the issue of face

The issue of the physical racial differences as discussed by David Palumbo-Liu intrigues me in terms of the obsession with it in racial discourses. For many, the phenotypical traits of the Asian American are unchangeable, and will perpetually make the person as the marginalized racial other. Because the physical appearance is seen as related to one’s interiority, including qualities such as trustworthiness and beauty as well as social engagement and mental structures, attributes that are all socially constructed rather than naturally determined, possessing the face with traits associated with a certain race ultimately comes done to differences in the individual’s economic benefits.

Also interesting to me is the idea of a future face of America supposedly resulted from intermarriage, but indeed virtually produced. Have one single face that is representative of all people in the country reaffirms the idea of having a single race rather than celebrate the idea of diversity and multiplicity. Also, the flatness of the face which assumes an ahistorical position simply dismisses all the historical and material relations central to the issue of race, making it impossible to have a politics of race.