Asian American Art History - sites.uci.edusites.uci.edu/asianamarthistory2016/files/2016/04/S16-AAArtHistory-Orientalism... · not based on geography but othering concept; not located

Professor Christine Balance || em: [email protected] American Art History

1Wednesday, April 27, 16

Question: Based on the readings and other examples, how do we define Orientalism? What terms, cultural values, stereotypes, ideas get assigned to the Orient? Can you name any contemporary examples?

2Wednesday, April 27, 16

not based on geography but othering concept; not located in specific place, mystical powers, extreme cultural differences (via cultural practices such as foot binding), barbariclumping all Asian countries together, East Asian/ U.S. Orientalisms, homogenous, creates biased representations; fantastical; creates a sense of kinship among those facing these mis-representations; creates a burden for Asian American artists; creates expectations for these artists;“marvels of the East, exotic and grotesque” (Machida, 59);U.S. today: notions of Islam/Islamic cultures and people (terrorist, veiled woman, “Orient”: backwards; West: more developed; West: individuals; Orient: grouped together (“horde”)food: dog-eating, strange/strangeness, films: sidekicks, kung-fu masters, Buddha figures, martial artists, K-pop/J-pop: factory, schooling; contemporary: robots;

3Wednesday, April 27, 16

Based on the readings and historical/media examples, how do we define primitivism? What terms, cultural values, stereotypes, ideas get assigned to primitive societies/primitivism? Can you name any contemporary examples?

4Wednesday, April 27, 16

Primitivism: not advanced culture; “from the land”; killing dog; headhunting; (in juxtaposition to shooting); foot-binding; paganism; animism; indigenous rituals, spiritualities; (alternative) healing practices; inferior; nature vs. nurture (“Enlightenment” discourse: civilized, objective vs. natural, bodily, emotional), rhythmic but not necessarily “sensible” aggression; unbound appetite - passions; U.S. heroism; “savior complex”; Communism (both Orientalist & primitivist?);less technologically advanced; Third World; relationship to animals, relationship to technology, clothing, hippie culture; language(s); literatures; cultural disappearance, cultural discovery,

5Wednesday, April 27, 16

Othering: as a process of marking, defining people as superhuman or subhuman but never simply human.

6Wednesday, April 27, 16

According to Machida, in regards to the 1904 World’s Fair, what was the story that the U.S. told itself?

Fig. 57. Imperial schooling on the Philippine Reservation. FromNational Archives.

7Wednesday, April 27, 16

How has Marlon Fuentes’ artistic practice (style and process) been characterized? anti-illusionistic: oscillation between what we see on screen (historical, personal, archival) and what we understand as the processes of constructing what we see on-screen;illusionistic film: Hollywood; Narrator: omniscient figure, all-seeing and all-knowing figure; walk us through the film, narrate the story, plot, structuredirect, conscious use of fiction & technology;shock factor; real histories;personal narrative; realistic account of certain (historical) events; humanizes practices that Americans might say are bad; also highlights the irony of Americans’ evil, barbarism;

8Wednesday, April 27, 16

How has Allan DeSouza’s artistic practice (style and method) been characterized?

9Wednesday, April 27, 16

What are characteristics, images, styles of ‘Orientalist Indian-ness” (as described in Machida’s reading)? Are there contemporary examples we can find of it?

10Wednesday, April 27, 16

How has Tomie Arai’s artistic practice (style and process) been characterized?

11Wednesday, April 27, 16

Framing an American Identity (Mixed media, silkscreen, glass, wood, twine, dimensions variable)Installation for The Alternative Museum, NY, 1992 and recreated  for the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 2004.

12Wednesday, April 27, 16