This is the blog for Asian American Literature at De Anza College, Winter 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Confidence problems or confusion
From Alex:
Through out the text the Authors seemed to have confidence problems or
confusion with being Asian/ American. Do you feel like it's still the case
with our generation?
I think that when children are born into families that speak a native language then yes there may be confusions with being Asian/American. I say this from my own life and my own experiences because I know that I am an American, but i also affiliate myself as an Asian because i still follow my cultures values and customs.
I think a lot of people say they are asian because it is their nationality or ethnicity but they are actually Americans in how they present themselves.
I think the issue of confidence has a lot thing to do with Asians; a lot of Asians are well known for their hard work at school. Yet, they are known for not being as couragous as other groups of people in America. They do work hard and try to get good grades at school, but sometimes grades are not all that matters
I believe the problem with confidence in Asians has a lot to do with their culture. Asians aren't known for being the loud, upbeat, and confident people. I see Asians as more quiet, well mannered, docile people. And I think this has to do with the way they are raised. Asian culture teaches their youth while they're young to be respectful, docile, and well behaved people. Most of the time I see myself as more American than Asian, however I don't see myself as very confident or outgoing as a person.
I am proud of beine myself, Im happy that i am Asian and I found no problem with that, other than when the guys were trying to hook me up in the mall or soemthing :P . being ASian American means a lot of thing, in different areas we are all different performance. Therefore, I think the authors are having a hard time, usually when they are growing up, like teenage time. They need exploration to figure out how to handle the identitiy issues, when growing up in a white people surrounding place, they maybe feeling lost, excluded within the kids, ot they just think they look different to them, the family, appearance or language. However, usually when they are grown up, their Asian Identity is still there, and they are more likely acceoted, they learnt that there is their mother' country's heritage, they know how they have to embrace their asianess.
I think this isn't really the case with our generation because of the our society is more diverse. I don't think there's a confusion with being Asian-American. I get the feeling that Asians are more confident nowadays because of the increase in the presence of the people of the same race and populations are just not mainly Caucasian or one ethnic background. Though this might be the case, confidence is always going to depend on the person.
I think that a large reason Asian Americans struggle with confidence is not because they speak their native tongue at home, but because they are not involved with extra-curricular activities at a young age. If they are more outgoing, I believe that they will gain this confidence at a young age. I think that another leading factor to having no confidence is due to the fact that Asian cultures believe in harsh, physical punishment. This causes the child to lose confidence as a child and also can also encourage them to be anti-social.
I dont think this is the case anymore. Yes a while back things were different but now things are slowly moving towards being more open and pride is starting to increase and it just isnt lije that anymore. More and more asian americans are getting better jobs and speaking up for themselves. Also another thing i noticed is that ive noticed that we as asians just dont car what others thibk so much anymore
When I was younger all of my friends spoke a different language. I felt left out when they would talk in their native language and I couldnt understand a thing. Now, I have noticed that less of my friends speak their first language. Some still speak to their parents, but hardly ever to their friends. I know they use a different language when they are talking about someone and they dont want them to know what they are talking about or when they are angry and rant about something, they then to rant in a different language. I think confidence plays a small part, but i also think it has to do with the people around us and whether they speak the same native language or not.
A lot of the authors speak highly of their backgrounds, but I feel that they are only unsure because Asian culture has not gone "mainstream" in that we are not portrayed heavily in American media and usually Asian actors/actresses are typecast in the roles they play. If more Asian-American authors became more prominent today, Asian culture can flourish and become "mainstream" and would allow more barriers to fall.
I think that when children are born into families that speak a native language then yes there may be confusions with being Asian/American. I say this from my own life and my own experiences because I know that I am an American, but i also affiliate myself as an Asian because i still follow my cultures values and customs.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people say they are asian because it is their nationality or ethnicity but they are actually Americans in how they present themselves.
I think the issue of confidence has a lot thing to do with Asians; a lot of Asians are well known for their hard work at school. Yet, they are known for not being as couragous as other groups of people in America. They do work hard and try to get good grades at school, but sometimes grades are not all that matters
ReplyDeleteI believe the problem with confidence in Asians has a lot to do with their culture. Asians aren't known for being the loud, upbeat, and confident people. I see Asians as more quiet, well mannered, docile people. And I think this has to do with the way they are raised. Asian culture teaches their youth while they're young to be respectful, docile, and well behaved people. Most of the time I see myself as more American than Asian, however I don't see myself as very confident or outgoing as a person.
ReplyDeleteI am proud of beine myself, Im happy that i am Asian and I found no problem with that, other than when the guys were trying to hook me up in the mall or soemthing :P . being ASian American means a lot of thing, in different areas we are all different performance. Therefore, I think the authors are having a hard time, usually when they are growing up, like teenage time. They need exploration to figure out how to handle the identitiy issues, when growing up in a white people surrounding place, they maybe feeling lost, excluded within the kids, ot they just think they look different to them, the family, appearance or language. However, usually when they are grown up, their Asian Identity is still there, and they are more likely acceoted, they learnt that there is their mother' country's heritage, they know how they have to embrace their asianess.
ReplyDeleteI think this isn't really the case with our generation because of the our society is more diverse. I don't think there's a confusion with being Asian-American. I get the feeling that Asians are more confident nowadays because of the increase in the presence of the people of the same race and populations are just not mainly Caucasian or one ethnic background. Though this might be the case, confidence is always going to depend on the person.
ReplyDeleteI think that a large reason Asian Americans struggle with confidence is not because they speak their native tongue at home, but because they are not involved with extra-curricular activities at a young age. If they are more outgoing, I believe that they will gain this confidence at a young age. I think that another leading factor to having no confidence is due to the fact that Asian cultures believe in harsh, physical punishment. This causes the child to lose confidence as a child and also can also encourage them to be anti-social.
ReplyDeleteI dont think this is the case anymore. Yes a while back things were different but now things are slowly moving towards being more open and pride is starting to increase and it just isnt lije that anymore. More and more asian americans are getting better jobs and speaking up for themselves. Also another thing i noticed is that ive noticed that we as asians just dont car what others thibk so much anymore
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger all of my friends spoke a different language. I felt left out when they would talk in their native language and I couldnt understand a thing. Now, I have noticed that less of my friends speak their first language. Some still speak to their parents, but hardly ever to their friends. I know they use a different language when they are talking about someone and they dont want them to know what they are talking about or when they are angry and rant about something, they then to rant in a different language. I think confidence plays a small part, but i also think it has to do with the people around us and whether they speak the same native language or not.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the authors speak highly of their backgrounds, but I feel that they are only unsure because Asian culture has not gone "mainstream" in that we are not portrayed heavily in American media and usually Asian actors/actresses are typecast in the roles they play. If more Asian-American authors became more prominent today, Asian culture can flourish and become "mainstream" and would allow more barriers to fall.
ReplyDelete