Asking Asian profs for LORs?

Narratologist
Sat, 18 Aug 2012 20:32:15 +0000

I have not found “oriental” to be an offensive term to asians from the far east (in fact, I have heard some of them use the term).





Asians among themselves refer to themselves as orientals.



Regardless, “Orientals” remains outdated and politically incorrect. I doubt you would use other terms - the N-word and its derivatives, for instance - that are readily circulated amongst certain minority communities. To be fair, I don’t think the OP’s initial post was intentionally pejorative; ignorant, yes, but not necessarily malicious. b@r!um’s post identifies the crux of the matter: the OP mistakenly conflated race with culture. For those interested in the topic, check out Robert G. Lee’s Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture and, of course, Edward Said’s Orientalism.



How do you appeal to a professor if you’re not doing research or any projects with them, but only taking a class or two with them?



Put simply, schmooze.