Critical Foundations
Where is Asia?
Explore and emphasize the diversity throughout Asia and the Asian diaspora.
Map of Asia
Introduction
Asia is the largest continent on earth and home to over 4.5 billion people—that’s more than half the world’s population! While most people may have heard of China, Japan, and Korea, Asia includes much more. Iran, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Taiwan, Pakistan, Syria, and Malaysia are also part of Asia. There are a variety of ethnic groups, histories, languages, landscapes, cultures, climates, and beliefs in every single country.
People from Asia have moved to places all over the world because of war and conflict, political exile, environmental challenges, economic opportunities, family, and other personal motivations. When teaching about Asian arts and cultures, it’s important to emphasize the diversity that exists throughout Asia and the Asian diaspora in order to counter reductive assumptions and stereotypes.
Teaching and Learning Strategies
How can we incorporate lessons on the geography of Asia into different subject areas? What are some simple ways we can support students in increasing their familiarity with the region?
- If you are teaching about an artwork, event (current or historical), or story based in Asia, incorporate a class discussion about the region. If you are learning about an artist or a historical figure from Asia or of Asian descent, take some time to learn about where they are from and how this background informs their work.
- You can start off by looking at a world map with your students, locating the continent of Asia. Then look at regional maps or maps of individual countries and cities to better understand the varied geography of the region.
Introduce the idea and term “diaspora,” the voluntary or forced movement, migration, or scattering of people and communities away from an established or ancestral homeland to new regions of the world. People of Asian backgrounds and heritage thrive as part of a global community beyond continental Asia, and their experiences add further nuance, complexity, and richness to Asian cultural identities. Emphasizing concepts of diaspora and diversity helps to expand our understanding of Asian cultures and prevents limiting them to a single continent or region of the world. It also counters notions of cultural authenticity and inauthenticity by underscoring that cultures are dynamic and ever evolving and can change or be adapted in different places and over time without diluting their integrity or meaning.
When teaching about Asian arts and cultures in your classroom, remember that this can encompass the experiences of people whose backgrounds include central, East, South, Southeast, and west Asian, multiethnic or multiracial, and diasporic identities. It is important to respect and listen to the way individuals and communities choose to identify themselves, and to avoid reducing people’s identities and cultures to generalizations and stereotypes.