Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity

by Vijay Prashad

Selected as One of the Village Voice 's Favorite 25 Books of 2001

In this landmark work, historian Vijay Prashad refuses to engage the typical racial discussion that matches people of color against each other while institutionalizing the primacy of the white majority. Instead he examines more than five centuries of remarkable historical evidence of cultural and political interaction between Blacks and Asians around the world, in which they have exchanged cultural and religious symbols, appropriated personas and lifestyles, and worked together to achieve political change.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Race, Sociology, Theory, Politics, Asian American

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Vijay Prashad is the executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Darker Nations: A Biography of the Short-Lived Third World and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. His most recent book is Red Star Over the Third World. He writes regularly for Frontline, The Hindu, Alternet and BirGun.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know. I picked up the book thinking that it was going to be about how African/diaspora and Asian cultures have interacted with each other. Instead, it seemed more like how South Asian culture has influenced and been co-opted by Jamaican and African-American culture--as though these things are one-way streets. It was interesting in that it taught me a lot of things I didn't know, but I thought that if one culture influences the other the opposite must also be true. And where were the examples of those exchanges?

[Zefyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

To respect the fetish of culture assumes that one wants to enshrine it in the museum of humankind rather than find within it the potential for liberation or for change. We'd have to accept homophobia and sexism, class cruelty and racism, all in the service of being respectful to someone's perverse definition of a culture. For comfortable liberals a critique of multiculturalism is close to heresy, but for those of us who have to tussle both with the cruelty of white supremacy and with the melancholic torments of minoritarianism, the critique comes with ease. The orthodoxy of below bears less power than that from above, but it is unbearable nonetheless. We have already begun to grow our own patchwork, defiant skins.

These defiant skins come under the sign of the polycultural, a provisional concept grounded in antiracism rather than in diversity. Polyculturalism, unlike multiculturalism, assumes that people live coherent lives that are made up of a host of lineages—the task of the historian is not to carve out the lineages but to make sense of how people live culturally dynamic lives. Polyculturalism is a ferocious engagement with the political world of culture, a painful embrace of the skin and all its contradictions.

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The problem of the twenty-first century, then, is the problem of the color blind. This problem is simple: it believes that to redress racism, we need to not consider race in social practice, notably in the sphere of governmental action. The state, we are told, must be above race. It must not actively discriminate against people on the basis of race in its actions...If we do not live by 1896's Plessy v. Ferguson, we continue to live by its principle axiom—that "race" is a formal and individual designation and not a historical and social one. That is, we are led to believe that racism is a prejudicial behavior of one party against another rather than the coagulation of socioeconomic injustice against groups. If the state acts without prejudice (that is, if it acts equally), then that is proof of the end of racism. Unequal socioeconomic conditions of today, based as they are on racisms of the past and of the present, are thereby rendered untouchable by the state. Color-blind justice privatizes inequality and racism, and it removes itself from the project of redistributive and anti-racist justice. This is the genteel racism of our new millennium.

[Nimish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is largely a sociological history book, discussing various race relations.

But, in the middle of it is this amazing criticism of multiculturalism and the idea that we aren't (and can't) be strictly segregated into arbitrarily defined 'pure' culture bubbles: that's just not how culture works. We borrow from, adapt, reinvent and change as people, and trying to define strict cultural bounderies is counterproductive.

I'm still digesting all the thoughts in here, but I love it, and it seems to echo so much of the shortcomings of multiculturalism I've seen myself.

[Ami Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book focuses on the concept of Polyculturalism. Which is like anti-racist dépendent arising, to take from Buddhism, in the sense of different cultures are interconnected and dépendent on one another for their existence and flourshing - they are not separate, more over, no culture is pure. Every culture whether is wants to or not will bleed into the other once they meet, a process of change and becoming-other occurs. Vijay Prashad developed polyculturalism against the Libéral concept of multiculturalism which treats cultures as separate entities that must be kept pure without addressing systemic racism.

This was written in 2001 before the mass cultural output of the internet, but it shows the blurring of lines of cultures between Africain and Asian people who intersect because of colonialism, slavery/indenturship, and migration. It goes over the history of pre-colonial times, how our different cultures interacted; the impact of colonialism and movement of Africain and Asian bodies to the Américas, Caribbean, and Africa, and the post-colonial period.

It shows how Africain and Asian people have worked together in multitudes of ways for libération and création of new culture. How White supremacy has pit us against each other, but whilst it does so there are many moments of connection and resistance.

It made me think of my own place and the cultures that intersect through me, especially with the internet, how I’m not just solely British or Asian, but a product of Black British, Asian British, Queer, Japanese, Américain, French, Black Radical Feminist, Dalit Feminist, South Asian, Chinese, Marxist, etc thought and cultures. They inform how I think, dress and style, the food I enjoy, what I like to do, who I interact with, my music taste, etc. As a result, what kind of groups I’m in and what forms of organising I’m interested in, such as QTIBPOC groups

We are polymorphous and there is no origin of something as it itself was a flow of different social formations that lead to it. It takes a very rhizomatic model situating process, change, becoming-other, and the interdependentness of things - one where there is no family tree, but rhizomes that connect us without us knowing.

I really enjoyed the sections where they focused on Coolies in the Carribean, Bruce Lee - Black Panthers - Maoism, and Garveyism - Asians - and Malcolm X. How not just cultures were being formed but new thoughts pollinating one another without being aware and the solidarities between Africain and Asian people that is unfortunately not spoken of.

Ofcourse, it brings into question where appropriation, appréciation, and polyculturalism play in the âge of the internet. There’s a term called Creolisation which works for the context of the Caribbeans, but maybe can be developed further with polyculturalism.

[jq · Rating 4 out of 5]

i downloaded this to find out more about how kung fu inspired hip hop culture -- i learned a lot about how african and asian culture has interacted and combined throughout the ages and it really was fascinating and i learned a lot and it introduced some really interesting ideas, but just as the book touches on hip hop it ends :(

[Ahnna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was incredibly overwhelming for it to be only around 150 pages of genuine content. It makes me wonder if it was the first of its kind to go into this much detail about Afro-Asian cultural exchanges. I've noticed books like this (reminds me of Colonizer's Model of the World that is also very short but dense and broad all at the same time) tend to be broad to give other authors a chance to go into more detail about specific issues in this field since it is a new historical subfield. Prashad mentions so many golden gems for like a millisecond. Africans and Asians and their relation to urbanism, capitalism, and communism are like 7 books in one and he gave us like max 40 pages on it. So, I'm a little more optimistic and hoping theres better books out there and this just was a book to get the ball rolling in the Afro-Asian conversation.

[KT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This captivating book takes a polycultural approach in examining the interchange between Black and Asian culture and how they have engaged, interacted and influenced one another including the intertwined struggles of African and Asian independence from colonialism and anti-imperialism (e.g. Ho Chi Minh in Harlem), as well as the eponymous practice of martial arts (e.g. Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard)

It also provides a convincing and scathing criticism of multiculturalism (imperialism), which bounds "self-enclosed" cultures and distancing them from one other under the pretense of diversity, ignoring the historical reality that cultures overlap and cultural borders are actually often porous

[BubbyY]

This book was too much for me. Made it to about page 6 and decided that it was jumping way too far back in history too soon for me to ride. I don't read enough history books, perhaps. I found another of his books, Uncle Swami: South Asians in America Today, (which I didn't realize was by the same author 'til I set to mark this incomplete).

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selections worked really well in a class I taught for first-year university students. The immediacy and vividness of the writing, and the combination of relevance and recent history they didn't know, worked great.

[Rindge Leaphart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sad sad face. I thought this book had so much potential. In general, a let down. There are some interesting tidbits here and there, but the book is unstructured and at the end of they day I am not sure I can accurately describe what the book is about.

[Jakob Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of really cool anecdotes, but also several sections that kinda fell flat. The sections on African- American relations with Japan and Ethiopia and Asian influences on the Nation of Islam were very good.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compelling choice to bring black and Asian histories together. A little wide ranging.

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Anthropology 101 - Fall 2019

[Albert Zhou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the idea of polyculturalism. As always, I have learnt a lot from this book by Vijay.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested to read about how cultures and people mix and shape new culture in unexpected ways, and this book definitely hits that sweet spot. Culture is alive and evolving all the time and taking influences from all kinds of unexpected places. Historically of course this is true too. The author makes a good argument for why nativist and originalist points of view are silly. Most of the examples here are about East Indies and West Indies influencing each other and the wider world throughout history and into the present day. It’s a fun perspective especially compared to Said thinking about the orient vs the occident thru mostly old novels.

Because of when this book was written, and that some decades have passed, it’s kind of funny and sad some of the hopes and ideas in here. Like that the Chinese will be good for oppressed non-white people and movements particularly in Africa (as a counter to the ‘west’). And the description of some of the progressive and leftist movements’ trajectories… I remember my AsAm10 class freshman year at Berkeley we got a guest lecture from Richard Aoki, a founding member of the black panther party who is written about in this book. I learned years later that he was a narc for the fbi the whole time! So yes, funny and sad the hopes in this book that non white people will politically work together across borders against white supremacy.

I guess my take away is that this book is insightful but naive. One more thing from this book for me is the reminder that we should use ganja as the word much more, rather than marijuana vs cannibus

Edit- bumped this up to four stars since I do still think about it a lot. I especially think about Ho Chi Minh going to hear Marcus Garvey give talks in Harlem… like make Lin Manuel Miranda play with story and give us a show please

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prashad discusses the historical instances of solidarity between Asian and African people during times of political and social oppression, both domestically and abroad. He also discusses the ways in which Asian cultural concepts integrated into what we generally view as African cultural concepts, i.e. ideas within the Rastafarian life and how kung fu became revered by African Americans, bringing them a sense of community with kung fu as the backbone. I see now how the Wu-Tang Clan came about, from a historical and cultural perspective. Prashad's message here is of solidarity between people of color in order to gain freedom from oppression, not just working towards achieving small victories for individual groups, but working together to achieve major social transformation.

From this book, I'm glad to learn of this eye-opening and ironic quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem."

[Tripmastermonkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is fun! and is a good attempt to show that cultural interaction/fusion/change is about power and struggle and actual meeting of peoples and appreciation of beauty. some of prashad's writings on hip hop in the book seem to stretch his argument a bit- his discussion of the caribbean is way more better.

[The Blaxpat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was assigned this book years ago when in Gary Okihiro's class, but this was the first time I read the book cover to cover. Also, the first time I read it, I had never been to Asia. The book is brilliant and confronts some of the global issues that bring people of African and Asian origin together and highlights lens of local dynamics that color our interactions in urban America.

[Shan · Rating 3 out of 5]

one chapter in and i quite like it. borrowed by khurram and me from our friend lewis after breakfast conversations about how asian folks and black folks seem to be such haters when it comes to each other. why, brothers? why? we'll see what this book says about the love/hate we share.

[b bb bbbb bbbbbbbb · Rating 1 out of 5]

nice ideas and articulation, poorly supported by the (overly stretched) given examples. strangely apologetic about some things (such as slavery before colonial america).

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

fluffy - like prashad wrote it all the way through and never looked at it again

[sonny singh suchdev · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little heavy of the academic language, but a super important historical documentation of connections between black and asian diasporas... did you know dreadlocks came from india?

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! very inspiring to hear about all the cross-cultural connections that don't have to center just around whiteness.

[Louie · Rating 5 out of 5]

p*ta!

unsaon ni pagbasa????!!!

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

good critique of the concept of multi-culturalism. develops the concept of "polyculturalism". traces tactics of racism thru various historical moments.

[Sumayyah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eye-opening and informative.

[James Theodorakopoulos · Rating 3 out of 5]

think this book was a good book, but not the best.
ive read better before

[Sean Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-Read for comps. NOW I get it. Polyculturalism--I do like your ideas.