Asian Ams "reclaiming" their Asian names will soon lead to them wearing some fucked up qi pao and hanbok and shit for everyday wear won't it
And some cringe-ass joseon dynasty top knot and qing dynasty male ponytail + shaved head combo
"Cast aside your assimilation name, my Yellow brothers and sisters. My true name is not James, it's Gapdol." -> some cringe-ass corny name that no Korean parent gave to his or her child since the 1950s.
Everything we do is derivative and sad and corny. I want to cheer for this moment but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Except Asian Am's attempt to "celebrate" our heritage ends up being sad and pathetic because the "heritage" that exists in our head is not a real thing but a crude reconstruction of what we - Americans - see as "Asian." https://twitter.com/sumbodysbabygrl/status/1381393024740163588?s=19
For example, I tried to rent hanbok for my daughter's first birthday here in DC (=3d largest Korean Am city), and everything I saw was freakin hideous. The material was cheap, fit was terrible and they were more like Halloween costumes. But those were the only things available.
THAT's not our heritage, as far as I'm concerned. But most Korean Ams don't have the background that gives them the ability to discern what is a good hanbok and what is bad. So all they have are bad ugly hanbok because they are the only ones available.
The issue is not that Korean Ams will try and wear hanbok as an attempt to reclaim their heritage. The issue is that such attempt will be theatrical and awkward and ugly because it's a product of self-orientalization. They can only imagine and imitate and exaggerate "Koreanness."
In fact, all we are doing is the most American thing possible - self-orientalize our heritage and reduce it to a few signifying memes, like food, costumes and holidays, all of which are imitations from the time when our parents moved to this country.
Irish have St. Paddy's, Mexicans have Cinco de Mayo, and none of those things really resemble anything the real people in Ireland or in Mexico do. They are American creations, a Disneyland of heritage.
People keep asking why this is bad. Here's why. https://twitter.com/AskAKorean/status/1381413382268522505
The point is not to say Korean Ams are unsophisticated or lacking in discernment. The point is that what Korean Ams imagine "Koreanness" to be is inflected and limited by the society they live in.
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