Since coming to America for university, I have experienced a number of cultural quirks that took some getting used to. For example, having grown up with British English in India and England (I was not aware of how many different versions of the language there were until I heard a distinctly different vocabulary on this side of the pond), I was met with looks of bewilderment when I called the "sidewalk" a "pavement" or an Oreo a "biscuit." But these were trivial issues that only really mattered during a game of Taboo.
A far more serious issue that took a considerable degree of acclimation was that of race and nationality, and my attempts to deal with the United States' division of its sundry populace on racial lines. More specifically, this article attempts to show my confusion about the presence of the all−encompassing Asian American Center.
Aside from the periodic e−mails I have received from this group for the past four years as an undergraduate, the center has been a part of my life with its talks on "Asian stereotypes," celebrations of "Asian cinema" and job and internship opportunities targeted specifically for students of Asian origin. What has bewildered me is the grouping of the Korean Students Association culture show with a lecture on Bangladesh and Thai Club Cooking Night. Should I have more interest in interning as an English teacher in South Korea than a non−Asian? Is it not strange, at these "Asian−American" events, to serve samosas, dumplings and Thai iced tea as though all students of Asian origin associate this grouping of foods with their Asian culture? And why is Russia never represented in these continental gatherings if over half of its land mass is included in the bounds of Asia?
The origins of this trend of superficial racial or cultural unification based on particular geographical bounds can be traced to colonial times. The spread of European knowledge of the rest of the world was essentially formed in opposition to its own identity. Thus, the entire continent of Asia, stretching from Russia to Indonesia and from Japan to Jordan was categorized as a whole, not because of similarities of people dwelling in the regions, but because Asia was different from the relatively more homogenous Europe. Geographical delineation was done to continents, and later countries, in a way that created geographical confines for human communities. I say this is a European notion because nowhere on this vast continent has scholarship associated the whole of Asia as a coherent unity. In other words, no Asians have ever written about their cultural identification with the continent or their bonds with other cultures simply because of their shared location within this geographical distinction of Asia.
The Asian American Center at Tufts was founded in 1983, when a spate of similar centers was founded across the country. America was convulsing from centuries of denying racial minorities the same rights as "real" Americans. Minority race students at liberal arts universities such as Tufts came together to collectively oppose adverse majoritarian discrimination.
The creation of such centers did not engage the notion of race and its origins but has since perpetuated it. By continuing to identify a whole host of students as Asian, the idea of the cultural unity of an entire continent is maintained, as well as an imposed brotherhood based on the fact of similar geographic−racial origin. I personally do not primarily or secondarily identify myself as an Asian. Identities such as these are instead imposed, ironically, by the very centers that were created to blast these fallacies of difference based on race or nationality.
I understand that many students do not have the same sentiments as me, and many Americans of Asian origin find a comfort in these groupings. However, because we are in an intellectually privileged university environment, I wish simply to address this sensitive issue. There are many instances of a post−racial world in which socially created categories based on geographic and cultural origins are simply regarded as antiquated, colonial remnants. It is curious that this university perpetuates particular notions of difference based on race and geographical origin without engaging in a debate about these very concepts.
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Shreya Maitra is a senior majoring in his- tory and International Relations. She is a member of the International Club.
