Synopses & Reviews
"Methodologically situated in the contentious spaces between critical theory and cultural studies, and always attending to the implications of ethnicity, this book constitutes a unique intervention in contemporary cultural politics." --Social Semiotics
At a time when cultural identity has become intrinsic to the way we read our many "others," Rey Chow argues that what demands to be examined critically is no longer identity politics per se but the idealism--especially in the sense of idealizing otherness--that lies at the heart of identity politics. She discusses multiple cultural forms--fiction, film, popular music, poetry, and essays--and a range of cultural topics--pedagogy, multiculturalism, fascism, sexuality, miscegenation, fantasy, nostalgia, and postcoloniality.
Synopsis
From theorists Slavoj Zizek and Gayatri Spivak to Frantz Fannon, from songwriter Luo Dayou to poet Leung Ping-Kwan, and from the film "M. Butterfly" to the films The Joy Luck Club, To Live, and Rouge, Rey Chow discusses a collection of source materials whose affinities are as surprising as their appearances are diverse.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-232) and index.
About the Author
Rey Chow is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of several books, including Woman and Chinese Modernity, Writing Diaspora, Xie zai guo yi wai, and Primitive Passions: Visuality, Sexuality, Ethnography, and Contemporary Chinese Cinema, which was awarded the James Russell Lowell Prize by the Modern Language Association.