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Understanding The Asian-Girl-White-Guy Relationship
Asian girl and Caucasian guy. Hand in hand walking down the street. It’s a sight that’s becoming more and more common in public these days. Sometimes these are scenes of true love. Sometimes these two people of different heritage are attracted to each other purely because of the “exotic cultural difference aura” hanging in the…
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On Not Speaking My Mother Tongue
Growing up in Melbourne as an Australian of Chinese heritage, my parents consciously spoke to me in English day and night. Whenever they were deep in Cantonese conversation and I toddled up to them asking for a piece of chocolate, they stopped talking and sternly lectured me in English about the negative health impacts of…
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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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Not Exactly White But Asian Enough To Be A Top Model
Last week, half Singaporean-Chinese, half-Portuguese Jessica Gomes was unveiled as the new face of Australia’s oldest up-market department store David Jones, replacing world-renowned Aussie model Miranda Kerr as its ambassador. It is the first time the retailer has chosen an Asian person to be its nationwide front face, recognising the fact that everyone is beautiful…
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Asians In Australian Media. Or Rather, The Lack Thereof
Fact: Australia is a multicultural country, a multicultural country where roughly 2.4 million of the population today comprises residents of Asian – Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino etc. – ethnicity. Fact: There is a lack of Asian faces in Australian mainstream media. Given Australia’s ever growing Asian population, it would be expected for Asian faces and representations…
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What Does It Mean To Be Asian-Australian?
Growing up, I was always confused about what the term “Asian-Australian” meant, and today I still find it hard to define the term succinctly in a single sentence. Why? Firstly, the word “Australian” itself is a complex term. It fundamentally refers to someone who has Australian citizenship as outlined on a piece of paper. When…
Mabel Kwong 