More than 20 years after he began traveling to America, Shyamark Mohiuddin is at a crossroads of culture and identity.
Mohiuddin, who works as a Washington-area business consultant by day, supports the Asian American movement, performs with a dance group at Fiesta Asia, held annually in the nation’s capital, and is “Asian” on paper. Checking whether But the labels don’t fit perfectly.
She prefers the term “Bangladesh American,” a term that resonates more deeply with her and her Bangladeshi friends.
“Most of my friends usually use their country’s name when hyphenating their heritage, so it would be something like Indian-American, Bangladeshi-American, Filipino-American, etc.,” Mohiuddin says. said.
May is designated as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Month in the United States, one of several months designed to celebrate America’s growing ethnic diversity. .
Once used primarily to refer to Americans of East Asian descent, “Asian American” has recently become an umbrella term used by journalists, advocacy groups, government agencies, and others to describe all types of Asians. It became a word. But not all Asian Americans have embraced it with the same enthusiasm.
Dina Okamoto, a sociology professor at Indiana University, said, “Some people reject it because it’s too broad and doesn’t recognize or acknowledge difference, but for some people it’s very meaningful.” I still think it’s a category and an identity.” Author of books on the development of Asian American identity.
Activists coin ‘Asian American’
The term “Asian American” was coined in 1968 by University of California, Berkeley activists Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee. Previously, Asian Americans were identified by their country of origin, unless they were downplayed as “Oriental.”
Ichioka and Gee were inspired by the anti-racism and anti-war movements of the 1960s, and the pan-ethnic label was used to promote political unity among different Asian groups in America who shared similar experiences of racism and discrimination. created.
“While the term originated as an umbrella term to include all people of Asian ancestry living in the United States, it was not a simple indicator of multiple ethnicities, but rather a political stance.” says Darryl George Maeda, a cultural historian at the University of Tokyo. A Colorado native and author of books about the Asian American movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
FILE – Supporters speak at a reception by the Indian community to commemorate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States at Madison Square Garden on September 28, 2014 in New York.
In the decades since, the term has shed most of its political connotations and evolved into a simple label for identifying people of Asian descent. This change was driven in part by government adoption of the term, including the addition of a new “Asian or Pacific Islander” category to the 1990 Census questionnaire.
“Today, that meaning of Asian American has become dominant,” Maeda told VOA via email.
However, as America’s Asian community has become more diverse due to increased immigration from South and Southeast Asia, the term has taken on a broader meaning. The Asian community in the United States, once comprised primarily of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos, now encompasses dozens of nationalities and numbers approximately 24 million people.
As a result, Maeda said, “It would be dishonest or naive to think that Asian or Asian American refers only to people of East Asian descent.”
In general discussion, this term has gained prominence. Advocacy groups, cultural groups, school districts, and government agencies are increasingly using this label to describe all people of Asian descent, not just East Asians. In school districts with a large population of South Asian students, Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi students are often referred to as Asian.
However, “Asian American” does not always reflect how members of the community see themselves.
Pew studies self-identification
Pew Research conducted the largest survey of its kind last year to examine how Asian Americans self-identify. Only 12% chose “Asian” and 16% said “Asian American,” with more than half (52%) preferring a specific ethnic label, such as: “Chinese” or “Indian”, with or without “American”.
However, the use of “Asian” as an identifier varies by ethnicity. For example, a Pew study found that 23% of smaller groups such as Bhutanese and Bangladeshis prefer “Asian,” nearly double the overall percentage. In contrast, individuals belonging to larger groups such as Chinese Americans and Indian Americans preferred ethnic labels.
File – Massachusetts residents Jessica Wong (front row left), Jenny Chan (center), and Sheila Bo. March 12, 2020, in Boston, Massachusetts, protesters protest anti-Asian racism amid the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China.
Sahana Mukherjee, associate director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center, said that because the term “Asian” is widely recognized, it is often used by individuals from lesser-known groups. Ta.
“It’s much easier for them to use the word Asian instead of using an ethnic label,” Mukherjee said in an interview with VOA.
However, the word “Asia” still evokes East Asia. Among Asian Americans surveyed by Pew, 89% identified as East Asian, 67% identified as South Asian, and only 43% identified as Central Asian.
Some people confuse Indians and Native Americans
Nikhil Bhambu, a U.S.-born son of Indian immigrants, said that when he was growing up in South Carolina in the 1990s and 2000s, the word “Asian” was primarily associated with East Asians.
“At several points, I was told I wasn’t Asian,” said Bambuh, now managing director of nonprofit consulting firm FSG. “So I think what (Asia) meant to most people was East Asia. That’s how it was commonly used.”
FILE – Asians and Pacific Islanders from the Southeastern Grocery Resources and Education Resource Group attend the Hindu Festival of Colors March 8, 2023 at the Grocery Store Support Center in Jacksonville, Florida Celebrate Holi festival. (Photo: Business Wire)
He identified as an Indian American, but that had its own problems. Some people confused the term with Native Americans.
“I think it’s pretty well understood now that Indian American refers to someone from the country of India…But when I was growing up, there was definitely a lot of confusion,” Bhambu said in an interview with VOA. spoke. “If you say, ‘I’m Indian,’ or ‘My parents are Indian,’ people will say, ‘But you don’t look Indian.'”
“You don’t look Asian.”
For Aisha Alam Khan, a Texas-based Pakistani-American activist and lifestyle coach, being Pakistani has always meant being Asian, if not South Asian. Ta.
So after moving to the United States, it was a bit of a culture shock for her to get a confused look every time I introduced myself as “Asian.”
“People would look at me and say, ‘Oh, I don’t look Asian,'” said Khan, a former Pakistani model and radio and TV host.
Khan is fair-skinned thanks to his mixed Pakistani and European heritage. But it wasn’t the color of her skin that caused the confusion, she said, but the stereotype of “East Asians.”
“What they were actually saying was that according to their concept, we should look to either the Chinese or the Japanese or the Koreans or what we think of as the Far East,” Khan said. Ta.
Until the public has a more sophisticated understanding of Asia’s diversity, she says, the term “doesn’t help anyone at this point.”
But for now, she says she, like her friends, is sticking to being Pakistani or South Asian American.
FILE – Miss Universe 2022 R. Bonnie Gabriel poses at the 21st Annual Asian American Awards Ceremony on December 16, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. She is aiming to win Miss Universe 2022 and become the first Miss USA of Filipino descent.
Indiana University’s Okamoto said he has observed that Americans are becoming more understanding of Asian diversity. Early in her career, she said, she was often asked about South Asians being included in the Asian category, but that is no longer the case.
“I don’t know if they’re surprised right now,” she said.
Mohiuddin, who graduated from the University of Maine in the early 2000s, said she too has seen signs of change in recent years. Although Asian American groups remain primarily led by East Asian Americans, they are increasingly adding South Asians to their ranks and reaching out to the broader Asian diaspora.
Mohiuddin recalled meeting several South Asians while attending a recent fundraiser hosted by an Asian American justice group.
“So I think it’s slowly changing,” she said.
