Hong Kong Cinema's Exotic Others

Beneath the white gaze: Strategic self-Orientalism among Chinese Australians

“…Mythtapping is confined within understandings of essentialized difference between Chinese people and the white Australian norm and so it recasts Chinese attributes and behaviours as positive dimensions of work (accommodating, humble, selfless and persevering) without challenging the ethno-cultural binary at its root. Indeed, Orientalist images of China as ancient and arcane (Ang, 2014; Khoo, 2007; Lo, 2006; Said, 1978) afforded participants some tactical advantage to ascribe desirable identities to this mystified tradition. The professionals laid claim to venerable organizational wisdoms by deploying diverse myths comprising divination manuals and dining customs.…”

“…Thus, while leadership was the focus of the original research design, the participants repeatedly brought to the fore tensions around their ethno-cultural identities. The interview process and subsequent analysis followed from the perspective that ethno-cultural identity is constantly being produced and reproduced (Alvesson et al, 2007; Alvesson and Willmott, 2002; Ybema et al, 2009), and that this process of identity formation is necessarily linked to wider power dynamics that shape sociopolitical meanings around what it means to be Chinese in Australia (Ang, 2014; Hirose and Pih, 2011; Khoo, 2007).…”

“…The limitations of homogenizing, essentialist treatments of race and ethnicity are brought into sharp focus when attempting to understand the experiences of non-white people in white-dominated nations. In such circumstances, theorists are no longer able to confine the Other to socially constructed national boundaries ‘out there.’ Research exploring the perspectives and experiences of Asian Australians in the broader interdisciplinary field of Asian Australian studies has compellingly demonstrated how racio-ethnic identities are not culturally determined, but socially constructed and politically contested (Ang, 2014; Chen, 2006; Khoo, 2007; Lee, 2006). In order to analyse the identities of Chinese Australians, this article will draw on research in Asian Australian studies to enrich our understanding of how imperialism is implicated in the processes of identity construction and cultural production of Chinese Australians (Lo, 2006).…”

“…Australian multiculturalism is fundamentally imperialist and Orientalist, where ethnic Others are seen as objects to be controlled (Said, 1978). The reproduction of ‘the Orient’ within Australian imaginations can be seen in the construction of a homogenous Asian identity as the ancient, feminized, exotic Other to the modernized, masculine West (Hirose and Pih, 2011; Khoo, 2007; Klein, 2003; Said, 1978). Historically in Australia, Orientalist representations are developed through bricolages of East Asian cultures (Lo, 2006), where ‘Asianness’ is signified through the compilation of previously unrelated styles and symbols.…”