5/16 Said + Shah

In the documentary about Orientalism, Said talked about the origins of the Orient and the effects of Orientalism. The term is mainly used by Westerns, sort of, downgrade or feel superior to the East. Some words that the West would be associated with would include, "developed", "civilized", or "technologically advanced." While the East or the so-called 'Orient' would be associated with words like, "exotic" or "underdeveloped." The East is also called the 'Orient' because the West always present them in a negative way. It's because of these effects of Orientalism, stereotypes form. In this case, stereotypes are formed about Arabs. Also, very little representation of them is seen in art. Such fixed stereotypes are perception of Arabs can be seen in the portrayals of Arab, especially after 911. That's the peak of when Arabs were associated with being terrorists. 

In the Laotian Daughter reading, Shah critiques the issue by showing the complexity of the situation. Shah mentions how the 2nd generation Laotian girls were struggling to maintain their ethnic and cultural identity, while at the same time, trying to fit into the American culture. Many of the 1st generation Laotian women try to maintain cultural practices by having the children carry on the culture. Some of the cultural practices include staying home and taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, mainly a stay at home mom. Also, do not speak when the man of the house is speaking. Many 1st generation mother try to force on homeland cultural practices onto the daughter(s) of the house. Being a Vietnamese woman, I can connect to many of the cultural practices that were mentioned in the reading, especially the part about cooking and cleaning. At a young age, my mother encouraged me to learn how to cook and clean because, she said, "It's a woman's job to do it!" At that time, I did not disobey my mom and I followed what she told me to do. Now, I understand why my mom wanted me to be skilled in those practices. But, at the same time, I thought about it again, "how come my brothers did not learn this?" I'm actually kind of glad that my mom pushed me to do those tasks. My brothers are even struggling to cook an egg, and I'm over here like, "This is a piece of cake." Despite these cultural practices being forced onto me from a young age, I now understand and know it was my job to help maintain those cultural practices/ties.