Spring Break
Mixed-race Southeast Asian culture explored
by Nashrah Rahman
Editorial assistant
News | 11/4/08
Posted online at 3:03 AM EST on 11/4/08
The Southeast Asia Club and the Mixed Heritage Club held a discussion last Thursday as part of SEAC Week called "Experience and the Self," which focused on issues faced by mixed-race Southeast Asians and aimed to "show as many different aspects of Southeast Asian culture as possible," according to SEAC President Arnel Blake Batoon '10.
The aim of the discussion was to focus on the multiracial fabric of Southeast Asia and raise "awareness of these ignored groups," according to Kaamila Mohammed '11, founder and president of MHC.
Mohammed began by asking attendees to reenact issues regarding health, sexuality and racial identification addressed in articles written by Southeast Asians of mixed heritage from EurasianNation, an online magazine. The attendees were randomly divided into five groups of three. The articles were discussed within each group before the groups performed their own interpretations of the key aspects of the texts.
The first group portrayed the dilemmas faced by a gay Vietnamese and French man, played by Michael Sitzman '07, as he struggled to figure out with which race he identified the most. The re-enactment focused on this confusion through the physical manifestation of the Eurasian's conscious, played by Christina Luo '11. Luo vocalized the Eurasian's angst when he was asked which race he prefers to be involved with romantically.
Christina Luo later said in the general group discussion at the end of all the performances that she felt her group addressed a segment of Eurasians apprehensive about their mixed heritages and sexualities who "we don't really hear about."
Alexandra Luo '11 noted that this particular Eurasian could not only be discriminated against because of his mixed race, but he was "further marginalized" by his sexuality.
The next performance narrowed in on the racial discrimination prevalent in a Singaporean census a woman of Chinese-Indian descent had to fill out while she was living in Singapore. The group portrayed the woman's indignation when she was forced to classify herself as Indian according to her father's race. Mohammed, who played a secondary character in this performance, said that she found this article "really fascinating" as the group explored the issues faced by people of mixed heritage in another country. Sitzman added that he had previously thought of Southeast Asia as a "paradise" for people of biracial heritage.
The aim of the discussion was to focus on the multiracial fabric of Southeast Asia and raise "awareness of these ignored groups," according to Kaamila Mohammed '11, founder and president of MHC.
Mohammed began by asking attendees to reenact issues regarding health, sexuality and racial identification addressed in articles written by Southeast Asians of mixed heritage from EurasianNation, an online magazine. The attendees were randomly divided into five groups of three. The articles were discussed within each group before the groups performed their own interpretations of the key aspects of the texts.
The first group portrayed the dilemmas faced by a gay Vietnamese and French man, played by Michael Sitzman '07, as he struggled to figure out with which race he identified the most. The re-enactment focused on this confusion through the physical manifestation of the Eurasian's conscious, played by Christina Luo '11. Luo vocalized the Eurasian's angst when he was asked which race he prefers to be involved with romantically.
Christina Luo later said in the general group discussion at the end of all the performances that she felt her group addressed a segment of Eurasians apprehensive about their mixed heritages and sexualities who "we don't really hear about."
Alexandra Luo '11 noted that this particular Eurasian could not only be discriminated against because of his mixed race, but he was "further marginalized" by his sexuality.
The next performance narrowed in on the racial discrimination prevalent in a Singaporean census a woman of Chinese-Indian descent had to fill out while she was living in Singapore. The group portrayed the woman's indignation when she was forced to classify herself as Indian according to her father's race. Mohammed, who played a secondary character in this performance, said that she found this article "really fascinating" as the group explored the issues faced by people of mixed heritage in another country. Sitzman added that he had previously thought of Southeast Asia as a "paradise" for people of biracial heritage.
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