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  • Conceptual Framework
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  • Conceptual Framework

    Organismic wholeness/interconnectedness, education/didacticism, family, rectification of names, humanism, balance, duty and shame are all central aspects of the Chinese World View. The Asianadian aims and Chinese World View are very similar. One of their aims is "to stand up against the distortions of history in Canada, stereotypes, economic exploitations and the general tendency towards injustice and inequality practiced on minority groups." The Asianadian presents many social issues such as sexism, prejudice, racism, etc. These tie in with the Chinese World View of producing wholeness and harmony within the society. Education and didactism are also prevalent among the issues of the Asianadian and the Chinese World View. Confuscianism played a great role in the Chinese World View because education was viewed as a tool for success in society. Although this magazine is an overseas publication, it still retained many of the facets of the Chinese World view.

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    How does the media organization affect social change in your locale?

    One of the aspects of the Chinese world-view is that of didactics. Confucianism highly emphasized education as an important aspect of life. This is seen in many aspects of Chinese Media. Charles Elliot ran a case study on press releases from the new China news agency. He noticed that many news values included a form of education. "Instructive: news that serves the function of providing 'useful information and promoting self-education.' Education is a primary intent (Elliot, 73)."

    Bobby Siu, one of the founders of Asianadian said that they saw the production of the Asianadian as the beginning of a social movement, similar to the Asian Americans' movement. The founders were also interested in creating a forum for Asian Canadians to speak out, and the magazine is also a good medium for sharing of ideas and insights. This is very similar to the market place of ideas that the 1st amendment was written as.

    The heart and soul of Asianadian was to educate the public about events pertaining to Asian Canadians. Also many of the articles dealt with at the time controversial issues. One example is the issue dealing with sexuality. While today sexuality may not seem a taboo issue, during the late 70's and early 80's it was. The disco era's ideas of free love was now gone. This was also an American view, which may or may not have been the view in Canada.

    The article I dig Asian chicks!, talked about how an Asian Canadian woman overheard a conversation about how these white men were into "Asian chicks." The men went about talking how Asian girls were a certain because of their culture. When she did confront the men, they perceived her not as an individual, but as a representation of a particular group which they had several false beliefs.

    This woman then goes off trying to explain to the reader that perhaps the men's views of Asian women were due to their perhaps short contact with Asians overseas. Perhaps their narrow minded view of women came from short contact during a War in an Asian country where the women were in the sex industry. She also explains her views on her self-image. The Asianadian creates a forum for the local Asian community to express ideas, opinions as well as share experiences. It also challenges the norms. In the same issue that dealt with sexuality, was an article on the movie The Deer Hunter how it tries to represent certain images of Asians as the truth. Education was the main goal of the Asianadian, educating the public about issues dealing with Asian Canadians.

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    How does the content of the product reflect the media organization?

    The staff at Asianadian had six goals that it wanted to accomplish in each issue. These were to find new dignity and pride in being Asian in Canada, to promote an understanding between Asian Canadians and other Canadians, to speak out against those conditions, individuals and institutions perpetuating racism in Canada, to stand up against the distortions of our history in Canada, stereotypes, economic exploitations, and the general tendency towards injustice and inequality practiced on minority groups, to provide a forum for Asian Canadian writers, artists, musicians, etc, and to finally promote unity by bridging the gap between Asians with roots in Canada and recent immigrants.

    These goals helped shape the type of articles found in Asianadian. Many of these ranged from breaking down stereotypes in the media, explaining the social aspects of a country going through political change, to promoting Asian artists. Another factor determining content was the staff itself. The leadership of the organization was based on a rotational basis. There were some key members who were active. Each member can be an editor depending on the issues of the magazine. Types of issues written about were determined by who the editor was at the time.

    Half of the original staff was made up of college students. These students wanted to make a difference in their world, and to educate the people about these problems was how they tried to make a difference. This magazine was also the first grass-roots magazine dedicated to Asians in Canada. Asianadian published poets and was able to get many first interviews with Asian celebrities. The goals of the Asianadian staff showed in the articles they wrote.

    Bobby Siu, one of the founding members relied in an email, "The magazine consisted of articles on Asian Canadians' experiences and how we viewed the world. These articles reflect well the mandate of the Asianadian Resources Workshop." The Asianadian Resources Workshop was the collective "like-minded Asian Canadians." This collective was not a company.

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