I know… what an introduction, right? Well, let me say it’s not really that bizarre once you get where I’m coming from.

I’m Vanessa Chu, the fingers behind this little blogging space called “colour coded” – a place where I hope to open up the discussion of race and it’s intersections with politics, identity, media and science. 

I must admit that although I have thought about this topic a lot and have many ideas to share, I realize that the topic itself is so vast and has been so little discussed in the our every day lives in a critical manner that I find myself struggling with where to begin. So for starters, this blog will in itself be an experiment and exploration of how such a topic will develop in this open arena. I will try my best to introduce the topic and to introduce ways of discussing it through my background in Communication. 

So I guess before I begin delving into the topic at all, I should introduce myself and explain where I’m coming from and why I’ve started this blog. 

I think we all can be a scholar on the topic of race because we all struggle with our identity and all of us are racialized. We each have a unique understanding of race and how it has affected our lives. I guess, I just chose to study it. In 2007 I earned a MA in Media Studies from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada where I completed a thesis on race and biotechnology. This blog gives me the opportunity to not only share some of my thoughts and research on race, but allows me to open up a discussion with others about the topic, which I believe is fundamental to the interactions of individuals, communities and nations alike. Because of its’ salience in our every day lives, I think it warrants that we closely look at what race really means in our communities and how it has shaped our view of the world around us.

As a Chinese Canadian who was born and raised in Canada, I have always been keenly aware that my racial identity could never clearly be reconciled. This feeling of belonging and unbelonging was rooted in the divisions that race has created. Not completely chinese, though I look like one, neither white either, though I often identift myself with those who call themselves white, not brown enough it seems, and definitely not black I am told. So like so many who share this ambiguity, I became “a banana”, a description that was created by the Asian Canadian community to define itself in a country that although diverse has not yet developed the vocabulary to talk about racial identity in any clear way. So as a Chinese born Canadian (CBC), I am a hybrid with a yellow exterior wrapping a fleshy white interior, an identity I never liked and always wanted to shed, but could not. I never settled well with either yellow or white, a twin identity that never mixed, yet was never separated either. So having always questioned the legitimacy of my own identity, I started to look at race in a more structured and systematic way.

When I started seriously exploring the notion of race, I was presented with more questions than answers. What is race? How is it defined? Who defines it? Where did this idea come from? Is race real? How is race real? How does it affect our lives? How have I been racialized?  How does race shape our identities? How has race perpetuated in history? How has it perpetuated in our every day lives? What does it mean in science? How is race discussed in the media? How is race discussed in the various institutions of society? And how is race political? 

I hope to start a discussion based on these questions and to introduce some communication theory (which shares its discipline with history, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology and philosophy) that can help us slowly understand and see how the history of race continues to affect our every day understanding of individuals, communities, and institutions. 

So if you’re curious about the subject, I invite you to follow along and even participate! I’ve been mulling over this topic for some time, but I don’t believe great ideas come alone. I welcome questions, suggestions, thoughts, criticisms, links, and even blogs of your own!

Also, please check out the first ever Diversity Camp on Feb. 7, 2009 in Vancouver, BC Canada. Hopefully this blog can get the race discussion juices flowing and ready for barcamp diversity style!