-
What Is “Asian”? How Do We Define “Asian”?
Asian. It is a word we see and hear a lot in Australia when someone refers to a person with black hair, small eyes and yellow skin and their Chinese/Malay/Indian/Indonesian etc. heritage. Asian. It is also a word that has segregational connotations. A word that means different things to different people as well. When I…
-
The Outdated “Australian Dream” In A Multicultural Australia
The “Australian dream” is a longstanding marker that has always been used to describe the so-called successful Australian person. An Australian is said to live the “Australian dream” or the “Great Australian Dream” if they own a house with a backyard in the suburbs. Such a person who lives this dream is deemed a respected…
-
Why Some Of Us Wear Shoes At Home
Recently, I fleshed out a few reasons why many Asians tend to leave their shoes at the door and go barefoot at home. In reality, some of us don’t share this love of taking our shoes off before going indoors. Some of us especially in the Western world don’t recoil in horror at the thought…
-
Hi, I’m Asian. Come In, Leave Your Shoes On. Or Not
When I lived at home and an odd job or two needed to be done around our place, my mum welcomed the likes of contractors, plumbers and furniture delivery men into our Melbourne flat. When she opened the door, these Caucasian handymen and tradesmen always politely asking, “Do we take our shoes off?” And to…
-
Why Males Are The Favoured Sex In Asian Cultures
“Your Arts degree is useless. You studied the wrong degree, made a very wrong decision there. You finished your degree, and you still can’t find a job. Should’ve studied something like commerce or dentistry. Like your brother. Maybe he can get you a job.” That’s what my mum says to me all the time. It’s…
-
The Two Types Of Success In Asian Cultures
How do Asians define success? What does success mean to an Asian person? For different Asians living in different parts of the world, success crops up in various forms. Success in general is hard to define. For some, success is coming in first in class or landing that dream job. For others, it is finishing…
Mabel Kwong 