ASA 115 001
Week 1
Cynthia Nakashima's "Invisible Monsters" heavily reminds me of the quote, "Saying someone isn't Asian enough, Black enough, Indian enough, Hispanic enough, whatever enough is basically saying they don't represent your idea of what the color of their skin means" by Anna Akana in her video titled "Am I White Washed?" The reading itself doesn't discuss white washing per se, but it does lead a discussion into the repercussions faced by mixed raced folks when society tries to define them for what they are and who they are meant to be. I was both shocked and unsurprised at the way in which Nakashima defined race as a means of categorizing individuals, because despite how we try to convince ourselves that we don't stereotype and 'define' people as Akana claims, we do. As Nakashima claims, those who don't fit those race categories "threaten" the social order (164). This social order is monoracial and hegemonic in its thought process of "purity," but mixed race folks break these norms simply existing, which shows how their existence is important and valid even if they are constantly denied and hyper-sexualized. These sorts of psychological and sociological phenomenon show just how much these individuals have to get through to accept themselves for who they are rather than what they are.
Attached is the video mentioned:
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