I’m a little hard pressed to think of instances where casting people specifically need to narrow their sample down by way of wording, but can’t do it by way of location or physical features, which would make their jobs even easier…you know: “We want some barrel-chested Samoans. We want some brown-skinned Filipinos. We want some deep-voiced Russians. We want some slanty-eyed Koreans, the slantier the better. No fold, no problem.”
I don’t know how different it is at other universities, but at Cal we started with Asian, differentiated between east Asians, south Asians and southeast Asians, everyone understood what that meant, and if we needed to include or exclude anyone else we simply referred to specific locations. So I guess I’m another vote for “not personally offensive (I’m half east asian, btw ), but antiquated; why use it?”
That’s actually a pretty good argument for the American practice of using “Asian” to refer to East Asian people. The ones who are objecting to “Asian” are Indians:
Personally, I have never used the word “Asian” to refer to Indian people. That seems mainly a British practice to me, although I have heard of some Americans doing it as well.
If most East Asians want to be called “Asian”, and most Indians want to be called “Indian”, it makes little sense to call Indians “Asian” and call East Asians “Oriental”, based solely on nitpicky etymological arguments that are contrary to the wishes of the people in question.
My girlfriend is from India, she and her family prefer East Indian. While growing up, I never thought of East Indians as Asians nor did anyone from my family. Small sample of course. Ultimately, if you don’t like the term then don’t use it. I don’t consider it racist (being Asian) but I prefer it over Oriental.
[QUOTE=Burrido]
My girlfriend is from India, she and her family prefer East Indian. QUOTE]
Are you in the US? If so, I’m wondering if that’s so people will know she’s not an Indian as in Native American.
Well, there’s also West Indians, which is more commonly called Caribbeans, or Jamaicans, Trinidadians, etc., in the US. But it was in pretty common use in Britain when I was coming up in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, there is a rather prestigious university called the University of the West Indies that has branches across the Caribbean.
When I lived in Ontario many years ago I met quite a few Trinidadians who were originally from India. It didn’t occur to me then, but it must be quite difficult to decide for these people whether they were east or west Indian.
The book has already been mentioned upthread, but Edward Said’s Orientalism is a good read for people who don’t understand why Oriental is such a loaded term. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been in an academic setting for most of my adult life so far, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve heard the term used in casual conversation. I wouldn’t feel insulted if someone used the term, but I’d probably raise an eyebrow. It seems rather dated, as someone else has already mentioned.
I’m not quite understanding why one would use Oriental instead of Asian for the sake of specificity. Asia, at least, is a geographical location with clear boundaries. The Orient seems more of a concept to me, with connotations of that mystic unknown where people with black hair and slanty eyes dressed in robes of silk drink green tea on mountain tops and compose haikus all day. It enhances Asians as the “other,” which to me makes it racist. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t think everyone who uses that term means it to be racist, but the word itself is not a neutral term. I don’t see why people insist on using it when there are alternatives. If being accurate concerns you so much, take the time to find out the specifics (Korean, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian, etc). Why insist on using a term that some people are bound to take offense at?
Exactly. The real reason they want to use it is because they feel like someone’s telling them not to. If someone were to tell them it was politically correct to use the word “Oriental”, I’m sure they would lose all interest in the word.
And I bet if you told young men that the proper attire for a job interview is to wear baggy jeans that are falling down with their underwear showing, they would stop dressing that way.
Right, but in the US – at least in the parts I’ve lived in – the term “West Indian” is somewhat unfamiliar. People have heard it, but when someone says “Indian,” then “Native American” is what springs to mind. Especially in a place like Albuquerque, where I lived for a spell.
You might think an India Indian would not be mistaken for a Native American, but I’ll tell ya. My wife is Thai – although of ethnic Chinese origin – and when we were in the US, she was mistaken for Navajo by people in the Southwest who ought to know better. And since we were living in Hawaii for a time, when we’d go to the mainland, people would think she was Hawaiian, since that’s where we lived. (Even in Thailand, she’s been mistaken for Japanese and Filipino by her fellow Thais.)
), but antiquated; why use it?”