canadianasian
Oct 11, 05:34 PM by administrator
Canadian Asian vs. Asian Canadian
Politically Correct Labels
Sat. Nov. 4th, 11:00 AM
Canada’s multicultural society often leads people to identify themselves with hyphenated labels. But how does one choose a label? What are the implications of placing one’s ethnicity before nationality and vice versa? Moreover, as ethnicities become increasingly blended, it is now more the norm to identify oneself as a hybrid or hyphenated. This program begins with the screening of two films. The first is CANADIAN-CHINESE, a filmmaker’s personal exploration of identity. Then in BETWEEN: LIVING IN THE HYPHEN, the documentary weaves several of its subjects’ experiences with self-identification while growing up bi-racial. These screenings will be followed by a panel discussion on “Politically Correct Labels”.
Canadian-Chinese
Director/Writer/Producer: Felix Cheng
Documentary | Beta | Colour | 2005 | 10 minutes | Canada
Through the concept of language, CANADIAN-CHINESE is a documentary surrounding director Felix Cheng’s personal relationship with his family and cultural background. Simultaneously, he explores the issue of identity and the connection that one makes with the people and world around him simply through the act of understanding his own language.
Director in Attendance
Between: Living In The Hyphen
Director/Writer: Anne-Marie Nakagawa | Producers: Bonnie Thompson, NFB
Documentary | Beta | Colour | 2005 | 42 minutes | Canada
In Canada, diversity often means “one ethnicity + hyphen Canadian,” but what if you don’t fit into an easy category? What if your background is a hybrid of ancestries and you live somewhere between, where cultural identities overlap? BETWEEN: LIVING IN THE HYPHEN interweaves the experiences of a group of Canadians with one parent from an European background and one from a visible minority. They’re all struggling to find a satisfying frame of reference. Cultural identity, it seems, is more complex than what our multicultural utopia implies.
Vancouver Premiere | Director In Attendance
Panel Discussion to Follow
The Politics Of Being Politically Correct
The term “Politically Correct” or “PC” according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
adjective: conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated
“PC” language and behaviour is both feared as thought policing or championed as advocating a more pluralistic, multicultural, race, gender, and class-sensitive society.
The practice of labeling certain language, behaviours and attitudes as either correct or incorrect has been around a long time. However, this term in its present form became popular in the West during the mid to late 1970‘s mainly from English translations of Maoist literature.
As “Political Correctness” spreads from the government political arena and into the socio-political field, there is much confusion as to what are politically correct terms and behaviours, who decides and how do they get co-opted into the mainstream consciousness? This year VAFF, through its panel discussion series, hopes to address two facets of Political Correctness: Comedy and Labels.
Part 1: Canadian Asian vs. Asian Canadian: Politically Correct Labels
The politics of identifying oneself such as Asian Canadian vs. Canadian Asian, can be extremely bewildering. Which identity goes first, why, what are the implications, who decides? Some terms, such as Indo-Canadian and Oriental have become politically incorrect over time, why, who decides, and how does new labels get disseminated?
Confused like the rest of us? Come join this distinguished panel of guests and get the lowdown on how to identify yourself and what it all means.
The Panelists
Glenn Deer
Glenn Deer is currently teaching Asian North American Literature and a graduate seminar on Mixed Race and Multi-Ethnic Writing and Cinema at UBC. He has published articles on food and literature, race relations and representations of urban space in Asian Canadian writing. As well, he is an associate editor for the journal Canadian Literature and has edited a special issue on Asian Canadian writing in 1999.
Alexis Kienlen
Alexis Kienlen is French, German, English, Irish and Chinese. She’s a poet, fiction writer, journalist and editor, and acts as the literary editor of Ricepaper magazine. She grew up in a multiracial family, which influenced her to study ethnic relations as part of her International Studies degree at the University of Saskatchewan. Her first book of poetry, Love At The Chinese Cafe, will be published in spring 2007.
Chris Lee
Chris Lee teaches in the English department at UBC. He received his PhD from Brown University and has also taught at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His areas of research include Asian North American literatures, overseas Chinese communities, and the politics of identity.
Craig Takeuchi
Fourth generation Japanese Canadian Craig Takeuchi is an editorial assistant at the Georgia Straight. His articles on multicultural issues have been published in several local and national publications, including Ricepaper and The Tyee.
Rupinder Sidhu
Moderator: Rupinder Sidhu is a Vancouver based social artist and facilitator. He has been engaging communities around issues of race and identity for the past 10 years. As a member of Peer Perspectives, Rupinder has received an award of excellence and best practices in anti-racism from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
This program is made possible by the generous support of the 
Celebrity Host for this program:
Nelson Wong
New Zealand-born Nelson Wong is a proud member of the sketch comedy group Assaulted Fish & has appeared in over 45 stage & screen projects. Is a regular on Here! TV’s Donald Strachey Series, guest-starred as skating legend Elvis Kwan on CBC’s This Space For Rent, & played a lead role in Lifetime TV’s My Silent Partner.
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