Leading Bi-Cultural Lives | Asian American Poll

LEADING BI-CULTURAL LIVES
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:24:37 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Is it possible to embrace both American and Asian cultures and find social acceptance with both Americanized and non-Americanized groups of friends?
Yes | 77%
No | 23%

Which of the following factors is most important in facilitating a successful bi-cultural life?
Familitarity with both cultures | 32%
Family upbringing | 28%
Fluency in both languages | 16%
Security in one's identity | 24%

Which of the following factors most discourages bi-cultural lives for U.S.-raised Asian Americans?
Inability to speak Asian languages | 28%
Outmarriage to non-Asians | 14%
Fear of seeming too Asian | 30%
Concern for kids' image with peers | 28%

Which segment of the Asian American population currently has the greatest positive impact on American society?
American-Born | 56%
Foreign-born, American-educated | 44%

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WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

PHD (Dr.? Professor?)
Skin color and physical appearance make a difference only in how people you don't know very well/at all react to you. This covers about 3 situations: interaction with service workers, being introduced to another person by a friend (in any social setting), or making a self-introduction (for example, trying to talk to a girl at a club). I don't get all irritated about service workers making assumptions about my ethnicity and picking a language based on that assumption, and in the other two situations it just takes time to make someone aware of my real cultural identity.

"Assimilation"
Means giving up your old culture in an effort to fit in with whatever is around you and forget your roots. It doesn't work all that well unless you can become physically indistinguishable from whoever is around you (e.g. ever wonder what happened to all the African slaves in Mexico? A few generations of intermarriage with mestizos or indios.) Even then, if society at large supported assimilation like this, we'd run the risk of turning into a color-continuum society where the ruling elite doesn't mind intermarrying with the best and brightest of the darker-skinned classes, the best and the brightest think that their success is defined by moving into that elite, and those who can't make it out get screwed.

"Multiculturalism."
Cultural relativism. Using the word "hate" as a noun (ever heard of "hatred," anyone) and "celebrating" lots of stuff. It assert that it is wrong to impose cultural standards on anyone. However, one of the ways a culture is transmitted from generation to generation is by defining behavioral standards, delineating "us" (inside the culture) and "them" (outside the culture), though not necessarily in an adversarial sense. Multiculturalists keep saying you can't question anyone's ethnic authenticity based on cultural standards, etc, meaning that cultures lose the ability to define "us" and "them".

"Acculturation"
Learning to function in a new culture while retaining and passing on your old one. I guess it is the best we can hope for, but rarely see it in action.
T.H. Lien Thursday, February 28, 2002 at 18:13:15 (PST)

What about terms like acculturation, assimilation and multiculturalism. Are those terms interchangeble with biculturalism? Do all individuals that come to this country undergo a process of biculturalims? Do all ethnicities (Latino/Hispanic, Caribean, African, Asian, Arab, ect.)go throught the same process? Do they have the same issues? Does skin color and physical apperance make a difference in how bicultural we are?

PHD martina@satx.net Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at 20:55:10 (PST)

I don't think it's so hard leading a bi-cultural life. Before I came to college, I only hung out with Asians and now that I am in college, most of my friends are non-Asian. But sometimes it is hard introducing my Asian friends to my non-Asian friends because most of my Asian friends have never interacted with White people on a non-informal basis. I think I actually get criticized more by the Asian community for living a bi-cultural life. My siblings and friends back home always teased me for being a twinkie, only because I had friends that aren't Asian. My father calles me hollow bamboo. And at the same time, my non-Asian friends sometimes fail to remember that I have a unique Asian American experience. I just try to deal with my two different lives as best as I can and to integrate the two so that my Asian part can interact with my non-Asian part and vice versa.
baybee510 Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at 17:58:06 (PST)

Jay... being hapa is even harder:

I am not a hapa. Hundred percent South Asian. However, here in the mainland, people think that I am black (I am really dark skinned), or Arab (after September 11...and I am not a Moslem) and Hispanic. So, it is nothing new. What can you do with ignorant people?
Not a Hapa, Not Mixed...but the same problems Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at 15:53:27 (PST)

Just Asking,
I was born in Asia and I wasn't taught to be a coward, merely to show respect to your elders and teachers. And if Asians are so passive/cowardly, then how come the Filipinos led an rebellion against US imperial rule (around 1890s)? How come China had the Boxer Rebellion against the imperialists? How come Japan attacked Pearl Harbor? How come North Korea and Vietnam didn't passively surrender when the US started to fight them?

PS, no I haven't been critized for being too direct, not even in Asia
Asian History Buff Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at 14:06:11 (PST)

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