On February 4th, 2015, ABC premiered its new comedy show: Fresh off the Boat.
The premise was simple, a story of a typical Asian household moving from Chinatown in Washington D.C. to the suburbs of Florida in the 90’s. The show depicts the stereotypical lifestyle of an Asian household living in America. Eddie Huang, the show’s protagonist, must deal with assimilating into his new school and the American culture. Huang shies away from his Taiwanese heritage as he feels that it will prohibit him from fully assimilating into the American culture.
Like Eddie, many Asian American born children are conflicted between keeping their ancestry and assimilating into American culture. This is largely due in part by the media portrayal of the dominant white, Anglo-Saxon, person of European descent. Because of the increasing popularity of the white majority, many minority groups strive to emulate them in order to avoid standing out. The question then appears: Should we ignore our native cultures and only focus our attention on the American culture?
First off, there are consequences of both assimilation and of resisting assimilation. Assimilation can cause a loss in identity in native cultures and heritages. Resisting assimilation can also cause one to not understand the culture and society they are apart of. Those resisting assimilation are unable to identify with those around them; making it harder for interactions and connections.
In an essay by Eric Liu, titled “Notes of a Native Speaker”, Liu discusses his experience growing up in a predominately white neighborhood. Throughout his childhood and young adult years, he brushes aside his Taiwanese culture to fit in with his community. After so many years of ignoring his Asian ancestry, he eventually loses touch with his native culture. Liu explains that he “could never claim to be Chinese at the core. Yet neither…claim…to be merely ‘white inside’”.
You can read the rest of Liu’s piece here:
Therefore, we must have a balance between remembering the culture we originate from and integrating ourselves into the society we have become part of.
