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3 Regions Far East Southeast Asia Indian Subcontinent.png|200px|right|thumb|If defined as the people who usually refer to themselves as Asian Americans, Asia consists of ]] Asian people or commonly "Asian" indicate a people original to and have biological heritage in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. In common English parlance, the term Asian is often used to indicate people from the eastern parts of Asia. It typically includes the following countries:

Although the main use of the term Asian in everyday English is to describe people, in one way or another, when describing objects or concepts from Asia, the term Asian is usually understood to be more loosely defined, albeit perhaps still not fully synchronous with its geographic definition. In different parts of the world, who is deemed to be "Asian" varies significantly (see below).

With the above definition, the term "Asian" classifies around four billion people worldwide, more than 60 percent of the world population and including two countries with the largest populations, People's Republic of China and Republic of India. It therefore includes the largest single ethnic group in the world, Han Chinese ethnic group numbering over 1.3 billion people and the country of India with 1.1 billion people respectively (though with many ethnic groups).

Practical definition

Who is deemed Asian anywhere in the world or categorizing people by ethnicity is done purely on physical appearance. If a person looks "Asian," he or she is considered "Asian person" without any regard to other characteristics such as culture, clothing etc.

"Asian" in Western countries

'Asian' in UK and Anglophone Africa

In the United Kingdom and certain parts of Anglophone Africa, especially East Africa, the term "Asian", though it can be used to refer to the continent of Asia as a whole, is more usually associated specifically with people and cultures whose origin lies in South Asia. These countries are namely, modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Those of East Asian origin such as the Chinese or Koreans (historically, and in popular use, currently, referred to as Oriental in the UK and the Commonwealth) are usually not included in the term. This is reflected in the "ethnic group" section of UK census forms and other government paperwork, which treat "Asian" and "Chinese" as separate (see British Asian). The term Desi is sometimes used by South Asians in the UK and Africa to refer to another South Asian person in a manner that avoids any allusion to the specific state of origin.

Many Chinese South Africans dislike the label 'Asian', which they associate with being Indian or South Asian.

"Asian" in Canada

In the United States and Canada, since approximately 1990, "Asian" in colloquial speech has been used to refer to people from China, Japan, Korea and other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, although it could also include South Asian Americans. "Asian" is often considered a more polite (or, some would say, more politically correct) alternative to "Oriental". This is partially due to the perception amongst some in the academic field that the term "Orientalism" reflects a long outdated Eurocentric world view, in which Europe is occidental (western), and Asia is oriental (eastern) - with West Asia being the "Near East" (or "Middle East") and East and South Asia being the "Far East" (the concepts of "near" and "far" being measured from Europe).

To avoid confusion that sometimes occurs, the term "East Asian" is used to denote people from Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and Korea. These relatively formal clarifications are used only when it is necessary to make a distinction between the groups. In recent years, South Asians, often erroneously labeled collectively as 'Indian', now more often see themselves as a distinct part of Asian America.

'Asian' in the United States

For purposes of the U.S. Census, the term Asian means people who have origins in the original people of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent. Respondents can also report ancestry, such as Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Pakistani, Laotian, Thai, Bhutanese, and so on, including "Other Asian". Someone reporting these ancestries but no race will be classified as Asian. Turks, Iranians, Arabs of the Mashriq, Israelis, Central Asians, and the indigenous peoples of Siberia, are "Asians" in the continental sense, but are not currently classified as "Asian" in the U.S. Census.

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind 261 U.S. 204 (1923) was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, a native of India, could not be a naturalized citizen of the United States, despite the fact that a number anthropologists had defined members of the Indian subcontinent as being members of the Caucasian race. Currently, in American parlance Caucasian American does not include people with origins from the Indian Subcontinent. The ruling followed a decision in Takao Ozawa v. United States where the same court had ruled that a light-skinned native of Japan could not count as "white", because "White" meant "Caucasian", establishing White and Caucasian to be interchangeable terms for a single people of whom neither Japanese Americans nor Indian Americans are included. Although the restrictions on immigration and naturalization of East and South Asians were later repealed, the practice of classifying East and South Asians in an "Asian" category, but West Asians (whose immigration and naturalization was never restricted) in the "White" category probably has its roots in this period.

When is a person not Asian?

Despite the fact that these people are technically 'Asians' by geographical location on the map, they have generally not been labeled as such in parts of or in some cases all of Western society. However, in many occasions, the term "Asian" is also used as a description of certain cultures.

'West Asians'

The term "West Asian" is now sometimes used to refer to people from Middle Eastern nations. Note that while Middle Easterners rarely evoke the term "Asian" in most western societies, the name Asia most likely derives from ancient Assyrian, and originally referred to the regions now called "West Asia" and "Central Asia", from the Sinai Peninsula to Persia, and Asia Minor to Arabia.

The term "West Asia" is popular with some who argue the term Middle East is a Eurocentric moniker denoting the in-between regions of Europe and East Asia. In East Asia, Western Asians like Iranians, Arabs, and the Central Asians of the former Soviet Republics are not referred to as "Asian".

Note that in Australia, the definition of "Asian" includes people from the continent of Asia as a whole for cultural, study, and government purposes.

'South Asians'

The United Kingdom and Anglo-phone Africa are two places in Western societies where the word `Asian' is primarily used to identify people from the Indian Sub-Continent. South Asians are usually not seen as "Asian" by appearance in North America in much the same way that East Asians are not seen as "Asians" by appearance in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. Of course, in Asia, the word "Asian" has a more localized definition when describing people by face, and is more inclusive when describing Asians by culture.

Orientals and the Orient

The term "Oriental" (from the Latin word for "Eastern") was originally used in Europe in reference to the Near East. It was later extended to the rest of Asia, but came to refer to East Asians in the 19th and 20th century US, where most Asians were Chinese (and later Japanese and Filipino). By the late 20th century, the term had gathered associations in North America with older attitudes now seen as outmoded, and was replaced with the term "Asian" as part of the updating of much language concerning social identities, which critics have derided as political correctness. Elsewhere in the English speaking world, "Oriental" does not have such associations (except perhaps in Australia and amongst those exposed to the US use of the term).

Asian Russians (Kalmyks, Tuvans, and others)

Most of Russia's huge territory is in Asia, though the majority of its population is in Europe and ethnically Slavic. Depending on context, Russian people may be considered European or mixed according to their individual ethnic nationality, ancestry, or appearance; or may be considered European or Asian based on their current or recent place of residence; or may be considered European or Asian just as citizens of a state extending into Europe or Asia. The word Eurasian is also often used to describe Russia's position in the world. See also Transcontinental nation.

When "Asian" is used as a shorthand for "East Asian" or "South Asian", Russians of course are usually not included; one of the exceptions are Kalmyks, the only Buddhist Asians living in East Europe in the republic of Kalmykia, which is a federal subject of the Russian Federation.

Pacific Islanders

Sometimes, Pacific Islanders, such as Native Hawaiians or Samoans, who do not technically belong to the continent of Asia, may be classified or "clumped together" with the Asians as a group, often in censuses, surveys or studies. Thus, occasionally the term "Asians and Pacific Islanders" or "Asia/Pacific" may be used. However, in the 2000 US Census, many Pacific Islanders did not consider themselves the same social identity as Asians, and classified themselves separately.

"Asian" in Asia

Probably the best answer to the question "Who is an Asian?" is "who calls themselves Asians?". Russians, "Southwest Asians" and Middle Easterners may not often consider themselves Asians. There are many conflicting dynamics in regards to very specific identity affiliation. The only people who actually call themselves Asians are the original people from the East Asia, Southeast Asia, and (to certain degrees except in the U.K.) Indian Subcontinent .

See also

External links

Ethnic groups in Asia | Asian people

Asiat | Ασία#Φυλές και Άνθρωποι της Ασίας | Asiático | アジア系民族 | Asiático | Asian | Asiat

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Asian (people)".

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