Why has Asian been taken to mean "East Asian"?

[pacificrim]

There are other peoples that are geographically in Asia, such as Arabs, Middle-Easterners, Russians, Indians etc. Alexander the Great was called the "king of Asia".

Yet in Western society, Asian only means "chinese, japanese, koreans" and sometimes southeast asians. How did this usage of the word come to be so exclusive?

Is it similar to the term "caucasian" being taken to mean people who are exclusively "white" or european ?

[buddy]

I think the term "Asian" is more of an Americanism than anything else, and I admit that as an American myself, I also use the term from time to time. I think it may have come about because it was deemed to be more politically correct than, say, "Oriental." I try to say East Asian to specify Asians who have a more "Mongoloid" look, even though the continent of Asia includes Indians, Middle Easterners, and others too. When you think about it, Europe is probably the world's most racially homogeneous continent (along with perhaps Australia, whose people are mostly of European descent).

[Educate Me]

In England Asian means someone from India or Pakistan

[Igu]

Why has african been taken to mean Subsaharan african? even when they show black moroccans, they say africans to distinguish them from the rest of moroccans.

[pacificrim]

So, I guess people rarely use Asian to refer to the "entire" continent - from Israel eastwards to the Middle East, to Indian subcontinent to the "Far" East.

I've never heard an Israeli called an Asian ;D, even though its technically (in a geographic sense) true.

[pacificrim]

igu said:

Why has african been taken to mean Subsaharan african? even when they show black moroccans, they say africans to distinguish them from the rest of moroccans.

another interesting point

Asian means mongoloids only
African means negroid only

[buddy]

I'm sure it also depends on what part of the continent most people hail from as well. Here in the U.S., most people from Asia are from the Far East. In England on the other hand, they tend to be from South Asia.

Likewise, most people whose ancestry lies in Africa are of sub-Saharan African descent, with very few people of North African background. However in France, most are North African.

[pacificrim]

I guess the terms for race and the terms for geography are very different, but people tend used them interchangably.

Even Europe is technically part of Asia in a "continental land-mass" sense definition of the term, but the cultural differences were too great so we had to divide Europe from the exotic "east" ;D.

[buddy]

pacificrim said:

I guess the terms for race and the terms for geography are very different, but people tend used them interchangably.

Even Europe is technically part of Asia in a "continental land-mass" sense definition of the term, but the cultural differences were too great so we had to divide Europe from the exotic "east" ;D.

Yeah, the Eurasian landmass. The divide magically occurs at the Ural Mts. ;D

[Hairless]

buddy said:

I think the term "Asian" is more of an Americanism than anything else, and I admit that as an American myself, I also use the term from time to time. I think it may have come about because it was deemed to be more politically correct than, say, "Oriental." I try to say East Asian to specify Asians who have a more "Mongoloid" look, even though the continent of Asia includes Indians, Middle Easterners, and others too. When you think about it, Europe is probably the world's most racially homogeneous continent (along with perhaps Australia, whose people are mostly of European descent).

The term is very confusing ;D In Hawaii, where the largest groups are Asian or part-Asian, "Asian" is used to describe anyone who has Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or SE Asian blood, including Filipino. But if you call an "Asian" person Asian they will get angry that you don't know they are 1/8 Filipino, 3/8 Chinese, 1/4 Portuguese and 1/8 Japanese and 1/8 Okinawan. My favorite part is that anyone who is not Pacific Islander or "Asian" is just called "White" (or "haole", meaning outsider basically), as if that is an ethnicity. The exception is Portuguese which some people seem to imply is not white (although others do).

It seems in a lot of ways that people use the Asian classification similarly to how White is used. By that I mean, Asian people use the term Asian to distinguish between white and not-white, or "local" and foreigner much in the same way that "whites" (whatever those actually are) use White to distinguish between themselves and various non-whites. In both cases the definition is very slippery and can be contradictory. Like when someone who is 3/4 Portuguese and maybe 1/4 Okinawan told my friend who is over 50% Hawaiian that she should "go back to the mainland" because she was white

[MC anunnaki]

I've never seen myself as an Asian. I'm going to take Melnorme's advice and start calling myself Western Eurasian (even though Eurasian implies an Asian/Euro mix).

[CooCooCachoo]

...I just call them apes.

Sure it raises a lot of eyebrows. But I just get tired of dealing with the whole Geography/Ethnicity correlation.

[penetratorx]

In Britain we used to refer to East Asians as 'Orientals' but now apparently that is a racist term and it should only be used to refer to objects from the far east, such as 'oriental art'

Educate Me is mostly right in saying that 'Asian' in the UK means someone of South Asian descent, it can mean anyone from Asia but it is usually reserved for Indians, Pakis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.

A result of using 'Asian' to refer to those from the Indian Subcontinent has been a resentment of the term by Indians, everytime there is some form of trouble in Britain involving Muslim Pakis or Bangladeshis like rioting or bombing innocent civilians the perpetrators are described as 'Asian', a lot of Indians wish that they be described as what they really are so as not to use a word that in the publics minds includes Indians.

[Drooperdoo]

Penetratorx,
When did a perfectly legitimate term like "oriental" become allegedly offensive? --It's just Latin for "eastern". What is offensive about calling someone eastern?
I guess they'd be offended no matter what you call them. Soon "Asian" will be offensive, too.
Although, in my book, Asian is far less appropriate than "oriental," since Asia was the name of Anatolia--which was filled with Caucasoids. Silly that that name should be applied to a whole landmass which is filled with mostly Mongoloids.
I wonder what the Chinese referred to their continent as?
Perhaps someone can enlighten us.

P.S.--Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges pointed out that, in Latin countries, "oriental" connoted Arabia and the Middle East, whereas in the United States the same word summoned to mind Mandarins. In the 19th Century, however, most Anglo-Saxon countries were in accord with the Romance nations--because university courses in Hebrew, Arabic or Egyptian were entitled studies in "Orientalism," and its experts called "orientalists".

[MC anunnaki]

You guys can call me Oriental. I think it sounds exotic and nice.