger Woods. Despite only turning pro recently, she has played in several men’s tournaments, including this past weekend’s Sony Open. Unfortunately, this past weekend, similar to all other men’s tournaments in which she’s played, she again failed to make the cut. This had led some to say that her star is starting to wane a little bit:

Although the 16-year-old Honolulu schoolgirl is one of the most exciting drawcards in the game, whether playing well or badly, the novelty factor is likely to run out soon. . . . Australia’s Adam Scott, widely tipped as a future world number one, expressed mixed feelings at the Sony Open.

“I think it’s a good thing for golf at the moment,” he said. “It’s a big story in the game. I think we need all of the exposure we can get and the media hype. “If she starts making the cuts (in men’s events), then I think she can play in as many as she wants, as many as she can get into. “But I think it wears a bit thin on everyone if she were to keep missing all the cuts. There’s no doubt, though, she’s good enough to make the cut.”

Let’s keep this in perspective here — she is only 16 years old! She has her entire career ahead of her. How many 16 year old newly-professional women golfers have played in so many men’s tournaments? She may not yet have made the cut, but neither did she finish dead last in any of these tournaments. Along the way, she has played better than many seasoned male golfers.

In other words, it’s only a matter of “when,” not “if,” that Michelle claims the title of most exciting golfer in the world.

The Daily Northwestern college newspaper has an article that discusses a very common phenomenon among Asian Americans: changing one’s original name to an “American” name that should be easier for non-Asians to pronounce:

Whether they immigrate to the U.S. or have parents from other countries, some students adopt more traditional American names for a host of reasons. . . . Adopting a more traditional American name has a long history, [NU, Associate Director of the Asian American Studies Program Ji-Yeon Yuh] said. Ellis Island officials used to Americanize many immigrants’ names to make them easier to pronounce. . . .

“(There is) a long tradition of making fun of Asian names as nothing but grunts,” Yuh said. “It’s a racist tradition.” . . . But students with American and Asian names said they didn’t feel disconnected from their culture. Instead, they said there are advantages to having two names.

“I have both a Korean and American identity,” Han said. “Having an American and Korean name helps to kind of represent both of the cultures that I embody.”

Along with many other Asian Americans, I can personally relate to this story, since I also went by an American name for a while. Up until the 9th grade, I went by just my first name, Cuong. However, everybody pronounced it “Quong.” I got tired of that and because I wanted to just “fit in” like everyone else — another common theme across Asian America — from 9th grade until I graduate from college, I went by the American name “Sean.”

But after I started studying political science and sociology in college and learned that being Vietnamese and Asian American wasn’t a source of embarrassment or shame but of strength and inspiration, I decided that “Sean” didn’t reflect my rediscovered ethnic identity and pride anymore. I really wanted to go back to using “Cuong” but I didn’t want everybody constantly mispronouncing it, so I compromised and now go by my first and middle initials. Hence, C.N. Le.

I can appreciate that many Asian Americans don’t want to put up with the frequent embarrassment and humiliation of having their Asian names constantly mispronounced by others. At the same time, I hope that young Asian Americans out there eventually come to realize that part of being Asian American means asserting your own sense of identity that incorporates both Asian and American aspects.

In other words, I hope that, in the process of becoming American, they don’t forget that they are still Asian as well.

The New York Times has an interesting article about Asian Americans — particularly recent immigrants — who, upon arrival into the U.S., are quickly assimilating into a particular unhealthy trend — eating too much junk food and putting themselves at greater risk for obesity and diabetes:

Asians, especially those from Far Eastern nations like China, Korea and Japan, are acutely susceptible to Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease and the subject of this series. They develop it at far lower weights than people of other races, studies show; at any weight, they are 60 percent more likely to get the disease than whites.

And that peril is compounded by recent immigrants’ sudden collision with American culture. Many of them left places where factory and field work was strenuous, televisions were rare and advertising was limited. They may speak little English and have poor access to medical care. . . .

Many recent Chinese immigrants have come from places where food was scarce, and experts say some view fat as a trophy of wealth and status. Their children try to fit into their new country by embracing its foods and its sedentary pastimes.

Alas, the march of American capitalism and its consumerist culture continues unabated. It is especially interesting — and rather discouraging — to see a healthy lifestyle that’s been predominant for thousands of years get abandoned and destroyed within a matter of minutes as Asian immigrants come to the U.S., or as more American fast food companies set up business in Asian countries.

Clearly, this is one aspect of American society that should not be incorporated into Asian culture. It will be really sad if this trend becomes part of the assimilation process for Asian immigrants — come to the U.S., learn English, get a good job, buy a house, get fat, and develop diabetes.

What is up with Japan these days? Everywhere I look, I come across more and more examples that the Japanese are intent on deliberately antagonizing and alienating its Asian neighbors and the international community on various social issues. First, it’s the Japanese Prime Minister’s ongoing visits to a war shrine to honor Japanese war criminals during World War II. Then it’s the apparent rise of right-wing Japanese nationalism and xenophobia against South Korea and China.

And the latest news item is Japan’s continuing defiance of international bans on the hunting of whales. As reported by AFB/Yahoo News, Japanese whaling ships are currently skirmishing with Greenpeace boats that are trying to prevent them from completing their whaling mission:

The Arctic Sunrise and another Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, have been shadowing the Japanese whaling fleet since December 21, attempting to disrupt the hunt by putting activists in small inflatables between the harpooners and the whales.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan has continued hunting for what it calls scientific research — a claim rejected by critics. Despite international protests, Japan has this year more than doubled its planned catch of minke whales to 935 and added 10 endangered fin whales, with plans to eventually lift the number to 50, along with 50 rare humpback whales.

It is curious why at a time when other Asian countries are increasingly integrating themselves into the international mainstream and opening themselves up — albeit very gradually — to cross-cultural and cross-ethnic relations and influences, with its neighbors, Japan seems to be the only country that is doing the exact opposite — increasingly alienating, antagonizing, and shunning its neighbors and the international community.

If I didn’t know better, I might say that Japan is increasingly acting like the U.S. . . .

As reported in National Geographic, based on evidence from two European archaeologists, there is increasing speculation that the human species may have originated not in Africa — as the scientific consensus has accepted — but in Asia:

Robin Dennell, of the University of Sheffield in England, and Wil Roebroeks, of Leiden University in the Netherlands, describe their ideas in the December 22 issue of Nature. They believe that early-human fossil discoveries over the past ten years suggest very different conclusions about where humans, or humanlike beings, first walked the Earth.

New Asian finds are significant, they say, especially the 1.75 million-year-old small-brained early-human fossils found in Dmanisi, Georgia, and the 18,000-year-old “hobbit” fossils (Homo floresiensis) discovered on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Such finds suggest that Asia’s earliest human ancestors may be older by hundreds of thousands of years than previously believed, the scientists say.

Dennell and Roebroeks get support for their proposal from other experts. “I think this is an interesting and constructively provocative paper,” said Chris Stringer, a researcher in the department of palaeontology at London’s Natural History Museum.

“Evidence of humans in the Caucasus [region of Asia], China, and Java more than 1.6 million years ago implies either a very rapid spread from Africa after about 1.8 millions years ago, or that such populations were established outside Africa earlier than present evidence suggests,” he said. “I certainly think we should keep an open mind about the big picture.”

Clearly, there needs to be a lot more research in order to positively substantiate this new theory. But the evidence seems to be compelling. Ultimately, if this new theory about humans originating in Asia gains momentum and widespread acceptance, I hope that it doesn’t lead to a cultural backlash of Blacks against Asians, presuming that some Blacks may feel slighted that their ancestral land is no longer considered to be the birthplace of humanity.

This “backlash scenario” is all speculation of course. But above all else, this theory will hopefully only reinforce the obvious but often overlooked fact that we are all part of the human race — there may be cultural and ethnic differences, but we all originated from one original place. Whether that was Africa or Asia, it almost doesn’t really matter in my mind.

The holidays are obviously over now, but in my regular reading of AngryAsianMan, I came across these two “collector” Barbie dolls: Geisha Barbie and Chinese New Year Barbie.

You can make up your own mind about whether or not this is a good thing. For me, it’s a little complicated because on several occasions, I’ve read how many Asian American cultural critics have lamented that there is no Asian American Barbie dolls for Asian American girls to play with as a reflection of their themselves. Now that they have Asian Barbies, we should feel satisfied, right?

Not necessarily, because you will notice that these Barbie dolls are based on Asian culture, not Asian American culture. As I keep telling my students, being Asian and being Asian American are not the same thing. On a certain level, it’s nice that the all-American Barbie line of dolls now includes those from other countries and cultures. But the vast majority of children who will be playing with these dolls do not live in Asia — they live in the U.S.

Therefore, in my mind, until there are Asian American Barbie dolls, the criticism will still continue.

The New York Times reports that as China continues to modernize and forge its own path toward being an economic (and political) international superpower, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, much of its youth culture is actually influenced by South Korea:

From clothes to hairstyle, music to television dramas, South Korea has been defining the tastes of many Chinese and other Asians for the past half decade. As part of what the Chinese call the Korean Wave of pop culture, a television drama about a royal cook, “The Jewel in the Palace,” is garnering record ratings throughout Asia, and Rain, a 23-year-old singer from Seoul, drew more than 40,000 fans to a sold-out concert at a sports stadium here in October.

But South Korea’s “soft power” also extends to the material and spiritual spheres. Samsung’s cellphones and televisions are symbols of a coveted consumerism for many Chinese. Christianity, in the evangelical form championed by Korean missionaries deployed throughout China, is finding Chinese converts despite Beijing’s efforts to rein in the spread of the religion. South Korea acts as a filter for Western values, experts say, making them more palatable to Chinese and other Asians.

The article goes on to describe that American culture still has strong influences in China as well, but many Chinese still see American society as too foreign or far-removed from their own lives. In that sense, South Korean culture is more akin to Chinese culture and therefore its influences is more easily integrated into the lives of many Chinese.

The article also notes that as a reflection of China’s continuing tensions with Japan, most forms of Japanese culture are not as easily accepted and in fact, are frowned upon because of the ongoing unease that many Chinese have with Japan, resulting from its legacy of injustice and cruelty during World War II.

As a reflection of the idealistic goal of promoting a pan-Asian American identity in the U.S., I think it is a positive development that China is being influenced by other Asian cultures, in this case, South Korea. Perhaps this is a sign that Asian countries are becoming more open to influences from their Asian neighbors.

However, we should note that this is not always the case. As I posted earlier, this trend apparently isn’t valid inside Japan, where conservatives and nationalists are increasingly speaking out against various forms of Chinese and Korean culture. It is indeed sad to see that for various reasons, Japan is apparently set on further isolating itself and alienating its Asian neighbors even though it is Japan and Japanese society that is largely at fault for these tensions.

The other potential implication that I see arising from this trend toward more pan-Asian cultural influence is from the U.S. That is, will Americans see this trend toward more pan-Asian cultural integration as a sign that Asian countries are “uniting,” with the further implication being that once united, that Asian countries will “gang up” on the U.S. and become a more prominent threat, culturally, politically, economically, or even militarily?

That sounds like a rather implausible and far-fetched scenario, but at times like this where all non-Americans are seen as potential enemies by the current administration, I would not be surprised to see the U.S. move in that direction. More drastic changes in American policy have already taken place.

ABC News has an article that many may find a little surprising — in the midst of India’s rise in recent years as the international capital of outsourced labor, there are increasing signs that this powerhouse is starting to sputter due to a lack of educated and English-proficient workers qualified to fill the jobs that have been outsourced into India:

Call centers and outsourcing firms are growing fast, but their human resources employees despair because most of the young Indians they interview are, they say, “unemployable.” Some people in the IT industry have said that only one in 10 graduates is worth taking on. . . . India employs about 350,000 people in the outsourcing industry and adds 150,000 new jobs each year. But filling those vacancies is proving to be a nightmare. At this moment, the industry needs to hire around 9,000 people but can’t find them.

The crisis is set to worsen. The industry faces a shortfall of half a million workers in a few years’ time. . . . With half of its 1.2 billion people under age 25, how can India possibly be short of workers? The problem is not quantity but quality. Many of the 3.6 million graduates churned out every year by Indian universities are considered mediocre.

The Nasscom-McKinsey report confirmed the experiences of HR executives. It said that only about 10 percent to 15 percent of eligible workers are fit for employment in the offshoring industry. Fluency in English apart, employers complained that graduates lacked computer skills, the ability to reason clearly, solve problems, think critically, analyze, work in teams and think creatively.

The labor shortage, however, is good news for foreigners. Disgruntled British and American workers who have seen their jobs outsourced to India could get them back — with one catch. They need to move to India where their English and their accents will be an asset.

That last paragraph is certainly quite interesting — India’s troubles can be a benefit to native English-speaking workers, if they are willing to move to India to work. I suppose you can call that “imported English outsourcing” or something.

Whatever the case, this is another example of capitalism’s relentless pursuit of profit. Capitalism first came to India for the cheap labor but is increasingly finding that Indian workers aren’t qualified enough. So what’s the answer? Find qualified workers but bring them into India where the costs of doing business are lower and where maximum profit can still be achieved. As I’ve said before, soon another country will eclipse India to become the new outsourcing center of the world, and then another country will surpass that one, and so on. It’s inevitable.

Many of you have probably heard about Chinese American director Ang Lee’s latest movie Brokeback Mountain, a story about two cowboy ranch hands who have a gay love affair. In a recent issue of AsianWeek Magazine, Ang Lee discusses his thoughts on what Asians, gays, and cowboys share:

Question: Cowboys are not known for openly expressing their emotions. Asians share a similar stereotype. Do you see any parallels between Asians and cowboys in how they deal with taboo sexual subjects such as homosexuality?

Ang Lee: I see the themes of repression in Brokeback Mountain as being universal regardless of culture. However, it is true that Eastern culture and the nature of cowboys share a certain indirectness, quiet nature, and use of body language to communicate that are quite similar. There are similarities in the art of the two cultures as well –– they both emphasize feelings of sadness, melancholy, and expansive space through various media.

The difference is that Western culture is more macho, whereas Eastern culture is –– more lunar and feminine in nature. Thus, when it comes to attitudes about homosexuality, my personal theory is that Eastern culture is more relaxed than in the West. This stems from a difference in why a culture perceives homosexuality to be wrong –– in Western culture, it stems from religion, and you are condemned if you are gay.

Eastern culture seems more, flexible –– and being gay is more of a social issue than a religious one; there is no deity to offend.

Whether or not you’re a fan of Ang Lee’s movies, you’ve got to admire him for achieving success on his own terms and not being afraid to do what he wants, whether it relates to portrayals of Asians or gay cowboys. Keep up the good work, Ang.

As you may have heard and as many news organizations such as CBS News have reported, South Korea medical scientist Hwang Woo-suk has recently resigned from his university position after it was revealed that his research, which was initially touted as a breakthrough success in the area of stem cell research, was mostly if not entirely fabricated:

In a May paper published in the journal Science, Hwang claimed to have created 11 stem-cell lines matched to patients in an achievement that raised hopes of creating tailored therapies for hard-to-treat diseases. But one of his former collaborators last week said nine of the 11 cell lines were faked, prompting reviews by the journal and an expert panel at Seoul National University, where Hwang works as a professor. . . .

The university panel of investigators said Hwang’s fabrication was a deliberate deception that has undermined the credibility of science. The university’s announcement of results so far in its investigation into Hwang’s work were the first confirmation of allegations that have cast a shadow over all of his purported breakthroughs in cloning and stem-cell technology. . . .

The South Korean government, which had strongly supported Hwang and designated him the country’s first “top scientist,” said Friday it was “miserable” over the reported results of the investigation and will start its own probe over ethics breaches.

As an academic myself, of course I strongly condemn his dishonesty as an affront to the rest of us who are doing legitimate academic research. But just as important, as an Asian American, I also condemn his dishonesty for several reasons. First, his actions are likely to damage the scientific work of other Asian and Asian American researchers, who unfortunately, will be seen as potentially suspicious, merely by association as a fellow Asian.

In other words, just as virtually all Chinese Americans — and by implication all Asian Americans — were seen as potential spies several years ago due to the alleged actions of a few (later to be acquitted of virtually all charges), the same scenario is likely to be repeated here as the honesty and integrity of Asian and Asian American scientists may get called into question.

Unfortunately, I see Hwang’s actions as another unfortunate example of the unending drive for status and material forms of “success” and recognition that is all too common among Asians and Asian Americans. In many ways, I sometimes feel that Asians and Asian Americans are frequently the most status-conscious group of people on earth. If this drive helps to inspire many of us to become legitimately successful, that’s one thing.

But in cases like this, I also see it leading some to go beyond the bounds of professionalism, integrity, and legitimacy, all in a desperate effort to try to prove that we’re just as good or even better than others — especially other races of people. I hope we all learn from this unfortunate episode that the drive for status and recognition has to have it limits.

The York Times has an interesting article that described how many young Catholics are increasingly reluctant to enter the priesthood, but that Vietnamese Americans are the exception. Apparently, many young Vietnamese Americans are eager to become Roman Catholic priests:

At a time when fewer American Catholics are expressing interest in the priesthood, Vietnamese-American men are an anomaly. They are now the second-largest minority ethnic group in seminaries, only slightly behind Hispanics, who account for a far larger percentage of the general population.

While church experts and priests say that some Catholics frown upon their sons’ joining the priesthood and are even embarrassed by it in the wake of the sex abuse scandals among members of the clergy, Vietnamese Catholics continue to hold the priesthood in high regard. They say that the sex scandal marred individual clergymen but not the vocation itself. . . .

Asians and Pacific Islanders constitute about 1 percent of American Catholics, but they account for 12 percent of seminarians; a vast majority of them are of Vietnamese heritage, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. . . . That such a small group of American Catholics is able to deliver so many new priests reveals the grip tradition, family and faith still have on many Vietnamese-Americans.

As I and other scholars have noted, for many reasons, the Vietnamese American community seems to have the highest levels of ethnic and familial solidarity among all Asian American ethnic groups. This assertion is partly reflected in the fact that U.S.-raised Vietnamese Americans tend to have the lowest levels of intermarriage among major Asian groups, and in this case, the highest levels of Catholic seminary participation as well.

Although towards the end the article notes that as many U.S.-born Vietnamese become more assimilated and secularized, the numbers wanting to enter the priesthood is likely to decline, my impression is that the level of ethnic solidarity among Vietnamese is still likely to stay rather high. Vietnamese parents will still have a lot of influence over what career their children enter.

Therefore, my guess is that the future of this trend will largely lie with the parents — if they want their sons to enter the priesthood, many will. But if they are likely many other Asian parents who want their children to become doctors or engineers, this trend will eventually dissipate. Stay tuned . . .