Professor of Chinese Studies Zhuwen Zhang’s work as an Asian American folklorist takes her beyond the classroom to tell stories of ancient wisdom and resistance and brings public awareness to current issues of racism and intolerance. Participating in on-site conversations. Zhang’s book, Oral Traditions in Modern China: National Healing, which won the Chicago Folklore Book Award, explores the role of oral stories in reconstructing national identity. In several essays in his more than 200 books, he examines the representation and misrepresentation of Asian Americans in American history. His search for folklore identity has recently led him down a new path. We bring this issue to the public on our podcast, “Yellow and Brown Tales: Asian American Folklife Today.”
Zhang hopes the podcast and his academic research will help bring issues of representation to the broader public. “As I have said in various contexts, we must first recognize that we are all racist, consciously or unconsciously, as racist institutions have educated us for five centuries. Yes,” Chan explains. “Fighting racism is not the job of certain people; it is everyone’s job,” Chan said. “We believe in identifying where problems can be solved and finding a path forward.”
“My job is to look at the folklore and stories that Europeans, Chinese and others have been taught for generations and decide whether we should continue them or not,” Chan says. He added that we can do better than just repeating old slogans. Instead, “everyone can find some way to change the way they think and help others understand different things.”
This podcast aims to do just that by exploring the cultural history of Asian Americans and their current lives. The digital audio format will help Zhang reach a new and broader audience. This project recognizes that many aspects of Asian American life are unheard or unseen by most Americans, and that these stories highlight their rich and expressive culture. We hope to uplift and introduce you. The podcast also serves as an opportunity for Willamette students to participate in interviews and production.
A fellow of the American Folklore Society and past president of the Western Province Folklore Society, Zhang reexamines cultural history with students in his Chinese language courses, carefully observing each translator’s challenges, biases, and stereotypes. . “Translation is linguistic, cultural and ideological at the same time. It is our job to identify different stereotypes and re-educate ourselves,” he says. says. He has helped more than a dozen students publish their translations.
Zhang emphasizes that folklore is part of everyday life. “We want to know how we construct our identities. We maintain our identities through folklore practices, whether individual, group, cultural, ethnic or national identities. “I do,” he says. “The Asian American experience is often isolated, ignored, and marginalized.”
