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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Dear Ann! I am no American and no Asian,
and, probably, I am missing something, but... Honestly, I found
no rebuke in poor "WASP" response. (What a funny word, by the
way. Calling names is an offence even in kindergarten). Why do not
presuppose that this...I prefer to call him person--that this
person just meant to give you a credit, a compliment? He is studying a
culture, to which you naturally belong, as he supposes, by the right of
your birth, by the color of your skin, even before you started to study it. It
just means that you must understand it deeper and learn quicker then he
does. Probably, when talking about "your culture" he referred to the
culture of your ancestors, in which you might be interested in. What is so
viciously "WASPish" about it? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> And how did you know that he denied your
American self? Did he try to speak Korean with you before you opened your
mouth? Or sing "Ariran" as a greeting?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> May be, you just took it all wrong
and your Harvard professor was a nice, kind guy? A little
bit clumsy with compliments, but definitely good-willing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> (Off-topically: I always feel
flattered when my friends referring to some unreasonable
behavior of Kim Chong-il tell me:"O, this is YOUR Korea
again....") </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best regards,
Tatiana (female). </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=asl@myuw.net href="mailto:asl@myuw.net">Ann Sung-hi Lee</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws
href="mailto:Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Korean Studies Discussion List</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, September 26, 2003 2:28
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [KS] can Asian Americans have a
voice in Asian Studies?</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear list,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have failed in my bid to be a cultural
comprador.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Collecting my unemployment checks, I have time to
read what I want to read.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I can't help asking myself whether or not Asian
Americans can have a voice in Asian Studies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Orientalists remind us that only a native's
"access" to Asian culture could possibly give an Asian any use value in the
field. This results in pitting Asian Americans (issei, nisei, 1.5
generations, and in betweens) against each other -- a divisive strategy that
succeeds because of the economics of Necessity, in which Asian Americans are
only too willing to sell each other out in order to survive. It is a
strategy that pre-empts any possible alliances that Asian Americans might try
to form, alliances that dominant whites find threatening.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I remember a male WASP professor at Harvard (now
at a different school) asking department majors to introduce ourselves and our
reasons for majoring in East Asian Studies. One Asian student, recently
immigrated, said he wanted to study his culture. I said I had a somewhat
academic interest in Asia, rather than studying it as "my culture," since I
was born in N.Y.C. and grew up here.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The WASP male professor, perhaps sensing a
smugness in my attitude, immediately said, "But isn't that what it
is? _Your_ culture?" It was a harsh rebuke of my confidence in my
American identity. My skin color meant, to him, that I would never be
accepted as an American.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ann Lee</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://home.myuw.net/asl/"></A></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>