What ‘Diaspora’ Means to Me & My Name
How this word defines my identity and is inspired by everything and everyone around me
My name is Christine Yu. This name is the name I use for all official and non-official documents. This is the name I spent hours of my childhood time on, figuring out how my signature as an adult would be, as this would be the signature I go by for the rest of my life. Christine Yu is the name I spend my lifetime on to create a meaning for, to create what this name means to me. A few things I have figured out about who Christine Yu is are as follows: she is an ice cream enthusiast. She is a lover of all movies and television shows as this is her favorite way to indulge in her free time and at school, majoring in media and cultural studies. But above all, she has learned the importance of her diasporic self and has a strong relationship with both of her cultures. My name has proven to become a name that stands for my identity in America, but also for my identity as a Korean diaspora. Ever since I have taken my first college course in studies of diaspora, I have seen it relate to all things around me.
I truly do see my diasporic culture being reflected in all aspects of my life. I notice it when I am in school, seeing the way other students of similar and different cultures interact (or don’t interact) with each other. It’s noticeable at work, where people who aren’t of the same diasporic nation aren’t seen as a welcome group of people. However, I especially notice the diaspora culture in my favorite pastime of Netflix and Hulu subscriptions — as I devour tubs of ice cream, of course.
One show that I can truly relate to in particular is ABC’s program called Fresh Off the Boat. I was skeptical with this show at first, seeing that it was any broadcast’s first attempt of focusing on the Asian community. However, as I pushed through the so-far three seasons of Fresh Off the Boat, I began to feel my connection with Asian culture grow stronger, accepting ABC’s views of the Asian community as accomplished and represented right. Yes, there are a couple of technical pieces of information that aren’t 100% true to Taiwanese culture throughout the show; but one thing this show has done right is the feeling of being a diaspora in our country.
From the typical stereotypes of Asians and Asian-Americans, to the systematic struggles of our non-documented communities, Fresh Off the Boat has been a tremendous step into the progression of Asian voices to be heard in our country. In particular, Jessica Huang, mother of three and born in Taiwan, shows how it feels to be a part of the diasporic community. In season 3’s episode “Coming From America,” they show the actual idea of diaspora being portrayed within the Huang family. To her three kids, Eddie, Emery and Evan, Taiwan is a strange city that they only understand to be their “home away from home.” To Jessica, however, Taiwan is a country she calls her true home, as she was born and raised there. Be that as it may, this episode also shows Jessica’s revisit to her home as being unfamiliar. She faces problems of understanding who she really is and feeling lost between cultures. She realizes after her trip that moving to America for her family has changed her into being an American, that diaspora is her identity:
“stuck between two worlds, part of both, belonging to neither.”
So this circles back to my thoughts on my name. How does my identity as Christine Yu define me? The answer is that it doesn’t. If there is anything I learned about who I am, it is that I have defined my name, my name does not define me. In season 2 episode 20 of Fresh Off the Boat, “Hi, My Name Is…” the youngest of the three children, Evan, must choose between either his American name or his Chinese name to sign off his bank information, as this would result in his identity to the documented world forever. Later on, he finds out that his name does not have a meaning, but was rather chosen because of the patterns of having E names for all of the children. This creates a question of identity for this 8-year old. The answer for Evan comes from his grandmother:
“You make the name.”
It isn’t how society wants your name to be portrayed, it is how you want the world to perceive you. This show takes me back to the read by Gloria Anzaldua in Borderlands. We shouldn’t be accommodating ourselves to the English speaking world, they should be accommodating to our diasporic linguistic tongue. Just as this is true for our languages, it is the same to our names. Our names should not be defined by our country, but rather who we are. I am very proud of who I found Christine Yu to be. I have had my fair share of difficulties with my identity. I went through the hardships of being bilingual in America. I have gone through the pain of being different at my schools and neighborhoods. I have spent years struggling to understand the void of connections to my home countries — if I even had a place to call home. It is through the double consciousness of my diaspora that I have worked to my advantage. I love what defines my name. The name that I use for all official and unofficial documents. The name I spent hours of my childhood time on, figuring out how my signature as an adult would be, as this name became the signature I go by for the rest of my life. This is the name I spent my lifetime on thus far to create a meaning for, to create what it means to me.
