Alex talked about his work and the intentions of the life decisions he made, which resulted in him doing projects in the Afrikaanderwijk. What I found interesting about his story was the ‘why’-part of his story. He told his background about how he started on the beaten path (‘for a migrant’), to stay well educated and eventually end up doing a Business-major. While he was studying business he decided to choose to switch his path, because he felt like he had to do something else. In this story, I found a personal reflection, since I also came from a family which migrated to the Netherlands to find a better future. My parents didn’t want me to have the same life as they had back in China, so they raised me to always work hard (as a child meaning to take my study serious, finish my Gymnasium so I could become a lawyer/doctor/etc. so I could earn a lot of money). I enrolled in Law school at the University of Groningen, but I eventually chose to go to the art academy, and follow my passion. The question 'The things you bring out in the world, which purpose do they have and why do you do it.’ stroke me unconsciously at the age of 18.

What I found striking was the choice of Alex to keep his work to a local scale. Myself personally (because I’m an Advertiser?) I think you’re limiting yourself when you’re working on a local scale, although I realise a local scale can also have a big impact.
In the context of Rotterdam, there is a lot happening in the Afrikaanderwijk when you look with a cultural perspective.


Choose your battles
After watching Sunny Bergman's film and hearing the discussion in the class, I realised my personal position.
The common racism-discussions and movements are between the black and white. Asians are not in either of one ‘teams', but neither of the teams suppresses us.
As an Asian, I have the privilege of invisibility.
Why I see this as a privilege is because I think I can analyse the racism-discussion without having to take a stand directly.
I have the privilege to be the helicopter above a cultural field. ( This could also be because I choose to do so, and use my ethnicity as an excuse. )
If you look at it this way, I see myself as the most privileged within the Cultural Minority minor.


After the first orientation weeks in which we talked a lot about the ‘Cultural Diversity topics,’ we started to expand theoretical knowledge in the classes. Even though we were still in the expanding phase, I started to think already of what specific topic(s) I want to work on so I could know early with whom I could work together and join forces to do the best research possible.


Gender and Fetishism were the first big subjects I was particularly interested in. To link it to my own ‘being’, I see that me being a gay Asian woman give me a different stand in the ‘men vs woman’ battle (just like I chose to see myself in a different stand in the black vs white battle). From personal experience, I see that my interaction with men is different than the way a straight woman interact with men mostly. This, among other things, leads to a different self-perception of myself as a woman. I am proud of being a woman, without having to seek a man’s approval (in the context of love). This gives me another helicopter-stand as a ‘being’ within the gender-discussion (man vs. woman in my words).

Being a woman myself, I respect women as beautiful human beings and not objects. My personal ‘being' is where my fascination for fetishism comes from. Asian + lesbian… easy math.
When unknown straight white men approach me out of interest, I automatically think they have a form of yellow fever. Me thinking that me being Asian is the reason these men approach me is not that of my insecurity and disbelief of my own character, but because I believe Western society and stereotypical fetishism made me think that my ethnicity is objectified.

I started joining the class in the second week, which means I missed the experiences of the first week.

after-first thoughts

After some reading and talking to Amy, I found out my interest was not particularly in fetishism and the working of stereotypes within these, but more in the concept of stereotypes and how these are formed, and how internalised the working of stereotypes are.
As a link with my major Advertising, I realise advertisers (whether they work in advertising agencies or different companies) have an influence on the representation and perception of (minority) groups. We live in a world dominated by marketing. In our society, the images chosen by advertisers will be widely spread in films, posters, photos and other mediums all over the world.

As an Asian woman (or any other minority group) growing in the Netherlands, I am dealing with stereotyping. Not only from Dutch people, but also from other minority groups and even more from my own parents. (more about this in the tab 'Stereotypes')

This is why I'm interested in the concept of stereotypes, how they arise, how it influences the individual, but even more how it is possible to change them.

research process

After the class of Amy on the 11th of October, in which she talked about the Chinese diaspora-perspective and allyship, I started thinking more about the daily 'racism' I get from my environment. I realised I suppressed a lot of it, so it was pretty hard to come up with lots of it. Another reason I found it difficult to come up with it, was that I was 'used' to a lot of the racistic (stereotype) comments I get, so I normalised it as a part of living in the Netherlands.

For instance, diffenting comments like strangers saying 'Ni hao' on the street.
But also ignorant comments like 'Do you eat dog?' from acquaintances.
And then the worst: ignorant comments from friends, asking if my parents suppressed me (tiger parents), or forced me to work even.
And the comments when I do something different than them, tracing it back to my ethnicity "Sarah doesn't like to eat bread, let her be because she is Chinese."

In my eyes, there are two ways to react to these racist comments:
1. You act offended towards the racist comment
2. You laugh about it

When I thought about it I saw many reasons to become angry, but my way of dealing with it up to now was to either ignore it, or make jokes about it myself.
This was/is my way to be faster than them with the comments, so I don't have to hear the same 'jokes' about me all over. (controversial, I know)

I realise the fact it's even necessary to find a coping mechanism to deal with racism, is problematic.

What I also find interesting, is that most of the racistic comments I get on the street, are coming from other minorities. Relating to the Ally-class of Amy, I still see a lot of 'we vs. them'-thinking in the sense of ethnicity, instead of 'we vs. the system'.

The midterms were very nice. Lot and I presented three concepts, and we will work on a Manual for the future-imagemakers. (first year art students)

midterms and project progress

personal growth and change