The way you discussed Orientalism Chic is very nuanced, but I fear that not many people will look closely at what you mean, and at the end, they only remember that Asian people are ok with Orientalism.
I believe that the phenomenon you're describing — Asian/Chinese people taking pride in their culture and even in the stereotypical/prejudiced versions of that — deserves a new name that has nothing to do with that term.
For example, the Adidas China drops were made because of guochao and how the younger generation are more culturally confident, that has nothing to do with Orientalism. SKAI uses a lot of Cantonese and regional references in his rap, his viral songs were created for himself and his homies, which might be responding to how mainland China celebrates regional cultures and dialects post-COVID, that has nothing to do with Orientalism.
Language dictates narratives. Using the term created by Western scholars, no matter what new meaning you give to it, continues to leave an impression that the individuals are observed through that outdated narrative.
I don't know what new term that might be, but I'm happy to continue the conversation!
The way you discussed Orientalism Chic is very nuanced, but I fear that not many people will look closely at what you mean, and at the end, they only remember that Asian people are ok with Orientalism.
I believe that the phenomenon you're describing — Asian/Chinese people taking pride in their culture and even in the stereotypical/prejudiced versions of that — deserves a new name that has nothing to do with that term.
For example, the Adidas China drops were made because of guochao and how the younger generation are more culturally confident, that has nothing to do with Orientalism. SKAI uses a lot of Cantonese and regional references in his rap, his viral songs were created for himself and his homies, which might be responding to how mainland China celebrates regional cultures and dialects post-COVID, that has nothing to do with Orientalism.
Language dictates narratives. Using the term created by Western scholars, no matter what new meaning you give to it, continues to leave an impression that the individuals are observed through that outdated narrative.
I don't know what new term that might be, but I'm happy to continue the conversation!
I very much enjoyed this perceptive essay. Thank you. In a study that I wrote in 1995 (later collected in my 1999 book “In the Red”), I observed that:
Given the cultural maelstrom on the mainland, it was little wonder then that
the works of Edward W. Said (in particular, Orientalism, 1978, and Culture and
Imperialism, 1993) were so well received. Said’s writings on Orientalism and the
imperialist West’s creation and control of Middle Eastern and Asian Others were
prominent in intellectual debates dating from mid-1993. In the January 1994 issue
of Reading, scholars at a roundtable discussion of the issue averred that the analy-
sis of Orientalism was pursued only by marginalized Western and minority intel-
lectuals who were trying to validate their own friable cultural positions in main-
stream academia. Sun Jin, a scholar of theology and associate professor at the Lu
Xun Literary Academy in Beijing, expressed what, at the time, seemed to be a fair-
ly widely held view: when China becomes a truly strong nation, niggardly theo-
retical and intellectual questions like Orientalism, postmodernist discourse, and
the talk of a global center and periphery will be easily dealt with. Then, and only
then, Sun argued, would China enter into an equal dialogue with the world. In-
deed, by that time, one may presume that the Chinese term for Orientalism,
dongfangzhuyi, will have acquired a very new meaning, that of “the ideology of
Oriental supremacy.”
"ideology of Oriental supremacy"... fascinating. I've been definitely seeing something similar throughout social media lately. thanks for the input
Thank you, Patrick. As I have long observed when giving talks about the “resurgent orient” here in the Antipodes: “At least the food is better”!
Hahaha there are things done right in the West but food is honestly not one of them!