Categorical denial
Growing up in Salinas, second-year undeclared student Lucy Toan, a Chinese American, says she was not exposed to many Asians in her town, and coming to UCLA was a significant change.
The northern California town of Salinas – famous as the hometown of author John Steinbeck – has a population that is predominantly Latino and white.
Similar to the experience of many students, she says she finds herself unable to make ethnic distinctions within the diverse Asian community that seems to thrive on UCLA’s campus.
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month during which many on campus seek to recognize and explain the history and diversity within the Asian community.
“People say there are little subtleties or certain facial features that you can pick up on,” Toan said, “but growing up, I didn’t know much about ethnic backgrounds to begin with, let alone their differences in relation to people of other ethnicities.”
This year, over 11,000 Asian undergraduate and graduate students were enrolled at UCLA, making up approximately 30 percent of the campus population.
But this number does not differentiate between those of Chinese descent, who comprise nearly half of the Asian population, and the numerous smaller, underrepresented groups, such as Cambodians, Thais, and Laotians.
“There is definitely a tendency to lump people together,” said Min Zhou, professor of sociology and chairwoman of the interdepartmental program in Asian American studies. “People don’t try to make distinctions.”
The tendency to group Asians, a minority group in the United States, into one category can be explained by a misunderstanding of the role and history of Asian Americans, said Dennis Arguelles, assistant director of the Asian American Studies Center.
“There’s a difference between Asians who choose to come to the United States, and those who were forced to come as the result of war,” added David Do, director of Southeast Asian Campus Learning Education and Retention.
“Just because we may look similar and come from the same global area, it doesn’t mean we are the same people with the same history,” Do said.
Congress recognized Asian Pacific Americans by establishing May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
President Jimmy Carter instituted a week dedicated to acknowledging the contributions of Asians in American history in 1978. The acknowledgement was extended to a full month by President George H. W. Bush in 1992.
May was chosen to coincide with the anniversaries of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. This year’s theme is “Freedom for All - A Nation We Call Our Own.”
Though dedications like these help bring attention to the Asian community, they are still just small steps, Arguelles said.
There is usually a focus of study on Chinese and Japanese Americans, with lesser regard for other Asian ethnic groups. There are over 20 Asian ethnic groups in the United States, with approximately a dozen represented at UCLA, Arguelles added.
“One thing UCLA can do is to demarginalize the category of ‘Asian,’” Do said.
For example, Do noted that enrollment numbers for Asians in general are very high, but this is not the case for smaller groups such as the Hmong, which is represented at UCLA by only 20 students.
To see the real numbers and to recognize the wide diversity, UCLA needs to break down the data and track enrollment of specific ethnicities, rather than lumping everyone into one category, Do suggested.
Many students said they would prefer not to be just another UCLA statistic, and say insufficient education may be to blame for the lack of distinction.
“Ideally I would want people to refer to me as Filipino,” said Portia Bautista, a second-year physiological science student who is a member of Samahang Pilipino.
“But I don’t think I can blame others for not knowing. ... Unless you are educated about different cultures and have grown up interacting with a variety of ethnicities, it’s very hard to differentiate (between) people,” Bautista added.
Many students said they believe everyone is subject to general categorization.
“It’s the same with Latinos,” said Jaira Figueroa, a second-year sociology student. “I think people lack the education of other cultures so they think it’s correct to assume that race and ethnicity are interchangeable.”
Most faculty regard generation of public knowledge and specific education about diversity within the Asian community as key to enabling people to make ethnic distinctions.
“We need to write, speak, and educate,” Zhou said, adding that she believes students in the Asian American studies department are the driving force behind this education.
Though more than 90 percent of students in the Asian American studies department are Asian, Zhou maintains that the program serves non-Asians as well.
“The majors and minors are predominantly Asian; however, there are still quite a few non-Asians (that) enroll in the classes,” Zhou said.
Arguelles points to the diversity requirement and ethnic studies in universities as factors that can help students become more educated about diversity within the Asian community.
Arguelles also said he believes there is a significant and dire need to focus on diversity education in the K-12 curriculum.
“History books mention one or two lines about Japanese internment, and that’s it,” Arguelles said.
“We need to make sure that these students have a better understanding of the diversity that surrounds them,” he added.
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