Cynthia Wu

On Thursday, Cynthia Wu's presentation on Chang and Eng Bunker was very interesting. It was neat to hear that she attended their family reunion every year and was in contact with their descendants. The discussion that interested me the most was when their identity was brought up. Who were they compared to how they were portrayed? She answered with Chang and Eng were performers and when they started to build capital, they were seen as more white. Having money in that time was only for wealthy whites and Chang and Eng were accepted into that stereotype. In the photos that she showed, the beginning of their career they were showed as exaggerated Asians and darker than they really were. In every picture they seemed to look a little different based on where they were in their career. It was obvious, and pointed out by Wu, that money made them seem less deviant in the eyes of society. They had wives and children and lived a fairly normal life. I enjoyed her presentation and seeing all of the research she has done about Chang and Eng, the conjoined twins.