The Kiwi Asian Identity

I recently got called a "chigga" the other day and I do not even know whether it was a racial slur or not. 

I am perplexed to how that person reached that conclusion given he has only seen me wearing floral Hawaiian shirts or button-up shirts with chinos. Although this did not seem to make any logical sense to me, it did spark a need to re-evaluate myself in terms of cultural identity.

As a person of Thai-Chinese ancestry who is currently waiting to get their New Zealand citizenship by the end of this year, a sudden existential question has started to haunt me: "Am I whitewashed"?

For many first generation Westernised Asians who have lived overseas from what their parents would identify as the "Motherland", it becomes a continuous internal conflict of two different cultural values disputing which side is better.

I myself, were one of those kids that grew up in multiple countries and  identify more with the term Third Culture Kid or (TCK) for short. It refers to individuals who have spent a significant amount of time growing up outside their parent's culture and have problems settling with where home is. I agree with Omi and Winant that t race is defined and contested in both collective and personal practices.

That said, so much time has passed that I am no longer proficient in Thai in terms of reading and writing yet somehow, I still find myself offended by any negative racial stereotypes and comments towards Asians in New Zealand.

There was one instance of institutional racism in high school when my brother waited outside of our associate principal's office as he needed to get a note signed off. One of the management came out rudely stating "There's an Asian kid outside the office". But once my brother started speaking, the staff responded after realising he was not Fresh off the Boat (FOB) with" So you're not an Asian Kid, let me help you out".

When people on the street randomly yell out "Ching Chong" or pretend they're Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany's it still annoyed me after all that people will have prejudiced ideas about each other.

At the University of Auckland itself, there are  student run organisations that exist to represent political views and interests. The same approach applies for the cultural clubs associated with minority groups. The concept is quite straightforward. Through a fun-driven and socially interactive community, people get to familiarise with others who have a strong attachment towards their own ethnic background. 

New Zealand is increasingly becoming a visibly multicultural society and, Auckland has the highest concentration of Asian migrants since the 1990's. Some of the biggest clubs on campus include the Kiwi Asian Club (KAC), the Eastern Students' Association  and the Taiwanese and New Zealand's Students' Association (TANSA). It might seem like these clubs seem to have a race quota for members, but really they don't. Ultimately these clubs contribute a positive effect on racial identity in New Zealand even if personally I don't identify strongly with any of these clubs.

Racism as a whole in New Zealand is nowhere near as bad as the rest of the world.

One in four people living in New Zealand was born from outside the country. So really to any degree, even if you're FOB or whitewashed, cultural identity is what you want and construct it to be.