China's interest in the African continent is growing rapidly, which can be seen the growing number of Chinese immigrants and increasing economic developments with Africa. This phenomenon is proof that a new cultural identity is developing, and South Africa also has the largest documented number of overseas Chinese in Africa. Although South Africa calls itself "the Rainbow Nation", the sensitive race relation issues that are discussed mostly deal with the black and white. For a Chinese person in a "black and white" world, where does "yellow" fit in?
Since 2006 the Chinese Association of South Africa has been pushing to hold the government accountable for the wrongs against the Chinese people, and in June 2008 they were successful. My project will research how the June 2008 ruling of the Chinese reclassification to “Black” affects cultural identity for Chinese-South Africans. During apartheid, Taiwanese and Japanese citizens in South Africa benefited from “Honorary White” status due to the government’s mutual economic cooperation, however, most mainland Chinese citizens still suffered under apartheid. After apartheid ended, Chinese were associated with the other Asians in South Africa, and did not receive any benefits of affirmative action, despite their mistreatment under apartheid.
There seem to be a lot of parallels between Chinese American and Chinese African culture, particularly with slavery and apartheid putting black and white race relations at the forefront of both cultures. One difference I do see is that Chinese Americans tend to be middle class, and Chinese South Africans suffered under apartheid.
I am curious about the perspective of Chinese-South Africans by talking with them about issues such as: If someone were to ask you “What are you?” how would you describe yourself? How do you think others would describe you? Do you identify with nationality over ethnicity? Do you feel Nelson Mandela represented your voices? Are the American ideas of "forgotten minority" and "glass ceiling" also reflected in South Africa? Since Chinese were labeled as 'blacks' and Taiwanese, Japanese, and Koreans as 'honorary white', do you feel more camaraderie with blacks over Asians, or is it like the U.S. where the Asian diasporas tend to be more non-exclusionary?*** I would also interview non-Chinese-Asian-South Africans, Black-South Africans, and Caucasian-South Africans about their perspective on this issue. For example, I would like to understand how blacks and whites view Chinese and non-Chinese South Africans by asking questions such as: Did you have a hard time distinguishing which Asians were “Honorary Whites” or “Coloreds” during apartheid?
Many of these questions are ones that I've struggle to answer for myself in my own search to understand my cultural identity. I don't have the answers to all these questions, but I hope to be able to find them if I get the scholarship!
***I realize this postion is arguable and I will be addressing this issue in a later post.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Here are some links to check out if you are interested in the issue
From BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7461099.stm
From the WSJ China Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black/
Colour, Confusion and Concessions
By Melanie Yap, Dianne Leong Man
http://books.google.com/books?id=_ca9nqe6PRoC&dq=chinese+organizations+in+south+africa&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0Not on the aforementioned contemporary topic but "intention of this work is to fill a gap in available histories by producing the first comprehensive record of the Chinese in South Africa from the earliest times to the present."
Power & People -- Colours (Al Jazeera English)
Part I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-_B8nE2cmA
Part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1J7XedsYCg&feature=related
没有评论:
发表评论