We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode How I Stopped Being a Model Minority with Anne Anlin Cheng

How I Stopped Being a Model Minority with Anne Anlin Cheng

2025/4/16
logo of podcast NüVoices

NüVoices
AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
A
Anne On Lin Chang
Topics
Anne On Lin Chang: 我在普林斯顿大学任教多年，研究种族和性别议题。这本书《普通灾难》是我对个人经历的反思，也是对模范少数族裔神话的批判。我经历了一系列个人和职业危机，这些危机促使我以更个人化的方式写作，与更广泛的受众交流。我意识到，学术研究虽然帮助我理解种族和性别问题，但它无法完全反映生活的真实体验。我试图在书中探索学术知识与日常生活之间的联系，并表达那些我过去不敢说出的真相。我写作的目的是为了打破沉默，承认并处理我所经历的创伤和情感创伤。 我作为亚裔美国女性的经历，让我深刻感受到社会对女性和少数族裔的压力。在西方社会，亚裔女性常常面临着自我牺牲和隐忍的压力，这种压力与移民和有色人种的身份叠加，让我质疑自己是否有权表达和写作关于自己的故事。我尝试用第一人称写作，这对我来说非常具有挑战性，因为这需要在公众场合争取空间，打破沉默。 模范少数族裔的神话是一个阴险的身份认同，它与美国梦联系在一起，越是融入社会，就越难以意识到为此付出的努力和代价。亚裔美国人渴望认可和赞同，因此会利用模范少数族裔的模式，但这种认可也可能很快被重新归入模范少数族裔的高成就脚本中，从而否认亚裔美国人的痛苦。我们需要思考为什么这么多亚裔美国人会认同这种神话，其中一个原因是它是一种应对忽视和贬低的方式。 美国社会对种族问题的关注短暂性并非源于缺乏注意力，而是对不公正的漠视，这是一种严重的忽视。政治认可与伤害之间存在着非常根本的联系，只有当群体能够真正展示他们的伤害时，才能获得政治认可，而这种认可非常肤浅。美国社会关注的是不满，而不是悲伤。不满是公开的、可量化的，而悲伤是私人的、难以量化的。种族主义不仅造成物质伤害，还造成精神伤害，这种伤害更难以察觉和克服。我们需要承认美国存在着历史性的、系统性的歧视和不公正，才能克服它。 写作是我的祈祷方式，它让我与自己和比自己更大的力量产生联系，带给我平静和清晰。在充满负面情绪的世界里，积极追求快乐至关重要。 Stephanie Tam: 作为主持人，我与Anne On Lin Chang就她的新书《普通灾难》进行了深入的对话。我们探讨了她从学术研究到个人写作的转变，以及她如何处理模范少数族裔的神话及其带来的双重困境。我们还讨论了美国社会对种族问题的短暂关注，以及如何才能在充满挑战的时代保持爱与希望。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Stephanie Tam interviews Anne Anlin Cheng about her book, Ordinary Disasters: How I Stopped Being a Model Minority. Anne discusses her transition from academic scholarship to personal writing, driven by personal and global crises. She felt a responsibility to connect her scholarship to everyday life and speak to a broader audience, exploring truths she hadn't expressed before.
  • Anne Cheng is an English literature professor at Princeton University.
  • Ordinary Disasters is a collection of personal essays, marking a shift from academic writing for Cheng.
  • Cheng's motivation stemmed from personal, professional, and global crises, pushing her to address a larger audience.
  • She aims to connect her scholarly work to the realities of everyday living.

Shownotes Transcript

This week, we have host Stephanie Tam in conversation with Anne Anlin Cheng about her book, Ordinary Disasters: How I Stopped Being a Model Minority, which debuted in September 2024 and was published by Pantheon.

In this episode, Anne discusses her journey from academic scholarship to a personal, deeply vulnerable "new kind of writing." After decades of teaching as one of the foremost scholars of race, literature, and aesthetics at Princeton University, a series of personal and political crises led Anne to grapple with what it means to live firsthand as an Asian American woman in our world. Stephanie and Anne talk about the challenges of "finding your voice" in the first person, the double bind of the model minority myth, and the problem with how Americans think about who deserves social justice — "as though attention to nonwhite groups, their histories and conditions, is only as pressing as the injuries that they have suffered." Anne also shares her personal experiences of grieving her father, a tragic series of student suicides, and the complexities of interracial marriage. Finally, Stephanie and Anne explore what it takes to find and sustain an "ordinary faith" in the midst of all these "ordinary disasters."