Asian American Identity – Unraveling Asia America
November 92009
Directed and edited by Calvin Sun at Columbia University, Identity – Unraveling “Asian America” seeks to reveal what lies beneath the color of our skins for a new generation of Asian Americans.
This ten minute video by the Columbia University Asian American Alliance features selected interviews from 50+ undergraduate students representing over 20 different cultural and performance organizations at Columbia University. Topics range from the indeterminate nature of the Asian American identity to subtle cultural diversity/segregation challenges among undergraduate campuses and possible solutions to these issues.
Production began November 2005, and post production wrapped up March 2006.
calvin.sun@caa.columbia.edu
Duration : 0:10:21
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
How do i identigy …
How do i identigy myself? i like video games. You said it man.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I totally lost …
I totally lost focus on this video. I’m telln you its all about havn sex. But I think asian ppl in general would get along a whole lot better if we was to just have sexs.I’m not talkn about relationship sexs I’m talkn friendly sexs. I been to asian clubs and felt out of place , I got to a black club and is great. If u ladies want to feel better about ur identity give up the nookie. I’m korean american just incase anybody was interested.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
It’s normal for …
It’s normal for shallw people to have a fetish such as this. the more shallow a person is the stronger their fetish is.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Wooo Singapore! I”m …
Wooo Singapore! I”m American, but I’ve been to Singapore before, and totally loveee the shopping and food there!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
You should sign up …
You should sign up for the newsletter at authoropen . com ..lots of great advice there and its free anyway so why not
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Columbia University …
Columbia University @ New York City.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
i want to move to …
i want to move to you guy’s place. where are you guys at?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I gladly welcome …
I gladly welcome Asian people into America. At least most of them are civilized, hard-working, intelligent people, who bring *good* cultural diversity here. Some might see me as a “whitey oppressor” but I’m not. I never chose my race, heritage, or place of birth and neither did anyone else so why hate them over it! I have close friends from all over the world, another reason I like America so many different types of people. It’s not a bad thing, really.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
thanks melanie!
thanks melanie!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
that’s pretty …
that’s pretty creepy dude.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
…in the video …
…in the video they highlight how the problem is that OUR (Asian American) communities tend to shun one another as well shun other communities without thinking about the consequences. I don’t think they were talking/”crying about” how other communities shun them in this film.
And as an Asian American who constantly work with other communities, I’m sorry you have had this experience. I can say that at least on the East Coast where I am, there is progress on the way.
–the director
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
its ironic to see …
its ironic to see that asian americans feel like other ethnic groups shun them.
I personally live in an area heavily populated with all different asian groups and I find that I’m often the one being shunned because I’m spanish.
Maybe before the asian community comes crying about how people don’t accept them for their color, they should first try to accept others regardless of their race.
I’m not saying this particular group isn’t accepting. I am talking about the asian community in general.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I have a fetish for …
I have a fetish for asian HAIR as it’s soft and silky.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Hi Calvin, thanks …
Hi Calvin, thanks for the very eye-opening video.
You inspire me to make my own documentary about being Asian American in my community. Being unified despite our cultural backgrounds is something we should all strive for. =]
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
What they seem to …
What they seem to embrace more from the asian heritage some fo the time is work ethic (not always), fashion, …, food (again, see comment about best of both worlds), and sometimes conservative personal values.
Another factor that is import is whether their parents are from abroad or not. I’ve had friends who basically stuck to the food and the study habbits. (Some stuck to neither.) Curses, everybody is different.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Well, that’s cause …
Well, that’s cause all those Euros, while having quite a variety of cultural identities are still “white”. ;D.
You do actually make a fair point, many aspects of the American culture ARE quite different from the European one; e.g., enterpreneurship. (You can even compare US to Canada there) and outspokenness..
Oddly, most asian americans/canadians embrace the open expression of the American culture …
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Based on Asian …
Based on Asian Canadians I’ve seen?
100% have a bit of a hybrid between the two cultures ,,,
As far as I can see, they do what any intelligent person would do faced with such a choice, they take the best of both as they see it,
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
i dont get your …
i dont get your point, ur asking me why the european immigrants arent called white washed, but what does oppression have any thing to do with why europeans immigrants are not considered white wash?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
No? Because people …
No? Because people of other colors-white, black, tan (I don’t know the appropriate color to put on Hispanics so let’s go with tan)especially(& I’m talking in general)certain colors alienate them.They are socially suppressing them.We are at a time and in a country (well at least I am) where there are no federal policy race injustices but instead, we have it in our culture.We are suppressing Asian-Americans,alienating them.1 day they will break free like others but like others, it will take time.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
because society …
because society views them as white?? while people of color cannot assimiliate completely because of our obvious differences
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Yo man, you’re …
Yo man, you’re pretty intelligent compared to the other racists on youtube (including me). I say it’s a 70/30 on this one. From what I see 70% of Asian Americans just want to be part of the American culture. While 30% give them a harder time due to the fact that they want to maintain their roots. In my opinion, the old generation is somewhat keeping us new generations behind. Stereotypes that other people spew does NOT help either. Too bad it’s human nature to categorize.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Pretty serious.
Pretty serious.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
And who really is …
And who really is alienating Asian-Americans? Them, or us? If you take away all our stereotypes, all our prejudices, they wouldn’t seem to different and they wouldn’t be alienated as a group. But instead, we have all these nasty things to say about individuals we don’t even know, judging them by their race. So henceforth, we alienate them. But it seems like they are doing it because it’s hard to reflect upon ourselves, much easier to place blame.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Now to whomever …
Now to whomever told me I was being filled with propaganda-nope, that’s you, my friend. You’ve forgotten, as many of us have, that Americans aren’t only Caucasians. We shouldn’t even call them Caucasians-they are European-Americans-they come from Europe just like Asians come from Asia. Are we supposed to panic if statistics say Caucasians are going to become a minority in the far ahead future? But we are because we’re ignorant to think that they are just as American as us. Get it right.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I love how we say, …
I love how we say, “white washed” as if Caucasians are the only Americans. We tend to forget that they came from Europe-Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, UK, etc. And yet, we don’t say to those immigrants that they are white-washed.