THIS IS MY NAME was a photo project created by ISOC and launched in conjunction with Global Fest 2017. It highlighted the stories behind international students’ names. Many international students adapt or change their names by choosing an English name, altering pronunciation, or adjusting spelling to better fit into a Western-centric environment. Through portraits and personal reflections, the project shed light on the often unseen ways international students navigate identity, assimilation, and cultural belonging. This was the second installation of a photo project, with the previous year documenting objects of worth from different international students.
We seldom realize, for example, that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society. –Alan W. Watts –Aribah Asrar, Pakistan
My name puzzles those back home as well as all over the world. I love it. –Lydia Cheah Li Zuan, Malaysia
“夏(xia)” is my family name. It is one of the oldest family names in China, which can be dated back to 5000 years ago. Although the characters “宁(ning)” and “梓(zi)” by themselves have meanings, they don’t make a whole lot sense when they are put together as a name. My grandma made this name for me totally out of superstition partially by counting the number of strokes of these characters. 夏宁梓” is my name. “Xia Ningzi” is not – it only partially tells the pronunciation.” –Xia Ning Zi, China