Professor says awareness of Southeast Asian culture lacking
An APASU-sponsored
presentation sheds light
on the region’s customs
By Edward Yuen
Oregon Daily Emerald
Some students at the University
cannot recognize the differences
in the Southeast Asian cultures,
said Gerald Fry, director of Center
for Asian and Pacific Studies, at a
presentation and discussion ses
sion on Wednesday evening at the
Multicultural Center.
To introduce Southeast Asian
cultures to the University com
munity, the Asian/Pacific-Ameri
can Student Union organized the
event, titled “The Forgotten
Ones.” More than 40 students at
tended.
According to statistics released
by the Office of the Registrar in
Fall 1998, 1,069 American stu
dents at the University identified
themselves as of Asian or Pacific
Islander descent. Among 1,435 in
ternational students at the Univer
sity, 292 were from Southeast
Asia.
“It’s very important that the
University has events that present
the appreciation of the multicul
tural diversity of Southeast Asia,”
said Fry, who has been working
in Southeast Asian countries
since 1966. Fry has traveled in
Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singa
pore and Thailand, where he
worked with the Peace Corps.
The presentation started with
the traditional Thai dance
“Cheum Pra Quan” led by Vat
sana Chanthala, a senior in inter
national studies who immigrated
from Laos in 1984. Chanthala said
the dance was performed at the
beginning of the presentation to
bring in “good spirit.”
Fry presented a series of slides
he took in several Southeast
Asian countries.
He said American media mis
represent Asian countries and
their cultures. Ordinary events are
not being reported, but the eco
I
Amanda Cowan/Emerald
Senior Vatsana Chanthala, junior Gwen Howiett (foreground), freshman Sophang Lem and junior Samantha Pok perform a classical Thai dance at the Multicultural Center Wednesday evening.
nomic crisis in some Asian coun
tries or a forest fire in Indonesia is.
Those reports scare off some
Americans from visiting those
countries, Fry said.
Fry said not only the news me
dia are biased, but also the movie
industry. One example was “The
King and I.” He said the movie
distorted Thai history.
Fry also said some of the geo
graphic terms, such as “Far
East,” “oriental” and “Indochi
na, are misused in describing
Southeast Asian regions. These
terms are either Eurocentric or
were introduced in a colonial
period. Misuse of these geo
graphic terms leads to the issue
of "equating,” where some peo
ple cannot distinguish Java and
Indonesia or consider Bangkok
to be Thailand.
Chanthala agreed that students
need to know more about the mix
of cultures at the University.
“It’s important for people to
know the diversity on campus,”
said Chanthala. “Not just the cul
ture but also the history.”
She said some people are not
aware of Southeast Asian cultural
taboos, such as touching people’s
heads, pointing at people or disre
specting Buddhist monks.
Fry said Southeast Asia is im
portant to the world’s economy
because of its location — it is the
crossroads between East Asia, In
dia, Australia and Europe. Also,
the region contains a wide variety
of ethnicities and cultures, and
politics are complex and diverse,
Fry said.
“This workshop presented an
aspect of Asian culture that is of
ten ignored or overlooked in the
discussion of Asia,” said Jason
Mak, co-director of APASU.
The presentation ended with a
Thai dance, which included audi
ence participation.
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Continued from Page 1
it is increasing them by a signifi
cant margin, she said.
“I don’t think that doubling the
investment in coverage would be
able to fall entirely on the shoul
ders of the administration,” Fries
tad said.
Graduate students teach more
than a third of all credit horns
taught at the University, and indi
vidual workloads amount to ap
proximately 22 hours per week,
according the GTFF. Fellows are
also required to take a minimum
of nine graduate-level credits per
term.
“At a time when the state of
Oregon is reinvesting in higher
education, we graduate student
teachers are sending a message
that the U of O needs to invest in
the people and programs which
make this university work,” Red
mond said.
Grad students are essential to
the University because they pro
vide world-class teaching, grad
ing, research and many other
duties at a very low price, he
said.
“The bottom line is that we
have earned our health insurance
the old-fashioned way: by work
ing hard for it,” Redmond said.
Graduate teaching fellows at
the rally said they hope to per
suade administrators to continue
to expand coverage to summer
term and the fellows’ spouses and
children. The current policy cov
ers only the GTFs themselves and
only for fall, winter and spring
terms. The University denied the
federation’s summer coverage last
year.
Under the health plan, fellows
receive medical, dental and vi
sion insurance through an exten
sive preferred provider network.
The individual medical de
ductible is $200.
“I depend on my U of O insur
ance,” said Ursula Wiljanen, a fel
low in Germanic languages.
“Graduate students simply can
not afford private insurance on
our little salaries. And if we can’t
protect our health, how can we
teach?”
Maggie Young contributed to this
story.
SttgmM&ntraft
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