Tag: identity

  • Finding The Asian Australian Identity In A Multicultural Australia

    Finding The Asian Australian Identity In A Multicultural Australia

    As a Chinese person living in Australia, defining who I am as an Asian Australian has always been tough. If you come from a mixed family or have moved around quite a bit, you might feel this way too. Growing up in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, my fair-haired Caucasian classmates teased my brown eyes…

  • When To Ask The “Where Are You From?” Question

    When To Ask The “Where Are You From?” Question

    As an Asian Australian living in Australia, I get the question “Where are you from?” thrown at me quite a bit. When I get asked this, I pause: it’s a confusing question. Where exactly is “from”? The place where we were born? Where we live? Our heritage? One of my favourite responses to this question…

  • Why We Travel

    Why We Travel

    Travel. It’s about being on the move. When we were young, maybe we were forced to travel, travel for a better life and a better education. Growing up, I moved quite a bit: Melbourne to Malaysia to Singapore and back to Melbourne. My parents wanted to work in Asia, and so little me was dragged…

  • The Race: Asian Australian, Part 10

    Normally I don’t do reblogs, but today I want to share A Holistic’s Journey’s ‘RACE Around The World’. Check out all the submissions about race and identity, worth reading! A Holistic Journey 1) How do you define yourself racially or ethnically and why is it important to you? Please tell us about the racial makeup…

  • Why We Get Names Wrong

    Why We Get Names Wrong

    When I was born, my Malaysian parents named me Mabel (may-berl). They also gave me a Chinese name, Li Teng (lee ting, 丽 婷), which is my middle name on my Australian passport. I’ve always went by my English name. Growing up, my parents called me Mabel at home. I introduced myself as Mabel when…

  • How To Answer “Where Are You From?”

    How To Answer “Where Are You From?”

    As an Asian Australian who speaks with a slightly tinged Singaporean-Malaysian accent, quite often here in Melbourne people ask me when we’re mid-conversation, “Where are you from?”. This question is an ambiguous one. As Melissa Loh has discussed, it can mean: Which city I live in? Which country I was born in? Where I grew…