Representation is Global
By Amelia Cho
STRIVING TO NAVIGATE ‘MIDDLE -GROUND’ IN BETWEEN TWO CULTURES I have grown up familiar with was similar to territorial conflict. I kept finding myself in the middle of unnecessary stress due to continuously falling for what I now know to be a false premise that I needed to be one version of myself and one version only.
Spending my partial childhood and adolescence in the United States, one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries in the world, had brought an unintentional and a rather paradoxical clash in the security of my identity. The magnitude of just how strongly I had been influenced by a culture I wasn’t supposed to assimilate to within a very small time window was what made the least amount of sense. It felt wrong to be willing to hold onto a cultural aspect I was introduced to only for such a short period of my life and merge it with my pre-existing Korean identity. It felt as if I needed to solely adhere instead of adapt.
Living in Korea as a Korean person doesn’t convey the difficulties of feeling inaccurately represented or not represented at all -since there was no need for ‘representation’ in the context of race and diversity. Everywhere I would look, from teachers to doctors and nurses, from politicians to family and friends, I wouldn’t feel the longingness for someone to look up to, feeling a sense of kindred connection in the knowledge that they might’ve faced similar life experiences in society, to emerge. However, it wasn’t until I was becoming more and more interested in becoming involved in international politics which was a contrastingly different environment despite the similarity in the realm of politics that I felt underestimated, discouraged, and simply not there. It felt eerie to know that what I knew my entire life was not the entire full picture, almost comparable to the time I felt lost in direction when I was an Asian in America.
There were imperceptive limits as to how I can feel present in a world where people of color who are also the global majority, simply weren’t the global majority. No matter how well-represented I am in the country I spent the majority of my life in, appearing and making the attempt to appear beyond is challenging and entails restrictive obstacles. Which subsequently helped me to realize the potential of influencing without borders Asian representation encompasses.
Despite being able to hear and watch Asian news reporters and actors and actresses on the big screens, I still couldn’t help but go through emotions that I’m not thoroughly defined nor was I interpreted well in multiracial, multicultural contexts. However, the intensity of empowerment I would receive just by being able to see people I would see back home fearlessly following their passions fostered a newly found understanding of home. I finally started to feel a sense of sensical belongingness in an intercultural place where Asian representation is adequately facilitated. Regardless of how people might deem the form of representation to be shallow, the reason behind why so many people like myself feel seen and heard in a world where we would it would be tough to be seen and heard should be more than indicative of how unavailable and insufficient Asian representation was and how it continues to be misled in the present.
I recall a memory from late November of 2021 feeling overwhelmingly happy after seeing the debut of a Korean-American muppet named ‘Ji Young’ on Sesame Street, a show that people grew up watching for multiple generations now. I could vividly depict my young five-year-old self, a kindergartener in America, still confused how she isn’t Chinese like her friends who she looks like the most, who would be more than fascinated and in awe of a character like ‘Ji Young’ on television! I would like this piece of writing to once again serve as a reminder to everyone reading that representation enables, representation is global, and representation matters.
