Schema Magazine

The Too Asian? Debate | Why I don't support Macleans or TooAsian.ca

On November 10, Macleans published an article called "Too Asian?" It has since been heavily edited, and renamed "The Enrollment Controversy". The original version is available at TooAsian.ca. In the original, authors Stephanie Findlay and Nicholas Köhler allege that "many students" are whispering that some Canadian universities are becoming "too Asian."

Within a few days, the online article had over 500 comments, mostly from individuals who thought that the article was racist, or enforced racist stereotypes about both "Asians" and "whites."

TooAsian.ca was launched on November 23 as a response. Its motto is "'Too Asian' and Damn Proud of It!"

So far, many of the posts on the site are thoughtful, productive, and uncontroversial. They are mostly promoting events, Youtube videos, and individuals expressing their opinion about the Macleans article. However, there's one section that is deeply troubling. It's the "About" section, written by the TooAsian.ca staff.

As a first generation Korean-Canadian and graduate of McGill University —one of the universities identified as not "too Asian" by the Macleans article—I found many problems with Findlay and Köhler's piece. Many of my concerns are expressed by fellow McGill alumna Braden Goyette in her blog at The Nation.

On the other hand, I also do not support the polarizing rhetoric of "whites" versus "Asians" adopted by the TooAsian.ca staff. Their efforts to identify and challenge racist stereotyping against Asians in mainstream media are commendable, but if we really want to have a debate about racism in Canadian media, we need to stop calling white folk ignorant, and stop assuming that all Asians are "damn proud."

Let's face it: not all Asians are proud of their ethnicity. In fact, many Asians can be extremely racist toward their own and other ethnic communities.

Ironically, Findlay and Köhler point out that Asian students do not "form any sort of monolithic presence on Canadian campuses," and even provide examples of segregation between international students from China and domestic students of Chinese origin through anecdotal quotes. For example:

"The mainland China group tends to stick together," says Anthony Wong, 19, a Waterloo software engineering student. "We can talk to them," says Jonathan Ing, also 19 and in Waterloo's software engineering program, "but we don't mingle." Complains Waterloo student Simon Wang, a Chinese national who is frustrated by the segregation at Waterloo: "Why bother to come to Canada and pay five times as much to speak Chinese?"

The quotes above reveal some palpable tension on university campuses between students of Chinese origin at Waterloo. Findlay and Köhler then followed these quotes with further evidence of diverse "Asian" (read: Chinese) groups at the University of British Columbia.

However, instead of investigating international Chinese students' self-segregation and the tension it creates, Findlay and Köhler chose to present the actual presence of "Asian" students (reverting to using a catch-all term that doesn't distinguish between the domestic students they themselves quoted) as the major issue that university administrators have to address.

So what do I make of this mess?

For one thing, I think that everyone needs to be precise about what they mean when they say "Asian." On this count, both Macleans and the staff at TooAsian.ca fail.

Instead of rallying all Asians around a false flag of ethnic solidarity, I would prefer to see, read, and hear more voices about what being Asian in Canada actually means. Schema's series of stories called "But Where are you really from?" is an ongoing attempt to fill this void in public discussion.

If the goal of TooAsian.ca is to tell "ignorant white folk" what it really means to be Asian, then count me out. It is counter-productive to speak at a forum where the moderators implicitly accept the categorization imposed upon them by their oppressors.

Beth Hong is a student at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism. She is a first-generation Canadian citizen born in Seoul, South Korea.

Kumi Yamashita | Shadow Art

By Beth Hong

Technology allows visual artists endless possibilities for creating imagery that stimulate the senses.

Japan-born artist Kumi Yamashita uses a very basic technology: light.

The UK-trained Yamashita shapes wood, metal, and paper to cast interesting shadows on blank walls. In 2003's"City View", Yamashita used various blocks of wood to cast a shadow of a woman standing at a railing.

Yamashita's work has been showcased in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. At 48, she continues to create shadow art.

She also creates intricate portraits of faces from a single thread of string, which she weaves on a board of raised knobs. Check out this video of works from a 2008 installation:

Canada has yet to host an exhibit of Yamashita's work, but with the hype building (including a plug from one of Justin Timberlake's bloggers), that may soon change.

Posted by Christina J. | December 1, 2010 | Comments (0)

Tags: Art, Asia, Technology

Is Yoga Hindu? | The 'Take Back Yoga' Campaign

By Gayatri Bajpai

Check out this New York Times article: www.nytimes.com. I am immediately tempted to make fun of the group of Hindu nationalist-types who are trying to 'take back' yoga. Yeah, I sort of get it why their feelings are hurt. A lot of people associate yoga with what they see as West Coast, New-Age, touchy-feeliness, while Hinduism, yoga's supposed birth-mother, is not credited every time someone does surya namaskar in an L.A. studio. But even the supposedly Hindu origins of yoga are debated by academics. Though some who practice it have a more educated view on the (probably) Hindu roots (benefits and meaning of yoga), popular practice has rendered it kind of a Lululemon accessory or another gym pass program. Many people in North America probably don't know yoga's history -while there are some that pay too much attention to its history.

Well, so what?

Someone marketed yoga to them in bite-sized pieces, and someone was smart enough to make a brand of it. This is evidently what bothers the Take Back Yoga activists most: the lost economic opportunity. Ironic, yes?

At least yoga is good for people, unlike McDonaldization or tobacco. I say let the brand thrive.

Having grown up in New Delhi (where I barely ever did yoga, much to my regret) and then having come to Vancouver for university, I started to realize how practices like yoga have been appropriated, commercialized, and (here) are associated with 'New Age types', or the health-obsessed 'yoga-moms'. In India, yoga's association with Hinduism is common-knowledge. So its reconstruction here was a bit surprising ... annoying at worst, when not self-aware.

But I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to dissociate religion from its offspring. I can see how the 'bastardization' of the practice has a deeper impact on actually religious Hindu immigrants, and second-or third-generation Indo-Americans, whose identity might depend on the uniqueness of what has been passed down to them by previous generations. If they see that yoga equates with hippies and mysticism for a lot of Americans, then their religion—a stalwart of their (ethnic? religious?) 'special-ness'—is irrelevant to yoga's success as a brand. BUT yoga is considered great for spiritual well-being even by those who have no interest in Hinduism, and that should be a positive thing.

Basically, the Take Back Yoga 'activists' are like that insecure girl in a chick flick that put on a pretty dress and saw a copy cat get compliments for wearing the same outfit, but better. Marketers figured out how to sell yoga in a way that yogis would not, in contemporary North America. I think this is what really irks conservative Hindus, besides hurt feelings and religious righteousness. But they should get over it. For one thing, real yogis care not for marketing or fame.

Real priests are above the transitory nature of brands, money, and earthly identity-crises. I'm not sure I believe in souls, but I'm pretty sure spiritual capital is supposed to be the kind of wealth that increases exponentially the more you give it away.

If anything, the Take Back Yoga activists who call yoga a 'brand' are more dangerous to its 'soul', that they prize so highly, than the religion-neutral or non-Hindu practitioners who do not see it as one. These, too, are a-plenty. Their re-use of yoga, so to speak, is faithful to all the best parts of its spirit.

Posted by Gayatri Bajpai | December 7, 2010 | Comments (0)

Tags: America, Politics, Religion, South Asian

Bamboocycles | Urban Bikes for the Future

By Kayo Homma-Komori

Green products, green practices, green lifestyles. Yes, "green" has been the buzzword of this millennium, but how seriously do we take the term? Do we simply consider the "green-ness" of the end product we are using, or do we consider all the processes that brought that product into our hot little hands?

Recently, riding a bike to work/school/play has been the trendy thing to do - a "green" transportation choice that reflects a "green" lifestyle (you see where I'm going with this). While it is wonderful to see more and more bikes on the roads, our efforts to carry out green lifestyle choices cannot begin and end with the decision to ride a bike to school instead of a car. We need to consider the processes that went into producing that metal-framed bike, many of which cause more damage to the environment.

Enter the Bamboocycle UH-02: a beautifully designed bicycle made almost entirely from bamboo. Crafted in Veracruz, Mexico, the Bamboocycle, a lightweight, stylish, city bike, reflects a holistic approach to the creation of the ubiquitous "green product". Bamboo is the material of choice for the frame of the bicycle because of the many benefits it brings to the environment. Not only is bamboo extremely strong, resistant and light, it also generates more oxygen than trees, and is low maintenance to grow, meaning it doesn't need pesticides or chemicals. It can also help in the quick recovery of overgrazed, depleted land. A miracle crop indeed.

To find more information on the Bamboocycle, check out bamboocycles.com

Posted by Kayo Homma-Komori | December 9, 2010 | Comments (0)

Tags: Design, Environment, Technology

Russell Peters on Q | Call Me Russell

By Gayatri Bajpai

World-famous comedian Russell Peters, pride of Canada (and the Indians everywhere who will always claim ownership of successful members of the diaspora), talks about love, success, schoolyard bullying, and his new book Call Me Russell on CBC Radio's talk program Q (Read a review by Mohit Rajhans on MyBindi.com).

The funnyman's quips are smooth as butta. After getting the run-of-the-mill question about being the son of immigrants, he nonchalantly puts the same question to the interviewer.

On the other hand, his answers to questions about his childhood and racism are feeling and candid. It's hard to believe Russell was vulnerable as a child, even to the predictable racism he must have experienced, he seems so ... thick-skinned now. He makes no bones about taking pride in his success. He owns just a few too many cars for my stamp of complete approval, but I admire that Russell admits to taking joy in the wealth he's gained. There's no humming and hawing or beating around the bush to sound like he's above it. That's what you get from comedians, and why I tend to like them as a species: good ol' fashioned tell-it-like-it-is 'tude.

It's also nice to hear Russell talk seriously about race, which is usually the fodder of his comedy.

True to his kind, Russell is never caught off-guard. Perhaps he makes a special effort at letting us get closer to the inner Russell in his autobiography. I for one am looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of it. As the man himself observes: he is the first person of Indian roots to make it as big as he has in comedy. In that sense, he's quite the self-made success story, having had no predecessors to idolize. It's empowering for a community that's stereotyped in North America as pretty darn nerdy, to have this cool-as-a-cucumber comedian get up on stage and take control by using those very stereotypes to make people laugh, and grabbing himself a large slice of rockstar-calibre fame.

Posted by Gayatri Bajpai | December 2, 2010 | Comments (2)

Tags: Books, Comedy

This page contains all entries posted to Schema Magazine's Blog, "Daily Dose" in December 2010. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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