One of the reasons for the invisibility of #AntiAsianRacism is inextricably connected to #ModelMinorityMyth. The myth focuses on #stereotypes of #Asians as hard-working, independent, intelligent & economically prosperous.
Stereotypes hide many issues & disappears the realities of working-class #AsianWomen’s lives.
Arabs suffer from a long and systematic stereotyping from the West. From the Orientalist movement of the 18th century till today, Western perceptions of Arabs and by extension Muslims, are based on what they have been conditioned to believe through the media be it in the form of literature, art, and more recently, movies and...
"The Interior of the Palm House," Carl Blechen, 1832/33.
Blechen (1798-1840) was a noted painter of Romantic landscapes. This painting was a special commission by Frederick William III of Prussia, and the setting is a real one, the Palm House at the royal retreat of Pfaueninsel, an island near Potsdam. The Palm House was a lavish conservatory (burned down in 1880) that was quite a sight to see, if this is any indication.
Blechen did two versions; another view, hanging in the Art Institute of Chicago, was given to Frederick's daughter, who had married Nichola I of Russia.
This is a lavish example of Romantic Orientalism, with the palms, the architecture, even the harem girls lounging on the floor.
Colonialism and Orientalism are unfortunately deeply rooted in Western feminism. In a more recent conference I was invited to speak, at some point somebody asked about pluriversality and anticolonialism in feminist activism. The quantity of oriental comments and assumptions about non-Western cultures was appalling. When I tried
to explain my own personal experience with Quechua communities in Peru, explaining how women in those societies didn't necessarily see themselves as oppressed by men (instead they were very well aware of the colonial oppression with Western culture and Spanish language impose on them), my own experience, the information I gather by talking with those women, was simply
dismissed by the conference chair by her commenting: "Unfortunately women internalise their oppression sometimes and can't see it anymore" and moving to another unrelated question.
That conference for me was eye-opening: despite many of the issues that has been touched are important (like abortion and reproductive rights), the feminist approach promoted was completely Western-centered. A kind of
"Barbie feminism": a superficial, white feminism that universalise the concept of women, and see some cultures as 'inferior' and 'so patriarchal' that they will accept even them being bombed, slaughtered, and subject to white violence. Muslim women are particularly despised by those feminists, as an Iranian woman who grew up in Italy once told me:
'They accept us only if we reject our religion and start to wear Western clothes'.
So, I'm not surprised that feminist scholars don't care about Palestinian women, or Palestinian LGBTQ+ community, for that matter. It's a shame and a stain on the feminist movement.
But not all feminists have been silent on Palestine. #NonUnaDiMeno openly supports Palestinians self-determination:
TIL that the term "Mizrahi" is a reclaimed term, originally a racist term and slurrish, it's since been reclaimed by those Jews as a way to self-identify, especially for those Jews who live in Israel.
I've only heard it in the context of its reclaimed use, but knowing the history is important.
I was watching a video essay critique about 'Eat, Pray, Love'. Critiques on the book and the movie aren't new, but I think I now know - or at least have the vocabulary - why that story has always left me a bit off. No, it isn't the stereotypes and tropes on Italy (or India and Indonesia), but the realisation that in popular discourse in the North, Italy is orientalised as much as India and Indonesia.
Don't get me wrong, I believe India and Indonesia are rich cultural countries, so Italy being associated with them is an honour. But the framework of 'Eat, Pray, Love' is a patronising depiction of these 3 countries that don't correspond to the lived experience of their citizens. There is a moment where the author wants to learn how to live 'slow' as the Italians. E.g., as someone grew up in Rome, I really don't see where this idea of 'slow' come from.
The takes on Italy are no different from the author's approach on India and Indonesia: a twisted romanticised reality that superficially take some elements of local cultures but never truly engages with the deep histories of those places. I find particularly funny her take on Italian culinary tradition, because, well, current 'traditions' are actually quite young and the results of the post-WWII industrialisation (don't tell the Italians, they won't like it!)
However I think the saddest part of all of it, it is how the orientalist view of Italy is often brushed away in the academic discourse. In principle, Italy is part of the EU and of the West, and in practice, it's a country that certainly benefit from various privileges because of it.
But deep inside, the big Northern countries still look at Italy (and other parts of EU), through a very orientalist lens.
And I think is important to recognise it because it highlights how global phenomena are in reality just a repetition of power dynamics that happen domestically: the EU is full of in-house orientalism: Italy, the Balkan countries, Eastern countries.
Orientalism is dangerous because it serves a narrative that reinforce asymmetrical power structures.
/end
(yes, it's a thread of flying thoughts, so it doesn't have a proper conclusion)
Sylvia Sleigh's white male ‘Harem’ #painting titled 'The Turkish Bath' (1973) included her husband.
As a direct critique/response to Ingres' work of the same name (which included a naked portrait of his young wife), its right on the #feminist point...
Sleigh herself remains one of a number of female #artists who have been often been ignored by a male-oriented #arthistory
a promised new monograph (as yet still delayed) may well put the record straight!
STEREOTYPING ARABS – A Timeless Hollywood Tradition (youtu.be)
Arabs suffer from a long and systematic stereotyping from the West. From the Orientalist movement of the 18th century till today, Western perceptions of Arabs and by extension Muslims, are based on what they have been conditioned to believe through the media be it in the form of literature, art, and more recently, movies and...