![]() ![]() However, API month has come to be dominated by Asian culture – you only have to look at Goodreads recommendations for AAPI month to see the glaring disparity – with little recognition for Pacific Islanders.Īnd as a consumer of books, you and I both can also be blinded by what the large publishing houses and bookstores put in front of us – majority-white publications with similar book covers, or their marketing machines going overdrive to publish the latest trending books, or rehashing the classics without making room for new authors and more diversity. However, the indigenous people of Asia and the Pacific Islands have long been involved in shaping the country of America, and so May was chosen as the month to commemorate this long and rich heritage with the celebration of the first immigration of the Japanese to the United States in May 1843, along with the completion, in 1869, of the transcontinental railroad – the majority of which was built by Chinese Immigrants.Īs someone with both Asian and Pacific Island Heritage (Chinese and I-Kiribati) the month of May is a great opportunity for me to indulge in these two sides of my heritage. In America, the month of May marks the celebration of all things Asian and Pacific Islander to which some might argue that lumping two very different continents together – the whole of Asia and the large expanse of Oceania – is somewhat bizarre. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |