jhameia:

“Mixed Race 2.0: Mixing Race, Risk, and Reward in the Digital Age” is a project dedicated to examining the intersections of multiracial identities that lurk behind the scenes of everyday life in an increasingly networked world. In recent years, multiracial identities have seen increased representation in media, politics, art and activism. To explore these exciting transitions, Mixed Race 2.0 will pose questions and provide analyses that strike the core of what multiracial identities have meant, currently mean, and will mean to generations across the globe.

The primary question is: What does mixed race 2.0 mean to you?
Potential themes with which to address this question include, but are not limited to:

2010 v. 2000 US Census
Digital v. Analog
“Hapa” v. “Mulatto”
Book v. e-Media
One Box v. Check All that Apply
Consumers and Marketing
The Ivory Tower v. The Real World
America v. The World
History v. Future

Target Audience
There is a significant market for a contemporary and analytically engaged, yet very accessible, book and media project on the meanings of multiracial identities in the digital age. The target audiences are both popular and academic consumers. The general consumer interested in race, identity, politics, demographic shifts, popular culture and media subject matter will find Mixed Race 2.0 interesting and engaging. The academic consumer will find this text to be multi-disciplinary, and suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers and practitioners in the fields of communication studies, journalism, critical cultural studies, racial/ethnic studies, popular culture studies, mass communication and media studies, media literacy, sociology, and education.

Submission Procedure 
We welcome the following formats of submission: essays, high-resolution images of artwork, short films no longer than 3 minutes, and music in mp3 form no longer than 3 minutes. Essay contributions should be approximately 2000 words, Chicago formatted, in 12-pt Times New Roman font. All submissions are due on or before Monday, April 16, 2012. Submissions should include contact information and a brief 50-word bio for each author. Authors of accepted projects will be notified no later than Tuesday, May 15, 2012.

All inquiries and submissions should be sent to the editors below:

Marcia Alesan Dawkins (mixedrace2.0@gmail.com)

Ulli K. Ryder (mixedrace2.0@gmail.com)

Alexandrina Agloro (mixedrace2.0@gmail.com)

h/t @a_game

Please reblog widely, especially if you have many mixie followers!!

I know it says ‘across the globe’ but the potential themes make me wonder how interested they are in submissions from outside North America. 

torayot:

kavitiya:

anonymous asked:

is a white person eating Chinese/Indian/Thai food cultural appropriation? Serious question.

i think there are a lot of problems with the way food from non-white places / cultures is described in these all-encompassing generalized terms, when it’s often a lot more complicated. i think that all-encompassing terms (“chinese food,” “indian food,” “mexican food,” etc..) are not necessarily absolutely problematic, but they very often can be. because there are a lot of different kinds of food in our cultures and they’re not necessarily so separable (or sometimes, they’re a lot more separated within what you describe as a generalized whole, or something…) and it sucks that you only rely on stereotypes and generalizations to understand our food and customs. i am trying to work on describing certain kinds of foods instead of labels and trying to learn more about the names for foods in cultures that are marginalized

it gets me very irritated when people generalize and say for example “i like indian food” as if it’s this one thing or this one clearly discernible whole. i think south asians have the right to say this and similar things though, because we tend to be aware of the complexities of it more, though this also can get complicated but i will not discuss that in this context. also often i find that we say these things in the west and among white people, because that is the only way white / western people will understand us (not a complete truth, obviously, things vary). but yeah, it gets very annoying…

and it’s like, oh, so i’m supposed to know all the names of and the intricacies of and absolutely LOVE things like (depending on the area in the west, the western / white heritages, etc) scones (as it happens i do love scones a lot, but i digress), various western desserts, white typical thanksgiving and christmas dinners (not talking about POC variations and adaptations here), salads, names of fancy cheeses, various pasta combinations … i mean yeah the privilege of these knowledges varies depending on the hierarchy of ethnicities and cultures and heritages considered white, but, they’re still all above POC cultures and heritages. and it’s like …

oh, so i’m completely ridiculous for not knowing all the western english names for various foods, but you have not even the slightest clue about the many kinds of dal, or what lichees are, or what rasmalai is, or what paneer is, etc, etc …. and that’s totally understandable because you’re white and we’re just exotic natives to you, anyway… and you’re like “i have no idea what this is, but it’s so tasty!!!” or “oh my gosh you eat with your HANDS???!!! so disgusting… we don’t do that here” or “well we call our food a generalized ‘american food’ too” or “ewwww you eat THAT???!!!” not recognizing that the very word America is a white, western generalization for two whole continents, comprised of many many marginalized POC cultures also, both within and outside of the US (yeah, because “american food” is just various kinds of white, western food, right? because POC never count, right? /bitter sarcasm)

also it’s like… so, what kind of indian food do you like? and you do realize that countries in south asia that were mostly brutally divided during partition and through processes of western colonialism and imperialism and continue to have nation-state problems because of this … share a lot in common and so acting like “indian food” is this one thing because certain conceptualizations of india as a nation-state (excluding kashmir, excluding a lot of communities and places and minoritized religions really) can get more privileged recognition in global affairs (this is complicated and also related to hindutva nationalism) …. that this is really messed up in a lot of ways, right? because it really really is.

also, so, what does “indian food” even mean to you? does it mean food that’s more common in certain parts of south india (dosa, idli, sambhar, uttapam … or more hyderabadi food, like biryani?) or east india or west india or northern india (muttar paneer, lots of tandoori stuff, makki ki roti aur sarson ka saag…) (and all of these regions are also overgeneralizations!!!) or is it “all the same” to you and “that exotic spicy stuff”? or what? i mean seriously… [and this is an issue with a LOT of marginalized cultural food politics….]

i don’t think it is always cultural appropriation, but i think it can be and often is. the manner it is done in and the context matter a lot.

Yes.  It is not just the eating to consider, but also how you talk about the experience of ordering or cooking the food. That’s important whether you’re someone who eats, or someone who eats and is a well known food blogger or TV chef.

There’s a lot of fluff about the idea of “authenticity”, which I think can verge into sort of kitchen-tourism-imperialism at times. If you look at how the food products in stores and restaurants and marketed, it’s nearly always ike, ‘Oh i can cook this/enter this restaurant and be transported to the misty mountains of Asia because it is just so authentic! how quaint all this is! this is how teh exotic brown people eat!’ - there’s always Othering. It’s not just, ‘This is awesome food from a different place,’ it’s always got to be different in a particularly way.

These food products are marketed specifically in a pseudo-authentic manner, immersing the consumer in a world which ticks all the exotic, homogenising boxes. In South London, I noticed that an ostensibly Northern Thai restaurant, which was specifically furnished with Northern Thai art to evoke specific regions customs of hospitality, did not actually serve a single Northern Thai dish. It was all central or southern Thai. Furthermore, they didn’t have names like ‘Green Curry with Chicken’ but instead used images such as ‘Jade Dragon Pearl Slivers’ - for all the talk of authenticity, this type of thing is never seen in restaurants serving Thai food in Thailand. And it’s actually very likely this restaurant is managed by Thai people. You can try to point the finger at Asians contributing to their own oppression, but you generally do not get very far if you hugely depart from the mysterious Orient stereotype when trying to sell yourself. The expectation is there.

Context is everything. If you want to try different cuisines because they look delicious, go for it. But if you want to try to get an “understanding of our people” and “experience our culture” through eating food then please kindly go away.

jhameia:

soliloquize:

Health inspectors are putting the kibosh on kimchi, the fermented cabbage dish that’s a staple of Korean cuisine, because they “don’t understand what it is,” say many Korean restaurant owners.

The gist of the issue is that kimchi is usually left at room temperature, meaning it’s above the DOH’s 41-degree temperature requirement for cold foods. Inspectors have been violating and fining Korean restaurants across the city, which owners say is unfair, because kimchi has an acidity level below 4.6, meaning it’s not hazardous. One health commissioner said he’s willing to let kimchi slide if restaurant owners can prove it’s acidity is below 4.6, but owners say they don’t have the time or means to test every batch.

“Traditionally-prepared kimchi has been a staple of Korean food for thousands of years and has proven to have many health benefits. By fining restaurants for the way kimchi—and other fermented foods—are prepared, the Health Department is essentially forcing us to dissolve an ancient practice that is at the core of Korean cuisine,” said Ja-Boon Kwak, owner of Kang Suh restaurant in Koreatown. Chinese restaurants with hanging ducks and pizza parlors with slice displays have been subject to similar fines from the DOH, who might be a little too obsessed with the “danger zone.”

…. But… but…. but… kimchi’s not a cold food? Is it? o.o

NYC cops arrest a Chinese funerary worker for selling fake branded goods destined for burning:

Yes, He Sold Fakes. They Are Supposed to Be Fake.

But that did not deter the police from arresting a shop worker on counterfeiting charges for selling several items, including Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags.

There is just one problem: the items are supposed to be fake.

They didn’t notice that the bags were made from paper? Or sold as funeral goods? Cultural sensitivity good times. 

I’m thinking about this:

However, when we – as Young UN Women Melbourne, talk about multiculturalism we talk about everyone else’s culture. And by that, as Dianne pointed out, the dominant white culture uses multiculturalism to talk about every one else’s culture as if their own is the immutable baseline.

Feminist Futures Conference - Part 1 - The Workshop

(note: I am not part of this ‘we’)

And how it explains so much of what I usually keysmash about.

badparsiqueer:

pinchepeaches:

eggplantavenger:

Something that has been bugging me recently is a comment my mom made the other day when I called her and asked her about dinner reservations for my graduation.  She said she didn’t want to eat any of that “armenian food” that i eat, which is a really random and bigoted thing to say. random because i’ve never told her i eat armenian food so i don’t know why she picked that ethnicity and bigoted because she just means non-mexican food. And i got annoyed that she won’t try other food.

And its been a constant struggle between us when it comes to food.  I love mexican, it’s my favorite in the world, but since leaving my little home of sheltered mexican kids, i have tried all kinds of delicious food. And i want her to try it because who doesn’t want to eat delicious food. But she won’t. And it really bothered me. Even Olive Garden was too foreign for her.  My mom is a young hip woman who has been in the United States 20 years, since she was 18, so it’s not like culture shock or anything. But she just refuses to eat anything that is not mexican food. And GOOD mexican food, there’s definitely a standard.

But I get it know.  This is a woman taken from her homeland against her will (my grandparents forced her to move) and placed in land that is not hers, that she will never belong to, “legally” or not.  Food is her home now.  And she hangs on to it.  She knows it, recognizes it, and understands it.  Doesn’t matter how long she’s been in this country, it is not hers. Her food has helped her get jobs, it bonds her to her bosses when she brings them tamales, mexican restaurants speak spanish and play spanish music.  She is actively refusing colonization this way. By letting go of her food and eating/cooking meat loaf, she is losing a part of her.  And it’s been happening with us getting older. My sister eats grilled cheese every day.  The other one loves mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. I love pasta and salads. So she feels the rejection of her dishes from us.

So i’ll stop bugging her about trying thai food. I’ll keep it to myself. More for me. 

Your Mom is so similar to my Mom and my parents. My mom would rather eat garnachas than McDonald’s. My grandma only enjoyed her food (and fed 8 children and made a living off of her cooking). She made sure that I knew how to cook all of her Belizean dishes before she passed away. Like I was saying yesterday with the Religion post, this kind of thing can’t be dismissed because it is important. It’s complicated too. But regardless, I love it when I can have people try our food because it’s comforting and it is an important piece of my identity. Yes to all of this post. It’s a great addendum to Roshan’s post. 

So fuck yes I get defensive about our food. 

Bolding mine.

Yes to all of this, especially the last paragraph.

The stuff in bold is just stuff that resonates especially with me because rejecting my mom’s cultural food is something that I struggled a lot with as a kid, and that I feel bad about now because my dad actively encouraged me to not eat the food that tied her to her culture and family.

badparsiqueer:

So an hour or so ago, I posted a frustrated note about how I didn’t understand people who made adobo and complained about it being sour or vinegar-y, since you put close to a full cup of vinegar in the marinade/sauce. And a few people rightfully pointed out that new cooks probably wouldn’t look a recipe and have the proportions tip them off, which — totally fair. It was a note that was in truth only peripherally about people’s ability to cook.

Because when I’m cooking, food politics never leave me alone.

As a light-skinned PoC who experiences most of zir “ethnic” experiences around food, food is the place where I experience the most microaggressions. Because food is racialized too.

And not just in obvious ways, like my liberal arts college serving “soul food” night repeatedly through Febuary — which is coincidentally Black history month — but in more insidious and pervasive ways.

I get defensive of people complaining about specifically ethnic food because it’s almost never a value neutral judgement. I wish I could just say that some people like some food and others like different food. But it’s not that simple. Food is a site of normalization, of colonization, of resistance and community. Food has been a place where colonizers enforced their will on the people they colonize, or where colonized people have resisted the idea that they (and their food!) were ‘bad’ or ‘disgusting.’

If we lived in a world where everyone was equal, I probably wouldn’t care if someone called something that I ate “disgusting.” It’s a personal perference, right? But that’s not the world I see, and this is what I see.

I see that white and Western people have the right to pass judgement on any cuisine they try, but when I say that I don’t like American food I get called a snob. It’s that when white and Western people criticize food of other ethnicities, they use value laden words like “gross” “disgusting” or “nasty.” It’s that white and Western people seem to think that it is okay to spit out food like it is so physically disgusting that they cannot finish the food in their mouth.

It’s that French cuisine is renouned worldwide as the ultimate haute cuisine, and Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese and many other cuisines from Asia are simplified down to “Asian” food where no more explaination is necessary. It’s that people always assume that their food eating experiences are universal — “I don’t understand how anyone can eat that” “How do they eat that” “Can you believe that’s popular over there?” It’s that white and Western people complain about the ingredients in ethnic cooking, as though only the parts of an animal that they deem valuable are worth consumption, and people who have to/like to eat other parts are automatically deemed “lesser.” It’s that aspersions are cast on the content of ethnic cooking — “Do they eat cats there” “How does that dog taste” “No I don’t trust where it comes from.”

It’s that a white or Western person complaining about ethnic food is not the same as an ethnic person complaining about white or Western food, because white and Western people are given permission to dislike “inferior” ethnic food while ethnic people who dislike “normal” Western food are deemed picky, hypocritical, snobbish, or unnatural. It’s that ethnic food is automatically deemed “strange” or “adventurous” and Western food is automatically “normal.”

It’s that colonization has touched ever part of our lives including our food, and it has left a lasting impact on the way that the world views the “goodness” of food. So while it’s fine that someone doesn’t like spicy food, or Asian food, or whatever, it is a form of privilege, in the United States. Because the food that person likes is always going to be coded as normal, and there will always be a plethora of choices for you to choose from. Because that person can refuse food that they don’t enjoy without being told that they are ungrateful. Because that person is considered “normal” and their food is considered “normal” too.

Just like Peaches talked yesterday about how religion and race intersect, this is how food and race and colonization intersect. It’s not as simple as you think, and that’s why I’m defensive. Because a lady can not pay attention to the predominant flavors of the Philippines, make adobo, write a review calling it “disgusting” and talk about how her step-son had to spit out his food, and it will be the #3 review on a major recipe website. That’s why we’re so defensive about our food.

feministilicious:

trastorn:

akrep a réagi à votre billet : How does it feel to be so multicultural? Eating Indian food, listening to tropicalia, speaking in beautiful HINDI, being British. It’s so unique and exotic.

i hate it when people think people who have grown up with different cultures are ~exotic~ no, actually this is just how i live, thanks.

real talk.

“omg karma thats so cool you wear those indian clothes and that henna stuff omg it must be so amazing so be so exotic and indian and stuff”

oh ffs no, go away. those clothes are itchy (god forbid they actually use comfy fabric) and mehndi takes forever to dry and is a real hassle.

mercredigirl:

Don’t tell me that this film is magically fine because there is Zhang Jizhong who got Gaiman on board in the first place or because there will be Chinese actors in the cast. That would be to overlook a cultural power dynamic of putting this inherently Asian work (and it is Asian: it is an East Asian story founded on a Chinese pilgrimage to India along a route that stretched through modern Iran and northern territories that were not Chinese then – it is a journey, a proper epic journey, not just through geography but also history) into the hands of Western media professionals whose bibliography or filmography demonstrate a clear disregard for the heritage of cultures not their own.

my tldr; is pretty epic about this. and not in a good way.