Week 6: Exoticism of Asian American Females in Mainstream Media

Respond to one of the following quotes/clips:

1) "The subtle ingenuity of the multicultural advertisement campaign is the way it is able to profit off a multi-racial consumer base through greater inclusion while maintaining White male supremacy through the visual consumption of Asian/American women’s bodies. By highlighting the ascribed “foreign” nature of Asian/American women, the cultural schemata of corporate advertisements aim to profit off the sense of identity and place they provide for White males in the U.S. through their products, while simultaneously targeting an increasingly diverse global audience" (Kim and Chung, 88).

2) "Asian American adolescents in homes where English is the primary language spoken were more likely than other Asian Americans to be nonvirgins and to have engaged in heterosexual genital sexual activities" (Okazaki, 35).

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETegyBzAQnc

Sexuality in Asian American Familes

Hello Everyone,

Here are some questions think about. Answer one:

1. Do you find that the two sets of dual identity factors (Liu, 97 and Chan, 379) are a good basis for understanding dual-identity formation? What categories might be superfluous? What may be missing?

2. "At the same time, we must be careful to assume that the sexual identities of LGBAAs follow Western prototypes" (Liu, 97). How are cultural prototypes formed? What is their effect in society?

3. Respond to the following quote: "I identify as being both. I cannot separate the two parts of who I am" (Chan, 383). Consider the earlier reading by Siobhan Somerville on queerness--how might this challenge how we understand the apparent distinction between gay/lesbian and Asian American communities.

4. Explain a situation you experienced in which to concept of "face" was a factor?


-Brendan and Laura

Ideas for syllabus for next AsAm197 class

Name:

(combine the following… somehow)

Asian Americans in pop culture and new media

Transnationalism

Cultural exchange

Representation

Appropriation

Visual culture

“Asia MEDIAting America”

4. comics, manga (American Born Chinese), webcomics

6. anime

5. TV shows (Power Rangers, Pokemon, Avatar)

1. critical pedagogy

1. visual culture and representation (Ming Ma)

--music (K-pop, J-pop)

--youtube stars (Wong Fu, KevJumba, Ryan Hikka)

3./end also? cultural hybridity

2./3. orientalism

--blogs

2. history of representations of Asians and Asian Americans in media

--theater and film (martial arts films)

--science fiction

--comedy (Margaret Cho?)

--videogames

--Bollywood (Slumdog Millionaire)

--independent media

--media industry

--spoken word & hip-hop

--dance/breakdance

--political/activist media

--music videos

themes:

cultural exchange

transnationalism – influence, tension between representations,

cultural appropriation

Asian American cultural production

ideas:

speaker suggestions in the syllabus (Kip Fulbeck, Ming Ma, Prof. Tran, Stan Sakai, Skim)

field trip ideas (Tuesday Night Cafe)

incorporation of watching films, clips, reading comics, etc.

inclusivity of a wide variety of Asian and Asian American identities

weekly film screening?

transnational influences from both directions

music video of the week

do we still want to do a blog? some sort of media project?

blog could serve as a space to post links and analyze them – look at current media

focus on Asian American cultural production (make sure it's not all about representations *of* Asian Americans)

Possible Films

http://caamedia.org/buy-caam-films/browse-by-subject/#Lesbian,%20Gay%20&%20Bisexual

The Asian American LGBT Movement

We have a lot of business to attend to during our next class period (finalizing the topic for next year's class and planning out what to do with our budget), but we also have 7 readings to discuss. To make this all a bit more feasible, let's only do the readings in Asian American Sexualities and the Sharmeen Islam reading on Sakai. This means we will not be doing the Ordona or Aguilar-San Juan readings, or the Ratti reading connected to the Islam pdf, so the total number of readings for this week is 5.


Please respond to 2 of the following quotes:

1) "To our closeted Asian American lesbians and gay men, I would like you to consider how we become accomplices to our own sexual and racial oppression when we fail to claim our true identities" (Cornell 84).

2) "Is [coming out] a Western concept? Do you really have to come out? Is it something that is understood by your family without having to say, 'Mom, I'm a dyke?' " (Chung, Kim, Nguyen, Ordona, and Stein 95).

3) "[The fact that I avoided contact with Filipino gay and lesbian activists] was particularly true during the days of the Kalayaan when the identifiable gay activist men from the Philippines... exhibited mannerisms that were effeminate. Perhaps this was due to the fact that in the Philippines their families were part of the elite upper-class strata, which enabled them to live any lifestyle they chose" (Mangaoang 107).

4) "The gay culture in the West marginalizes our experience and lumps all nonwhite women under the umbrella term "lesbians of color," thus denying our diversity" (Islam 42).

The Gay and Lesbian Experience in Asian America

In addition to our discussion this week we will also be brainstorming topics for next year's syllabus. Please come prepared with ideas, suggestions, etc.

Questions
1.) Respond to this statement "Theoretically speaking, homosexual identity does not enjoy the same privileged stability as racial identity" (Takagi 6)

2.) In the Poon and Ho article, the authors include this quote:
"There are tiny micro-movements of resistance, barely perceptible, even invisible or covert--quiet stealthy masquerades resistant to categorisation and definition" (252). Do you think these acts are effective forms of resistance?

3.) Does this academic setting frame how we talk about personal experience?