HUM 106

There are geographic locations like North, SE, south, etc. (total of 38% of the world population)  but for the purposes of this course, we will study the East Asian cultures of Japan and China  (We cover West Asia in the Middle East section and South Asia in the section on Indian culture)

 In a world of first generation Asians across the world, the personal identification of an individual is important. A woman born in the United States may have parents and ancestry from China, however she may better identify herself as an Asian-American, Chinese-American or American rather than Chinese.

Being Asian generalizes the cultures of 49 Asian countries, as well as the personal identification of those who identify with the Asian race. It is important to make this definition blatant because today’s society tends to ignorantly overlook the differentiation. To many, this may not be pertinent to understand, but in a society with so many merging cultures, generalization leads to ignorance, misunderstanding and ultimately to prejudice and racism.

Art: Both Chinese and Japanese artists have taken a major lead in the creating of groundbreaking work, including some of the finest video/installation pieces. I’ve given links to two of the great ones below.

 JAPAN

PBS resources for research that defines different Asian groups and their history or experience in the United States. It includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Pacific islander Americans.