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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…
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Asian Australian Or Caucasian Australian, We’re All Australians
I was recently invited to give a talk at Kurunjang Secondary College on what it means to be “different”, an Asian Australian living in a predominantly white Australia. As I walked to the front of the Year 12 class on a crisp winter morning, I noticed about twenty odd Caucasian and Asian students staring back…
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Hi, I’m Asian. I’m Paying In Full And By Cash
I always pay for my purchases upfront. When I shop for my groceries and chocolates, I pay for them in full. When I buy something slightly more extravagant such as a bag, chair or laptop, I also pay in full. Upfront. I thought everyone paid in full for what they bought – with the exception…
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The Outdated “Australian Dream” In A Multicultural Australia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…
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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…
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Why Do Asians Look So Young Sometimes? Or Most Of The Time?
It’s no secret many people of Asian ethnicity look younger beyond their years. As I’ve written, sometimes this can be a blessing, and sometimes this can be an unwanted trait. I’m sure many of us have wondered at some point, why, why on earth do Asians look so young? How do they do it? Interestingly…
Mabel Kwong 