Did you know race is socially constructed?

Kasetsart University--Kampaeng Saeng, Thailand
Friday, March 4, 2011

Sitting four people to a table waiting for our Pad Thai--Zach and I on one side, Evan and Nick on the other. Four people having dinner.

We are four people having dinner.

1 of 2 Netherland travelers doing research at Kasetsart University recognizes Zach and comes over to our table of four. She greets him first, introduces herself to Evan and then to Nick, then reverts her attention back Zach. Three white guys and a brown girl having dinner.

In Thailand, we are three white guys and a brown girl having dinner.

Did you know race is socially constructed?

I'm brown with slanted eyes but if you want to get technical, I'm Filipino-American.

 

I've never been so aware of my tanned complexion and squinty eyes.  I know I blend in but who cares if I look Thai (or brown or Asian)? Or, so what if you assume I don't speak English? Some sort of acknowledgment would at least be respectful because, in reality...


if you REALLY want to get technical...

I'm also human.

Thai vs. Foreigner

While, we’re on the topic of social perceptions…

In this photo: Elana & Daniele

In these two months, I’ve realized that looking “Thai in Thailand” initiates a different social response than looking “foreign in Thailand”. A lot of my friends and a lot of the people I meet look obviously foreign—white and much taller than the average 5’3”. They’re pointed and stared at on a daily basis. They walk passed a group of locals and they always hear, “farang” (sounds like sarong but with an F), meaning foreigner.

I was shopping with two of my girlfriends (who are both white) at the JJ Weekend Market in Bangkok when a girl approaches my friend, she asks, “Can take picture?” I assumed she wanted Danielle to take her picture. No. The girl took a picture of Danielle, said “Thank you”, and walked away.  Weird, yeah?

I, on the other hand, look very local. Again, if I don’t speak, people will assume I’m Thai. When traveling alone, I am often overlooked because I blend. My outward appearance allows me to assume the role as a twenty-three year old Thai girl, which is nice because I feel like I get more of a local experience when I’m out (until I talk).

I fit in, right? And yes, I was on the radio.

But what happens when I’m out with my white girl friends? Nothing really. People still talk to me in Thai and I catch some stares coming my way but it’s nowhere near the number of stares my friends get.

To put a face to the name...this is Ken.

What happens when I’m out with my white guy friends? Let’s think about this for a second. I'm an asian woman, I’m with a white guy, and I’m in a country known for sex tourism.

Yes.

There is a downfall to looking Thai in Thailand: When with white men, I wear the scarlet letter P. I’d like to think my behavior and choices in clothing would be enough to DISqualify me as a woman of the night but…no.

Whenever, I go out with my buddy Paul (English dude teaching Phetchaburi) or even just standing with a white guy, I get so hot from the Cyclops-like laser beams people are shooting at me.

I was thinking that I was just being too presumptuous until…

On Halloween (Yes, it was Halloween. But no, I was not dressed up like floozy), my friends and I went into Bangkok to party on Khao San Road. We had a few drinks and met a couple of cool Canadians.  At one point of the night, it was just me and Ken—laughing, dancing, walking, whatevs. Dudes (as in more than one) would go up to him, with two thumbs up, and say, “Good choice.”

GOOD CHOICE. Seriously? 

a response to a response to "But this is what I am..."

This is Matt. 

And this is how Matt responded to my entry "But that's what I am...":

A long long time ago...

An Asian woman sat in front of an American man who was berating her with diminutive questions. The woman was born in America, however her entire family and background is from China. The man wanted to know how she identified herself. He said, "Are you Chinese, or are you American"? She said I am not Chinese, I am not American & I am not Chinese American." The man looked at her puzzled, "Then you have no identity!" he said. The woman smiled with wisdom, "I am just a human being." The man responded with, "Then you are nothing, from nowhere."

The woman took sometime and recollected a story she had also heard, long long ago...

1,500 years ago when China was so-to-speak on top of the world, and a perennial force in the world, two wise men argued: "Is a white horse really a horse"? One man said that a horse is a horse, flat out. But the second we label that horse a "white" horse, it is no longer a horse. It is that very adjective or title that we hang over all walking things in life to cast them out, or set them aside.

Interesting, yeah?

For about a month and a half, I was grappling with ways to explain that I'm both American and Filipino...but is it really necessary? I guess not. Essentially, like the story said, we’re all just people. No matter the color, where we're from, whatever; when it comes down to it, we're all just people. But let’s be honest, the next time someone asks me where I come from, I’m not going to throw this email in her/his face and say, “boo yah”. It doesn’t work that way. People don't ask because their intent is to “cast [me] out or set [me] aside”. They're curious, that's all. 

In sum:

My position is still the same, I’m Filipino-American. I know it. You know it. Others will know it. But does it matter on the grand scale? Not really. Should it bother me if people assume “American” is synonymous with “white”? Not at all. Why? Because some people just don’t know and you can’t blame someone for something they aren't aware of.

Race is an institutionalized pillar in our society; we see color, we see differently shaped eyes, and we subconsciously categorize people based on physical characteristics. It's what we do and I don't think there’s anything wrong with it. In fact, I believe that being aware and still accepting of our differences is so much more amazing than "seeing no differences at all".

Thanks for sharing, MJ!