Written by Cindy Wu
Asian. Woman. Disciple.
As a disciple of Christ, I recognize that my primary identity is who I am in Christ. I find, however, that my ethnic, cultural, and gender identities actually serve as the initial filters through which I view my primary self. Sometimes my identity filters enhance the primary image; oftentimes they compete with it and I struggle to live out my identity in Christ to the full. Why should any identity ever have the opportunity to usurp my primary one? One reason is that as a second-generation immigrant, first-generation Christian, Asian-American female, I sometimes go through an identity crisis.
I am Asian.
I was born and raised in America to immigrant parents from Taiwan. Technically, that makes me “Taiwanese-American”, although I usually introduce myself as Chinese-American to emphasize my ethnic, rather than cultural or political, identity (sorry, Mom). As a generalization, “Asian-American” works pretty well, although as an insider to this label I still want outsiders to realize how much diversity resides within “Asian” without being too much of a stickler for nomenclature. I think we all understand the term “Asian” in this context to mean “East Asian”, or its outdated predecessor “Oriental”. It is important to note that those terms are not monolithic. Among East Asians, we differentiate ourselves by our language, food, physical features, and culture. In a room full of black-haired men and women, I can often “Name that Asian” by distinguishing between Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Cantonese based solely on appearance. (Of course, sometimes I get it wrong.)
I’m not just Asian, but Asian-American. Navigating between those east and west worlds sometimes gets my compass needles crossed. But that’s another story. Continue Reading »
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