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| Festival provides Asian
culture insight |
Ashley
Middleton
Multicultural Beat
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Chris Hill | The Appalachian A fashion show of traditional
Asian clothing was presented after the festivities Friday at “Asian
Invasion 2002.”
Chris Hill | The Appalachian Different aspects of Asian
customs were represented through performances Friday at “Asian
Invasion 2002.”
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“Asian Invasion
2002,” the Asian-American Student Association’s (ASA)
annual Asian Festival, was held Friday to present the different
cultures of Asia to the Appalachian State University campus.
Different aspects of Asian customs were represented
through performances, demonstrations and food.
“I think everybody here took home a little
piece of Asia,” President of ASA Gayathri Vijayagopalan said
Friday. “Even if it was just staying five minutes to see a
dance or sampling the food that’s available, you’re a
little bit more educated about the minority environment on the Appalachian
State campus, which I think is a great thing because often people
peg Appalachian [as not having] that much diversity. An event like
this shows you how much support there is for bringing more diversity
and more cultural events to campus.”
The Appalachian State Tae Kwon Do and Hokkaido
Club opened the festival with several martial arts demonstrations
from six of its members; some of the demonstrations involved audience
members. The Aikido Club also demonstrated their form of martial
arts; however, it was described as the “art of not attacking.”
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Two dances
from India were presented by a group of Indian female students.
Bhangra is a harvest celebration dance. Dandia is done with decorated
sticks called dandias, which are struck in rhythms while dancing.
Other presentations included the Japanese Club’s
short skit called “The Six Jizos and the Braided Hats,”
junior Stacy M. Wisdom’s song inspired by his recent trip to
Hong Kong and by Korean love poems.
After the festivities, a fashion show of traditional
Asian clothing was presented, as well as a small buffet of foods
from all over the continent.
Diversity came up as a concern among Asian students
as a minority on campus.
“If you came to the Asian Festival, you
would see that there is a very prominent Asian presence on campus,
but we’re just so small, on such a large campus, that you really
don’t see a lot of us,” said LeAnn S. Swanson Friday,
former ASA president and master of ceremonies for the event.
“The ASA when I first came up here, it was
the first year that we were actually a club and we had maybe 10,
15 members, and now it’s double that size. We have about 30
members now,” computer science major Yong Yang said after the
event.
Attendance was greater than expected. Approximately
200 people came out to the event.
“It was a good turnout,” said Phong
Yang, coordinator for “Asian Invasion 2002,” last Friday.
“There were a lot of people that showed up. I was really glad
that a lot cam because Appalachian’s not really diverse and
we try to do this every year to help them out. To teach Boone about
other cultures, mainly Asian because the Asian culture is really
diverse.”
Countries represented at the event included China,
Guam, India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.
The event was held in the Blue Ridge Ballroom
of W.H. Plemmons Student Union. |
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