Flench Flies & Caucasians.

3/3/09 (Square Root Day!)

In the movie we watched in class last week, "Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible," there was an excerpt that discussed an Asian girl who was cast as an island girl in a school play. The island was a Pacific island, so the island girls were supposed to be an Asian race. These girls were instructed to say things like "flench flies" instead of "french fries" to further demonstrate their Asian role in the play. this girl stood up to the play's director and refused to say "flench flies" because it was so demeaning.

This same topic has come up more than once in the past week.
1. In my Neuroscience class we were discussing phenomes because we're studying the language chapter, and my professor was explaining that his mom (since she's from Thailand) could not say the "r" phenome (because it's not in her first learned language), so it sounds more like an "l."
2. My friend (who is Asian) is involved with theater at her school was recently cast as a "Pacific Island Girl" (sound familiar?). She was so excited for her new part, that she said, "AND I get to talk like an Asian and everything!" She gave me a little demonstration and laughed. I was literally shocked at how she was responding in such a different way to the racist and stereotypical way she was being treated.
3. But then I realized that the last role she played was that of a Vietnamese civilian in a Vietnam War production. Typical. Cast the Asian girl as the Asian character. Interestingly enough, in this same production, one of the other characters was supposed to be a Middle Eastern man, but they got a White guy to play his role. Strange the way theater works.

I just read a classmate's blog about the blog online fmylife.com. The story she posted reminded me of a similar experience when I was in middle school. I believe it was eighth grade, and my classmates and I were taking the PLAN test (pre-ACT test). My friend had bubbled in "Other" on her testing form. Our teacher came around and asked her, "oh, are you not White anymore?" My friend was confused, but once my teacher told her that she should have circled "Caucasian," my friend explained herself that since "Caucasian" had the word "Asian" in it, she thought that it really meant "Asian." It's interesting that as students who grew up in a predominantly White area, we learn the politically correct terms - African American, for Native American, but we never learn what's politically correct to call ourselves.

This makes me wonder. Where does the term "Caucasian" come from, anyway? Here's what Wikipedia says:

The concept of a Caucasian race or Varietas Caucasia was developed around 1800 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German scientist and classical anthropologist.[5][5] Blumenbach named it after the peoples of the Caucasus (from the Caucasus region), whom he considered to be the archetype for the grouping.[6] He based his classification of the Caucasian race primarily on craniology.[7] Blumenbach wrote:

"Caucasian variety - I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (birth place) of mankind."[8]

WAIT. Stop. Realize that this was developed in around 1800. But, really the "most beautiful race of men?" And the birthplace of mankind? I thought the "birthplace of mankind" was somewhere in Africa. But I still have questions. Where is Mount Caucasus? And are the Georgians the same people as the people from Georgia (country between Russia and Turkey)?

The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black and the Caspian sea in the Caucasus region.

The majority of Georgians are Christian, and mostly adhere to their national ancient autocephalous (since 4th century) Georgian Orthodox Church.

Strategically located on the crossroads between East and West, the Georgian people have been influenced by many civilizations throughout history. They absorbed features of other cultures and married them to indigenous traditions to produce a rich culture

Interesting. Caucasian is actually derived from Middle Eastern people, so why is it now associated with White people. The etiology of words can be really interesting, but overwhelming at the same time.