besea.n reads… East Side Voices
By Mai-Anh Peterson
It’s difficult to put into words how I felt when reading East Side Voices. To my knowledge, there has never been a book like this - one dedicated to the experiences of East and South East Asian people in Britain. For so long we have looked, with yearning, at the nonfiction titles coming out of the US, such as those of Cathy Park Hong, Eleanor Ty and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu. The fact that this was a historical first was a little daunting. As a British person of Vietnamese descent, I must admit that I felt somewhat apprehensive to read and review this book. What if I was disappointed? What if I didn’t feel seen? This was more than just another book in my list of 2021 reads. Its publication suddenly became about my whole identity, my whole sense of belonging in a country with which I have had a difficult relationship my entire life.
In the end, I needn’t have worried.
The immediate feeling of kinship I felt emanating from the pages as I turned them was, in a word, surprising.
I didn’t have many ESEA friends growing up – a couple here and there, but I didn’t see that many people who looked like me until I got to high school. I didn’t have a typical Vietnamese upbringing (whatever that means) – we had no family friends or relatives close by who were also Vietnamese, and so many of the cultural references and in-jokes that I have seen bandied about in Vietnamese American corners of the Internet go over my head. Like many, I have often felt fraudulent in my claim to ESEA heritage.
East Side Voices reminded me that there is no ‘typical’ narrative; the personal histories and identities nestled within its pages are unique to each contributor, although - comfortingly - there are elements that will resonate with many who read them.
Reading East Side Voices made me feel like I was reading pages written by my mates - and, even though I have had the pleasure of connecting with some of these very talented writers over the past 18 months, many of the contributors are indeed strangers to me. It is a privilege to have been awarded this window into their personal histories, their struggles, their family ties, the joys of their personal journeys and discoveries.
Certain essays chimed particularly recognisable chords with me. In ‘Bag For Life’ by Gemma Chan, I was immediately transported to my mother’s kitchen, where, alongside the stacks of takeaway boxes-turned-Tupperware, individually wrapped toothpicks and pilfered sauce packets, there is a stash of very old plastic bags, neatly folded into squares.
The fact that there is a glimmer of resemblance between this anecdotal snippet from someone who frequently walks the red carpet and my own upbringing reminds me that we may all have shared pasts in some way or another, no matter our present or future.
In fellow actor Katie Leung’s essay ‘Getting Into Character’, she describes her refusal to play a character who was assigned a Chinese accent for seemingly no good reason. Her persistence paid off, and she played the character with a British accent. I was reminded of some recent work my mother had done – a voiceover piece for a well-known NGO – for which the producers had requested somebody whose voice had a ‘foreign twang.’ They didn’t tell her why.
East Side Voices was also illuminating for me on subjects I had felt hopelessly uneducated about. From the complexities of the multilayered and often politicised ethnic groups of Malaysia, illuminated by Tash Aw, to June Bellebono’s recollection of Taungbyone Pwe, a a spirit festival in Myanmar offering a rare safe space for many trans people, it shines a light on cultural and political nuances understood by so few of us, but which have had a key impact on the lives of many ESEA people in Britain. Something I was especially glad to see was that the collection doesn’t rely heavily on the trope of being ‘British Born’, a nomenclature I have always been wary of by its suggestion that birthright is a condition for true acceptance in a society - to me, the implied opposing dichotomy of British Born vs. Not British Born smacks of the ‘foreign born’ spiel often echoed in political discourse in the worst corners of right wing Twitter.
I myself am not British Born - neither is my mother, nor my sister, information that seemed irrelevant, frankly, until I was forced to confront the reality of the recently introduced Nationality and Borders Bill, which will allow the government the power to quietly strip citizenship without notification, in some cases without the possibility of appeal, essentially creating a system of tiered citizenship wherein the status of ‘foreign born’ citizens and their children becomes precarious - a privilege, rather than a right. The pieces in this anthology are penned by a wide range of people across so many diasporas that it makes you question what being ‘British’ really means and, ultimately, that it instils within you some inexplicable, desperate desire to safeguard the diverse and multilayered communities that have been built in the UK through centuries of immigration. The collection doesn’t shy away from racism, detailed keenly in Zing Tsjeng’s essay, ‘Vector of Disease’, which explores Tsjeng’s personal experiences with racism in Britain, its long history, and the 179% increase in reported London hate crimes around the start of the first UK lockdown, as researched by besea.n. Racism and Othering are as much part of our experience as food, the creative arts and family traditions, yet many are reluctant to engage with it.
For ESEA people, East Side Voices is a testament to the little piece of Britain that our communities have carved out for ourselves. It reminds us that we are not alone. For all readers - not just ESEA people - this book is a fantastic insight into the experiences of what it means to be ESEA in a country that has by and large overlooked us. May East Side Voices be the first of many works dedicated to our peoples, our cultures, our struggles, and our triumphs.
East Side Voices, edited by Helena Lee, is available to preorder now at all good bookstores, and will be published on 20th January 2022.
