1. An Asian-North American Identity Crisis IAS 2580 By: Shirley Xu Lei Dong

2. “Banana” = Asian American, Asian Canadian, etc. “White” on the inside Meaning: Westernized “Yellow” on the outside Meaning: Yellow skin (Asian physical features)

3. Identity Crisis!!! CULTURE ? Language? 50% Canadian 20% Chinese 10% Banana 10% University Student 5% Feminist 3% Accounting 2% Exchange Student @ CUHK Mother Tongue: English Other: Chinese, French, slang/abbrv.

4. DE-MYSTIFYING A BANANA! STEREOTYPES 1.Another Asian 2.Good at Math 3.Speak, Read, Write, Chinese 4.Obedient and Quiet 5.Cannot speak English TRUTHS 1.NO Asian studies background 2.We think and act like Westerners 3.Identity Crisis and Shame 4.Fear for next generation 5.Injustice: European descendant

5. Coming to Peace with Bananaism: Insights

6. 1.Globalization and the cross-cultural movement of people make the theory - “You are what you speak” – more complex 2.The Cultural Pie is continually been cut into smaller and smaller pieces (sometimes difficult to separate). 3.Blending of cultures provides language with new pathways to develop. (i.e. Chinglish, Engrish, Amerikaese, etc.) Coming to Peace with Bananaism: Insights

7. BANANA CULTURE!

8. References www.bananacafe.ca “Banana: A Chinese American Experience” http://www.tenement.org/banana/resources.html http://www.tenement.org/banana/resources.html http://www.equalitytoday.org/edition4/banana.html “Just a Banana but getting Ripe”. Lisa Lee, Asian Week Mar 21 2003 http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?articl e_id=9e257f3f1a60aa17b6609b33a232c64c http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?articl e_id=9e257f3f1a60aa17b6609b33a232c64c www.bananablog.net

9. QUESTIONS?