This volume revisits the notions of Orientalism, Occidentalism and, to a certain extent, Reverse Orientalism/Occidentalism in the 21st century, adopting post-modern, constructionist and potentially non-essentialising approaches. The representations of the ‘cultural Other’ in education, literature and the arts are examined by scholars working in Australia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the USA.
Vinyl compilations, TV series, novels, institutional discourses and surveys, amongst others, are examined so as to better understand how people construct their identity in relation to an imagined and idealised Other.
This book will appeal to all researchers and students interested in cultural identity and stereotypes of the ‘East’ and the ‘West’, in particular in the fields of academic mobility, cultural studies, intercultural education, postcolonial literature and media studies.
Table of Content
Introduction: Dis-Orient to Re-Orient Ourselves?.- 1- Reconceptualising the ‘Other’ in Australian universities.- 2- Encountering ‘the West’ through academic mobility: Shifting representations and reinforced stereotypes.- 3- The PRC “foreign talent” scholars and their Singaporean “Other”: Neo-Occidentalism amidst intercultural contact in the context of higher education student mobility.- 4- French media critics of Asian education: A systematic quest for the cultural Other.- 5- Crate-Digging Columbuses and Vinyl Vespuccis – Exoticism in world music vinyl collections.- 6- East Blurs West: Global Crusaders in Amin Maalouf’s L’Amour de loin.- 7- Using Diaspora: Orientalism, Japanese nationalism, and the Japanese Brazilian diaspora.- 8- The rise of the Chinese villain:Demonic representation of the Asian character in popular literature (1880-1950).- 9- Writing ambivalence: Visions of the West in Republican and Post-Maoist Chinese literature.- About the authors.