克城消息    

Oberlin Students Searching For Chinese America

    編者按:本報在一個多月前接到OBERLIN COLLAGE 歷史系李今朝敎授來電,她説她想要帶她的學生來伊利華報和長靑公寓參觀,李敎授想讓她的學生走出課堂去實地考察。李敎授來自Hawaii,她在電話里十分客氣地説:她到克里夫蘭後慢慢喜歡這個地方了,是華報給她帶來許多消息和音訊,她是敎社會學的,本學期敎的是美國歷史,她發現美國歷史很少有記載中國華人和華人社區的事,尤其中部地區幾乎沒有。她現在是在硏究和探索華人在美國的社會現象以及美國太平洋地區的華人實際生活情况。
    高等敎育走出象牙塔,這是新學術運動,這也是她帶學生走訪中國社區的目地,她希望他們能親眼目睹華人的生活,看他們的文化背景甚至帶他們看中國超市場,培養和鼓勵他們能更深瞭解中國華人在美國的生活,同時她還説了最新敎育的改革,高等敎育的新方法是:學校和社區相結合,從社區出發。中國歷史文化敎育在美國還有很長的路要走,需要大家一起努力,讓更多的美國人瞭解中國的歷史和文化,瞭解中國的現狀。

On September 30, the “Asian American History” class from Oberlin College had a great opportunity to visit four significant Chinese American social organizations and cultural institutions in the Cleveland area. They were the Erie Chinese Journal, the Asian Evergreen Apartment Building (which was under the care of Cleveland Chinese Senior Citizens Association and Asian Evergreen Housing Corporation), Tzu Chi Foundation Cleveland Service Center, and Tink Holl Food Market. For the first time in years, Oberlin College students paid a formal visit as a class to the Chinese American community in the Cleveland area. They all felt that the trip was very informative, inspiring, and thought-provoking.
The purpose of the visit was three fold. First, to provide the students an opportunity to compare the textbook material with real-life examples and experiences of Chinese Americans. Second, to enable students to develop interest in studying Asian Americans in the Midwest, whose history is still largely under-researched and under-written. Third, to make students join the nation-wide “service learning” movement, a new pedagogy that guide college students out of the Ivory Tower and engage them in community-based learning and research.
The four places of our visit represent different aspects of Chinese American community in the Cleveland area. The Erie Chinese Journal, one of the most popular and most accessible Chinese newspapers that circulate among Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburg Asian American communities in the past four years, serves as an example of how ethnic media is managed and sustained on daily basis and how it creates and represents a community. Many students were deeply impressed by Madame Pu Ying’s optimism, high-level energy, and perseverance, which to them represent the pioneering spirit of many first-generation immigrants to the United States. The Asian Evergreen Apartment Building, the one and only Asian American seniors’ house in Cleveland, gathers many Asian Americans that settled in the United States in the early and mid twentieth century. Their diverse cultural, national, and regional background provides the students a glimpse of the diasporic and multi-settlement experience of Asian Americans and the fast growth of Asian American population in Northeast Ohio. After our meeting with some of the senior residents, two students who speak Mandarin and Vietnamese immediately expressed interest in collecting oral history there and sought contact information for further arrangement. Our visit to Tzu Chi was an eye-opening experience to all of the students. None of the eighteen students had ever heard about Tzu Chi Foundation before. Neither had they thought about the relationship between Buddhist belief and social service movement. After learning about the origin of Tzu Chi Foundation and its involvement in international charity events, a couple of students suggested that the Foundation should be introduced to Oberlin students and asked about doing a winter or summer internship with the Foundation. At the Tink Holl Food Market, the students observed the material culture of Asian Americans and the existence of a wide range of cultural objects, from long-term to more recent ones, from cross-culturally-shared to more ethnically specific items. They came to understand how the ethnic market functions as a community space and “a home away from home.”
Aside from these four Chinese and Asian American sites, some students also stopped by the Cleveland Culture Gardens to see how the diversity of Ohio’s immigrant history is remembered and represented. As they saw the newly finished Indian Garden, they began to contemplate which group will be the next – Japanese? Taiwanese? Mexican? …
We sincerely hope that our one-day field trip is the beginning of a long-term partnership between Oberlin College and the Chinese American community in the Cleveland area. We hope that through our concerted and sustained efforts Asian America will have a fairer place in the past, present, and future of the Midwest, America’s Heartland.