Quote:
Originally Posted by Taualumna
But the Asian communities are so vast and diverse that it would be impossible to learn about them as a whole and help them. African-Americans have a common history and culture (though things are now changing, with immigrants from various African countries), Asians do not.
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While the whole big category of "ASIAN" encompasses so many things that it would be impossible to learn everything about Asia and Asian culture, I do feel that being in an Asian GLO, there is a great deal of learning about each other's cultures. Plus, even if one doesn't learn the whole entirety of Asian-ness, one can still become educated about Asian-specific issues and get involved. For example, one of my sisters is really into activisim. For her last two years at Penn State, she petitioned and successfully got the administration to add an Asian-American studies class. Many of our other sisters as well as other students (Asian-American and non-Asian-American, Asian GLO members and unaffiliated students) helped her get signatures, line up faculty supporters, spread the word about Asian-American studies, etc.
For two years, the administration had rejected her petitions, saying that there was already Asian studies. Finally, she was able to get through to them that Asian-American studies is very different from Asian studies and to convince them of the importance of bringing Asian-American studies to Penn State.
I don't think that she would have gotten the same kind of support if she had been in a NPC GLO. Not saying that they would have been unsupportive, but it would have been something that most of them probably would not feel a personal connection to and would not be able to fully understand why it's so important and would not be able to have that same level of such passion for bringing this class to PSU.
FYI for those that don't know the difference: Asian studies deals with culture and history of countries in Asia. Asian-American studies deals with the mixed/blended culture of Asian-Americans, the struggles to assimilate, the history of discriminatory laws, and famous cases of anti-Asian violence in American history. Asian-American studies is a part of the history of the United States of America, just like how the history of discrimination and violence against African-Americans is a part of US history and needs to taught and remembered.