The social issues and implications surrounding the skin tone of Asians will be the focus of a talk by author and scholar Paul Spickard, Friday, Sept. 28, at 3:30 p.m. in 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Hieronymus Lounge. The free, public lecture, 鈥淚s Lighter Better? Skin-Tone Discrimination Among Asian Americans,鈥� will explain and interpret the issue and its implications for Asian American women.
Spickard, professor of history, Asian American studies, and religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says color and facial features are issues that powerfully shape understandings of beauty and acceptance in Asian American communities.
鈥淓very Asian American has heard words like these,鈥� he says, 鈥溾�楧on鈥檛 go out in the sun, you鈥檒l get too dark,鈥� or 鈥楧on鈥檛 marry him, your kids will be too dark.鈥欌��
Spickard, who received his doctorate in history at UC Berkeley, says his research is based on participant observation in the cosmetics industry and on interviews in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, Thai, and South Asian American communities.
The lecture is sponsored by 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 history and sociology/anthropology departments and intercultural programs office. Refreshments will be served at 3:15p.m.