Guest guest Posted August 2, 2000 Report Share Posted August 2, 2000 It is my understanding that the term, " oriental " , is considered a pejorative amongst academics and educated Asians. In the Portland yellow pages, only three asian owned businesses use the word Oriental in their name. I have recently heard a number of commentators on both radio and TV commenting about this specific issue and the apparent total disregard by americans. In Portland, 80% of all business with oriental in the name are owned by non asians. Does any one have any insight on this issue? It has not escaped my notice that the naming of Acupuncture schools is a very visible exception to this tendency in academia. Is this just vacuous political correctness? Or does oriental carry connotations similar to words used to describe jews and blacks that we wouldn't dare name our businesses after. I bring this up, because as we proceed towards the development of doctoral programs, we may wish to consider whether the degree should use the term oriental (DOM, OMD). I have a master's degree in OM myself. I would have been happy with a master's in what some academics call TEAM (traditional east asian medicine). It doesn't matter to me what I am called. It may matter to our public image and political support, especially as Asian americans grow in number and power. what's the deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 2, 2000 Report Share Posted August 2, 2000 Dear Group, Our school named its degree " Master of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine " in order to avoid the term " Oriental " , which was felt to be culturally insensitive. Julie Chambers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 2, 2000 Report Share Posted August 2, 2000 ORIENTAL pertains to things of the East whereas OCCIDENTAL pertains to things of the West. Rather than being politically incorrect, I believe they are old-fashioned. There is a certain elegance to these terms as geographical denotations. PC always rears its homogenizing head these days and in my own community the terms Hispanic / Latino / Chicano / La Raza etc. have become contentious nomens that no one in this diverse group can agree upon. During the Civil War, the term BLACK was common. Then this became NEGRO which means " black " , but fell out of use and was replaced by BLACK which has now become passe and has been replaced with the term AFRICAN-AMERICAN. G. Cordova - herb-t Wednesday, August 02, 2000 9:45 AM a pejorative? It is my understanding that the term, " oriental " , is considered a pejorative amongst academics and educated Asians. In the Portland yellow pages, only three asian owned businesses use the word Oriental in their name. I have recently heard a number of commentators on both radio and TV commenting about this specific issue and the apparent total disregard by americans. In Portland, 80% of all business with oriental in the name are owned by non asians. Does any one have any insight on this issue? It has not escaped my notice that the naming of Acupuncture schools is a very visible exception to this tendency in academia. Is this just vacuous political correctness? Or does oriental carry connotations similar to words used to describe jews and blacks that we wouldn't dare name our businesses after. I bring this up, because as we proceed towards the development of doctoral programs, we may wish to consider whether the degree should use the term oriental (DOM, OMD). I have a master's degree in OM myself. I would have been happy with a master's in what some academics call TEAM (traditional east asian medicine). It doesn't matter to me what I am called. It may matter to our public image and political support, especially as Asian americans grow in number and power. what's the deal? Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 6, 2000 Report Share Posted August 6, 2000 This has been batted around for years, or decades. Do any of these stores cal themselves East Asian or even Asian? Most times is in Chinese, Korean or Japanese. It is usually Oriental when it is inclusive of all Asian cultures. College academics in Asian studies courses continue to hair shirt themselves on this non issue and browbeat everyone associated with the colleges into accepting their terms. This is the norm. I have found that the only people judgemental about the word Oriental are those who want to advance their own agenda of segregation by education. Ask anyone else who is Asian born or even American born Asian not in an Asian Studies class and you will get something similar to " How about dem Mets? " This is only my opinion from lengthy observation. I might be wrong. Why don't we ask some of our older Asian teachers if it means anything to them? They purportedly had direct exposure to the outrageous negativity of the word. There was recently a lengthy discussion on this issue in the AOBTA realm, but it seemed that once it was discovered that I didn't agree with their decisions and asked people to think outside the box the question was formed in, I was told that I didn't have an opinion they wanted to listen to. Ah, the tolerence of the PC. Sorry if I seem shell shocked on this issue. I just have yet to see a better word that brings non-biased recognition of what we actually do. David Molony << It is my understanding that the term, " oriental " , is considered a pejorative amongst academics and educated Asians. In the Portland yellow pages, only three asian owned businesses use the word Oriental in their name. I have recently heard a number of commentators on both radio and TV commenting about this specific issue and the apparent total disregard by americans. In Portland, 80% of all business with oriental in the name are owned by non asians. Does any one have any insight on this issue? It has not escaped my notice that the naming of Acupuncture schools is a very visible exception to this tendency in academia. Is this just vacuous political correctness? Or does oriental carry connotations similar to words used to describe jews and blacks that we wouldn't dare name our businesses after. I bring this up, because as we proceed towards the development of doctoral programs, we may wish to consider whether the degree should use the term oriental (DOM, OMD). I have a master's degree in OM myself. I would have been happy with a master's in what some academics call TEAM (traditional east asian medicine). It doesn't matter to me what I am called. It may matter to our public image and political support, especially as Asian americans grow in number and power. what's the deal? >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 7, 2000 Report Share Posted August 7, 2000 , acuman1@a... wrote: > This has been batted around for years, or decades. Do any of these stores cal > themselves East Asian or even Asian? No, but the point is that the term Oriental appears to be one that is avoided by Asian and most other business owners, as well as most politicians and academics. Whether this is a reasonable issue from a philosophical or historical point of view, it should be noted that the many of your patients may personally hold these views. I usually refer to TCM myself because it types easy. Maybe CM if I want to be broader. I do think that those who are described by a term have the right to decide what is or is not offensive. But I do not think the government has the right to regulate offensive speech. However, if this is offensive to patients in particular, then as healers, we perhaps have a higher calling than partisan politics. In this case, the " politically correct " approach may also be an economically sound decision, as well. You know, Dave, I can't help but wonder if the continual lack of support for our profession by the Democratic party is in some way related to a general perception of the profession as culturally insensitive, bad for the environment & endangered species, unconcerned about chinese labor abuses and contamination of consumer products. Coincidentally, these are all traditional Democrat issues. You have told me that it is much easier to lobby republicans for issues of professional concern than democrats and blame the special interests, such as pharmaceutical companies. While this is no doubt partially true, perhaps if we can clean up our image, we might be able to lobby both sides of the aisle with more success. Clearly so-called new democrats are supporters of trade with China, but with proper humans rights, etc. While Dubya might get elected this fall, I wouldn't count on another republican congress, so I wouldn't put all my eggs in the laissez faire basket just yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 7, 2000 Report Share Posted August 7, 2000 In a message dated 8/7/00 3:07:47 AM, herb-t writes: << No, but the point is that the term Oriental appears to be one that is avoided by Asian and most other business owners, as well as most politicians and academics. >> In this case, Asian should also not be used. As the cycles of PC cruise along and this absurdity passes into obscurity as it should, and does so with the same cycles, mostly on the west coast, where PC seems to be de rigeur. There is times when it seems to become a wave, but never quite acheives white water (no pun here) mainly because there is no actual substance to it. Once again, ask the Asian community that have yet to be indoctrinated in PC schools. No one who isn't actually trained and looking for something to complain about actually says anything. If there was better nomenclature, it would have been changed years ago because of OM people's basic bent toward PC, as it is. Put both the minimal negative along with no satisfactory substitute on the horizon and you have your answer. The same one we have dealt with for at least 2 decades now. Whether this is a reasonable issue from a philosophical or historical point of view, it should be noted that the many of your patients may personally hold these views. How many have actually had complaints from paying patients? David Molony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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