Let's Get Together and Be Alright

This is a follow-up to Eddie’s post.

IMO Weiner/Whiner is too harsh on the Mandarin students in his editorial. I actually know the guy - he’s an upper year Actsci student. In my experience a disproportionate share of the students in ActSci are Visa students from China, and so that could account for the preponderance of Mandarin. There’s a reason why MC has the moniker Mainland China. One of the things I'd like is for the international students in my program to be truly international, as in being representative of the breadth of the world and not all hailing from one country (can't UW find other places to recruit?) In many ways I find my program to be stiflingly monocultural - a more diverse mix would be a hell of a lot more interesting - and I could see how Weiner/Whiner couldn’t take it any more and blew his gasket.

Chan and I were talking about the division between FOBS and CBCs earlier, and we arrived at the consensus that really the onus ought to be on us to relate to them, not them to us. If I was a foreigner in Tsinghua University in Beijing I’d likely seek other like-minded Canadians with whom I can relate. Their self-segregation may not necessarily be voluntary – maybe they would like to be friends, but, lacking English fluency, are afraid of ridicule and just too darned afraid to approach. Knowing the natural reticence and cultural introversion of Chinese people in general it’s probably all the more difficult for them. So it would be good if Weiner/Whiner, instead of castigating them, would look at it from their angle too. I mean Weiner, have you ever talked to them? They’re usually very nice people. (Having said that though, it’s the non-Chinese that are in the minority.)

But Chan, you’re right about one thing: why the separation/segregation of CBCs and FOBs, and how much of it is voluntary? One would think that Canadian born Chinese kids would reach out and extend a warm welcome to their FOB brethren. You talked about taking Gene under your wing. So should CBCs make a greater effort to accommodate FOBS? Or are FOBS perfectly content with who they are, and don’t necessarily want to Canadianize? (In other words, be IN the West but not OF the West).

It used to be profoundly uncool to be an immigrant/foreigner (think Fez from That 70s Show) but maybe now there’s a social cachet to being a FOB, particularly with their numbers? One almost gets a sense of cultural superiority with them – we’ll stick with our bubble tea, Xanga, and Canto-pop, you crazy Canucks go on worshipping your beer, Red Green, and hockey pucks. But you hosers somehow managed to put together a prosperous economy, so thanks for that. It’s really an interesting phenomenon.

But with ethnic Canadian-born/raised kids... it's whole other story, and these folk ought to stop being so cliquish. A while back I alluded to the 1.5 generation ethnic clique phenomenon. These are the people that piss me off.

1.5 Generation Ethnic clique Like the FOBs in practice, but unlike the FOBs these are the folks that were born and raised in Canada but
(1) Grew up in ethnic enclaves in the GTA suburbs or
(2) Grew up in all-white or multicultural environments, and have recently "rediscovered" their ethnic identity on campus. They congregate exclusively with those that share their skin hue and tend to dissociate from "outsider groups".
Prime Habitat: CASA/SASA meeting or Davis Centre Library

Another thing I've observed about 1.5 generation ethnic clique types (Asian and brown cliques alike) is the sense of sameness. What I like about the cast of 125 Columbia is that we each have an interesting idiosyncrasy that sets us apart. Me with my wry wit and observations and trying to come up with an explanation for everything, James has his music, Tristan with the politics, Chan has his Liverpool obsession, Smiley with his recycled one-liners, Eddie with the fitness training. There's a diversity of ethnicities coupled with a diversity of personalities which makes for an interesting and in many ways enriching dynamic, and we have all learned a lot from one another in many respects. With CBCs, I notice that a lot of them are all the fucking same! Maybe they hang around each other so much, oblivious and impervious to outside exposure, that they become boring carbon copies of one another.

Eddie, funny how you mention the poser/digital camera phenomenon. Ever notice how any time a new "poser" networking technology comes out, Chinese kids (FOBS and CBCs alike) in the 14-24 demographic crawl all over it? I’m talking about AsianAvenue, Friendster, Xanga, Facebook... Not saying that other groups aren't into it, but the Chinese kids in particular absolutely love this stuff. Care to account for why that is?