Diving Deeper: Where are you really from?
It’s a simple question that gets asks every single day. Harmless intentions can be quite be a bit personal because it makes people getting asked feeling like they don’t belong. This notion lies on centuries of institutional racial bias, and appropriating on categorizing person’s appearance and origin.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/08/opinion/where-im-really-from/
Institutional bias of people of color are automatically put into groups that defines people of their place of origin. Often times there are differences in where people identify themselves of their home versus their ethnicity. In retrospect, the rather most appropriate question would be, “what is your ethnicity?” However, this simple question is common for people that differs from “whiteness” and people of color - paralleling a persons ethnicity and place they call home.
Often times a place we call home does not coincide with the “place of origin”. DeLyser, stated that “you may fail to notice pertinent questions or issues because of inability to step back from a situation and fully access the circumstances” (2001). When a particular social issue comes into mind, researchers find topics close to their hearts and may compel them to be the insider. However, those persons that identify with other geographical locations are deemed to be the other or not a citizen. Alongside with physical appearance that distinguished people of color and white people, another factor to consider is the persons sense of belonging.
A common hypothetical conversation:
Person: By the way, where are you from?
Color Person: I’m from Albuquerque!
Person: Oh I know.. but where are you really from?
Color Person: I was born and raised here in the states, but my parents are from Vietnam. So I guess Vietnam.
Cheryan, Sapna, et al. (2005) reiterated among five studies that tests dives into the idea of identity denial - a situation where a person does not feel they belong or are recognized as a a member of an important in-group. In the first study, they found that Asian Americans are less seen as Americans than other Americans. However, they report that they do not feel less American than any groups, especially White Americans.
Works Cited:
Cheryan, S., & Monin, B. (2005). Where are you really from?: Asian Americans and identity denial. Journal of personality and social psychology, 89(5), 717.
DeLyser, D. (2001). “Do you really live here?” Thoughts on insider research. Geographical Review, 91(1‐2), 441-453.