Week 8- Marisa Gee

     I really enjoyed Thom’s take on mental health. I think Thom’s piece really resonates with what we’ve been discussing in class especially with regards to shaman and their “power” often being seen as mental illness in a western context. The part that stood out to me the most was when Thom mentioned that we do not operate as “…individual units, separate from the environments in which we live- rather, we exist, live, think, feel, as linked cells of a greater collective organism” (DSM: Asian American Edition, 10). This quote made me realize that mental illness which is often seen as individual failure, should instead be seen as systemic failure. An individual’s symptom may point to some form of mental instability but in reality it is an indicator of a broken and unstable system.
    The Model Minority and The Shopkeeper in my eyes represent maneuvering in a broken society. The Shopkeeper hints at the ills of capitalism, which drive our society’s values on a wide scale. The Model Minority represents a unique oppressive form often felt by Asian Americans (AAs), but not explicitly packaged as racism. The Fourth Part (Bitterness and Splinters Hurt) of The Model Minority paradox reminds me of a scene in Get Out. During the “auction party,” an Asian American man is presumably there to check out Chris as a potential purchase. Here, we see that AAs are aligned with white people in terms of racial oppression, yet as we know AAs often never feel fully “white.” I think the model minority standards position AAs as separate from POC but not quite white, a dangerous place to be in. Essentially it alienates AAs from other POC when in reality AAs are POC and our collective experiences and histories, while varied, share many of the same colonial and imperial issues. I’ve also noticed personally, that some AAs themselves, buying into and internalizing the model minority myth, self segregate from POC “splintering alliances” (The Model Minority Tarot Card). Have you observed any of this distancing from POC by either AAs themselves or other POC? And when you hear of social movements addressing the needs and inequalities of black and brown, do you feel that AAs are included in that? (Personally, I think the model minority myth has silenced the needs of immigrant, low socioeconomic and disenfranchised AA communities that continue to be exploited and in need of help.)
    After reading Thom’s take on mental illness and The Model Minority Tarot Card, I see The Model Minority as part of the broken system creating “mental illness” especially in Asians in academia. Pressured to work hard and achieve to reach an impossible standard is a form of crazy- making.

References

The Model Minority, The Shopkeeper (Tarot Cards)

Kai Cheng Thom. “Belief in Mental Health.” In Open in Emergency.

Image

http://nursing.jhu.edu/excellence/mental-health/