Sayonnara Ogi

The play focuses on three prominent stereotypical ideas that Western males hold concerning Eastern women: the submission of Asian women to Western males, knowledge in handling the female body, and their desires for masculine Western counterparts. Ultimately, M. Butterfly addresses culturally constructed stereotypes as powerful and limiting.

As a result, it aims to educate people interested in race relations on why racial tensions have not eased in this rapidly evolving time despite the trend to portray minorities positively. For instance, he cites the example that the myriad of Indian documentaries has given the perception that they enjoy living in poverty, and the public’s response to boost their image does not solve the problem at all (730). Mainly in this essay, Deloria addresses Native American needs, so it pertains to people interested in them specifically, but his message is applied to all minority groups. For instance, he states that Mexicans are only taught that their people have been involved in one side of the Alamo, but not the other, which makes them a victim of image boosting as well (731). As a Native American himself, Deloria is passionate in his essay. He decries the fact that his people are treated differently from even other minority groups in that their characters are sucked out of them so that they become one-dimensional and are only used to fill a single role. For instance, the Indians in the war movies only serve to transfer messages, only to disappear when their purpose has been served” (729). He wishes to highlight this issue and tell people that it is paramount that all people be treated as complex

In the play Ola Nā Iwi, by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, the importance of bones to Hawaiians is revealed through a riveting journey, following bones stolen from a museum, smuggled into Hawaii, switched between multiple people, almost being taken by Pua and finally ending at a resting place. Throughout the story characters use masks and deception to hide anything from their ethnicity, to their true intentions. Masking is used by Pua when she claims to be one hundred percent Hawaiian, when she hides her true intentions behind helping recover the bones, and when she claims to be doing everything for the greater good of Hawaiian people and it makes her less worthy of a human being.

“Slaying the Dragon” by Deborah Gee is a comprehensive look at media stereotypes of Asian and Asian American women since the silent era. From the racist use of white actors to portray Asians in early Hollywood films, through the success of Anna May Wong’s sinister dragon lady, to Suzie Wong and the ‘50s geisha girls, to the Asian-American anchorwoman of today. The movie also shows how stereotypes of exoticism and docility have affected the perception of Asian-American women.

In the story, “Growing Up Asian in America” by Kesaya E. Noda, Noda is looking for answers about her identity. Growing up, she has struggled with finding herself because she has been labelled as racially Japanese, Japanese American, and as an Asian woman. During the story, she slowly realizes her identity and who she really is. Noda shares important events, stories, and anecdotes to help her and the reader fully understand her identity. The first story Noda shares is in lines 74-76, she says “I linger longer than she does, so reluctant to leave, savoring the connection I feel with my grandmother in America, the past, and the power that lives and shines in the morning sun.” Noda realizes here that even though she is Japanese American, her heritage

attention is that it is a struggle to be an Asian in America due to the fact that Asians

This source provided by Coffee House Press has included an interview with Annie Choi and Kao Kalia Yang. Choi has asked about Yang memoir of her well-known book, The Latehomecomer, has started. During the secret war, her Hmong family went through difficult times. Coming to America, Yang had to learn English and it became a challenge. However, she was able to learn it and grew a passion to write more on papers. When writing her book, she ties in how love and Hmong family relationships are like others making it a universal theme. She hopes that the readers would get an understanding of the Hmong culture and state that it will strengthen America as unique. This is important because we get an insight of Kao Kalia Yang inspiration when writing a book of the Hmong culture and tying it together of being an American.

The novel, Ceremony, weaves a message through the eyes and mind of Tayo, Laguna Pueblo half-breed who just returned from World War II in the Philippines. Leslie Marmon Silko, the author, uses strongly developed characters, their interactions with Tayo, and Tayo’s reactions to those interactions to emphasize and illustrate the many themes of this story. Like large stones at the bottom of a river, these characters help these themes resurface again and again throughout the novel. A recurring theme throughout the entire book is this thought of witchery and deception. And the white man in all his inglorious brutality, is both the creation and the embodiment of the witchery and deception. Two characters that Silko uses to emphasize this idea to

Around the world, there are many Indigenous groups having practiced their own traditional cultures. Through the history and following globalisation, traditional cultures have gradually disappeared. For example, in Japan, there are Ainu people had established their own culture, but they were assimilated to Japanese culture because of the annexation to Japan in the mid-1800s. Therefore, until recently, they have used the Japanese language and been educated and lived as Japanese. However, there are many traditional cultures which have still practiced over the time. Those existing cultures may be more significant than those cultures that have disappeared. Particularly, Indigenous performing arts tend to be survived over the time and actively protected to preserve. This essay will argue that Indigenous dance and chant have had significant roles to Indigenous people in many aspects. Firstly, this essay will examine hula’s several roles among the Hawaiian culture and society in the past and current. Secondly, it will focus on the relationship between haka and the Maori’s mentality and spirituality over the time. Finally, it will investigate Ainu chant, yukar, and its particular changes of importance to the Ainu.

As history has shown, people who immigrated to America had dramatically made America’s culture and population diverse. This is important because this shows how America is one of the few countries around the world to accept people from different ethnical backgrounds and cultures. Both Bradford and Tan are influential people who share their experiences from having to immigrate to America or having parents who immigrated here from another country. William Bradford is a pilgrim who shares his experiences coming to America and his relationship with the Natives. Amy Tan is a Chinese-American who shows her experiences growing up with her mom who was an immigrant, and how she worked her way up to become a successful writer. Although Bradford and Tan

If one does not look Caucasian and are believed to be seen as different or an alien, then it is more difficult to claim that one is truly an American native. Chang-Rae Lee points out that if one does not look like a typical white American, people use different criteria to judge whether or not one is truly an American Native. That criterion is nativity of language. Since America was made upon immigration, many people in this country consists of different cultural backgrounds and races. The collective language of America buttresses the common ground among its native people. Therefore nativity of language is a set criterion of determining a person’s “native-ness” of a certain place. Native Speaker gives the reader a perspective on the extent of what immigrants go through in order to be accepted or claimed as a native of America through language and suppressing cultural identity. Chang-Rae Lee demonstrates what Asian Americans experience in order to be deemed as a native of America and to fit and have a place in American society. Chang-Rae Lee uses the themes of language and identity throughout the novel as he impressively exemplifies the experiences that Asian Americans undergo as an immigrant in the land of the free.

Sherman Alexie, a well known Indigenous American author, developed the poem, “How to Write the Great American Novel,” which emphasizes on the stereotypes of Native Americans by white people in literature. When he uses the words such as “always,” “must,” and “should,” Alexie exposes how our writers develop the “ideal” story with unlikely scenarios. His sardonic tone implies that all the following inclusions to create such a novel, is inaccurate (Alexie). And with inaccuracy comes distorted images. Richard King, a Masters degree holder in cultural anthropology and devoted to indigenous issues, wrote the book “ Team Spirits; Native American Mascots Controversy,” where King explains that the media has the power to “miseducate and create false representations,” which he believes roots from stereotypical mascots. These “Native” school mascots encourage war paint and feathers and not in the appropriate cultural way, it's an act of cultural appropriation, and he sheds light onto the idea of how something so “innocent” can result in negativity (King). Even in the Disney movie Pocahontas, Cornel Pewewardy, a Comanche-Kiowa, describes how Hollywood miseducated their viewers by portraying Pocahontas as a princess when Native Americans don’t even have a label as such. Secondly, he explains that the Disney movie

"Implicitly, these films warn white women to embrace the socially constructed passive Asian beauty as the feminine ideal if they want to attract and keep a man" (Espiritu). What Hollywood may have failed to portray about these Asian women is that they are prostitutes merely trying to support their families by offering sexual services to men whom they see rich. Because they come from poor families and lack education, some Asian women earn their living by these means, and preferring to sleep with a man due to his skin color has nothing to do with it. Their financial situation takes precedence over the act which they are partaking in.

so that she may be more American. The best way to achieve this, as Chang

Unlike the enthusiastic Western women, women grew up in oriental culture often have more restrained and gentle attitude, and this is one of the most symbolic cultural landscapes in Japan. In the movie, Sayuri chases for love and all she wants to do is to get closer to the Chairman. In fact, before the end of the story, she only sees chairman a few times in all, but she has strong faith to be with him. It could even be said that her whole life started from the few minutes of their encounters on the bridge. This is the typical oriental love, implicit but deeply passionate.