I'm curious if the Asian category in America is changing over time to include South Asians. Most Americans I know don't mentally group East Asians and South Asians together. And that song made references to China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. But he didn't offer to show the girl the Taj Mahal, you know.
For most Americans South Asians are sort of their own category. Actually, since India dominates the category is really Indian. And for most 2nd-gen Indians I know (a pretty high income group) they act and are treated as just dark-skinned white guys. Once they get American accents and mannerisms there isn't too much exotic about them.
These sort of racial categories are, of course, fluid and changing. I know that if I wanted to point out a Chinese guy to a friend I might say, oh he's the Asian guy with the coffee. But if he was South Asian, I'd probably say he's the Indian guy with the coffee.
I know officially the US government includes South Asians under Asian, but I don't think the typical American's mental categories do.
Yeah, the girl has some sort of universal ethnic look to her. More importantly, she is extremely hot. But she could pass for a large percentage of the world's ethnic groups. Off the top of my head I can think of a Colombian, Indian, Jewish, Italian, and Iranian girl that she semi-resembles or could pass as a cousing of. Oh and Filipino. There are a lot of hot half-Filipino girls wandering the streets of America.
I'm curious if the Asian category in America is changing over time to include South Asians. Most Americans I know don't mentally group East Asians and South Asians together. And that song made references to China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. But he didn't offer to show the girl the Taj Mahal, you know.
For most Americans South Asians are sort of their own category. Actually, since India dominates the category is really Indian. And for most 2nd-gen Indians I know (a pretty high income group) they act and are treated as just dark-skinned white guys. Once they get American accents and mannerisms there isn't too much exotic about them.
These sort of racial categories are, of course, fluid and changing. I know that if I wanted to point out a Chinese guy to a friend I might say, oh he's the Asian guy with the coffee. But if he was South Asian, I'd probably say he's the Indian guy with the coffee.
I know officially the US government includes South Asians under Asian, but I don't think the typical American's mental categories do.
Brent,
I pretty much agree with you.
One point though - the girl in the above video looks South Asian to me??
Yeah, the girl has some sort of universal ethnic look to her. More importantly, she is extremely hot. But she could pass for a large percentage of the world's ethnic groups. Off the top of my head I can think of a Colombian, Indian, Jewish, Italian, and Iranian girl that she semi-resembles or could pass as a cousing of. Oh and Filipino. There are a lot of hot half-Filipino girls wandering the streets of America.