Time Asia has a very interesting article about the surge in plastic surgery in Asia. One of the more interesting aspects of all this surgery is that people are trying to look more Caucasian:
The culturally loaded issue today is the number of Asians looking to remake themselves to look more Caucasian. It’s a charge many deny, although few would argue that under the relentless bombardment of Hollywood, satellite TV, and Madison Avenue, Asia’s aesthetic ideal has changed drastically… Asians are increasingly asking their surgeons for wider eyes, longer noses and fuller breasts — features not typical of the race.
But they’re also doing surgery all over the body. Calf reshaping/reduction is very popular and “in China, Korea and Indonesia, where virginity is highly prized, young women go in for hymen reconstruction in time for their wedding night.” Trippy stuff. And be sure to look at the before and after pictures.
As an aside, I just came across a blog called Gene Expression, via Technorati. They’ve got a discussion going about the Time article. But they’ve got some other posts that clearly need to be chimed in on by some Black voices. Like the ‘Jigger’ (wtf?) comment in the Nigerians in Tokyo post. And definitely on the Contributions of Black Americans post. And I’m sure my buddy Kamau will have a thing or two or three to say about the ‘Only blacks can teach black history?‘ entry. I’m too tired now, so I’ll save my input for later on today.
Without getting to deep into the issue regarding Blacks being solely qualified to teach Black history, of course, I would argue against that premise. However, I would stridently argue against anyone (Black, white, or other) teaching Black history without proper context, perspective or frame of reference. In other words, Black history should be taught with Blacks being the center of their own reality. The current manner in which Black history is taught by most historians is entirely from a Eurocentric frame of reference. This is one that makes Black history and experiences subject to white interpretations of what is right, wrong, good, valuable, etc. An easy example of this mode of thinking is the attempt to make Lincoln responsible for the “freedom of the slaves” or that Greece and Rome form the center of classical thought. Blacks must always remember that WE form the center of our reality and any of our history taught from a perspective divergent from that idea is subject to great scrutiny. Molefi Kete Asante articulates this point quite well. http://www.asante.net/articles/White-Professor.html
Further, unlike many of my white counterparts speaking about Africentrism, I do not view Eurocentrism as bunk, in theory. Indeed, Eurocentrism places European cultures, peoples, ideologies, etc. at the center of debate, often at the expense of other cultures. That is their right. However, perceving history through their own prism is not the sole divine, right of Europeans. The attacks upon Africentric scholars are rarely based upon poor scholarship or even upon false history. Rather, they tend to be based upon the mere fact that these scholars have the gall to approach history from a different perspective; one that does not glorify European achievement but places it in context as it relates to others. That is not to say that Europeans have not created anything, but that Europeans have often taken credit for the achievements of others, but that in their advancement they have abused the rights of others in the name of “progress”, and that other groups have contributed to the advancement of humanity. Whites can teach Black history, but must first shed their racism and race-based ideologies in order to place it in the proper perspective.