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Analyzing Uyematsu's 'The Emergence Of Yellow Power'

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Analyzing Uyematsu's 'The Emergence Of Yellow Power'
Uyematsu’s ‘The Emergence of Yellow Power’ and Chapter 3 from Ishizuka’s Serve the People are two texts mainly depicting how Asian Americans were able to adapt in the white society, how they were able to identify and self-define themselves amongst their stereotypes, and the process in which the term ‘Asian Americans’ had risen. As an Asian, it was quite interesting for me to read and learn about the emergence of the group of people known as Asian Americans.
First of all, Uyematsu’s article is mostly about how it was difficult for Asian Americans to accept their identities in the foreign environment and how it was for them to overcome their fear. Personally, I was able to empathize to the methods in which the Asian Americans first tried in order to erase the physical difference. In the text it says that “yellow females have their own “conking” techniques”, in which the making double-lidded eyes using
…show more content…
Bearing in mind what struggles they’ve gone through to stop “trying to become who [they] were not”, I personally think that those Asians who are undergoing identity confusion should rethink about their English names which don’t even connect to what they really are. I believe that Asians in confusion should do what is best for them if these names made for others’ conveniences don’t help in defining who they are.
To conclude, these two texts about the process of Asian American’s defining themselves gave me a second chance to think about my self-definition of myself as an Asian living in America. After having read these texts and thought about the issue, I realized the gravity of being accepted in a foreign country as a foreigner, how difficult it is to connect the two different Asian and American identities, and how important it is to define my own identity for me to be accepted in the new

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