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Whilst each essay is written by a different individual, whilst differing in gender, age, nationality, culture, religion and privilege…the common thread is a feeling of being misunderstood, restricted and isolated.
East Side Voices: Celebrating ESEA Identity - Southbank Centre East Side Voices: Celebrating ESEA Identity - Southbank Centre
Those who spoke of the “China virus”, like the former US President Donald Trump, aggravated prejudice that had always been there and stoked a culture of division. From the complexities of the multilayered and often politicised ethnic groups of Malaysia, illuminated by Tash Aw, to June Bellebono’s recollection of Taungbyone Pwe, a a spirit festival in Myanmar offering a rare safe space for many trans people, it shines a light on cultural and political nuances understood by so few of us, but which have had a key impact on the lives of many ESEA people in Britain.Reading essays from people who have also experienced life like this was very enriching and validated a lot of feelings I've had while growing up. As this book was also written during the Covid-19 pandemic, it also talked about their experiences with racism during COVID, which was mass Asian hate crimes. But at the same time, the heart of the essays is the same, which is about their journey of assimilating and accepting their identity and their experiences of being Asian in a predominantly white country. In the process we navigate the legacies of family history, racial identity, assimilation and difference. I didn’t have a typical Vietnamese upbringing (whatever that means) – we had no family friends or relatives close by who were also Vietnamese, and so many of the cultural references and in-jokes that I have seen bandied about in Vietnamese American corners of the Internet go over my head.
East Side Voices by Various, Helena Lee | Waterstones
However, when I was younger, there were some things about him that I found hard to understand: his obsession with education, his aversion to waste of any kind, his insistence that we finish every bit of food on our plates; and his constant reminders not to take anything for granted.
Food and the making and growing of the food were the thread that tied so much together: the rhythms of farming, the myths of farming, the spirits and gods and souls of everything in the jungle.
East Side Voices by Helena Lee | Goodreads
His love for my sister and me was expressed not through words but through small acts of devotion: always cutting fresh fruit for us; making sure we drank two full glasses of milk each day so our bones would grow strong (milk being a luxury they rarely had in Hong Kong); patiently teaching us how to swim (Golden Rule No 2: learn how to swim). I’ve since found out that the St Michael brand was phased out in the year 2000, making this bag at least 20 years old. She also explains how ESEA people have been conflated into a flattened idea of ‘Chineseness’, how all nuance between cultures have been ignored. Will Harris is the winner of the 2020 Forward Prize for Best First Collection, poet and author of RENDANG and Mixed Race Superman.This book gives a voice to Asians in Britain, and Europe at large, which has been long overdue in my opinion.
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