Transorientalism in Art, Fashion, and Film: Inventions of Identity

Description

Combining transnationalism and exoticism, transorientalism is the new orientalism of the age of globalization. With its roots in earlier times, it is a term that emphasizes alteration, mutation, and exchange between cultures. While the familiar orientalisms persist, transorientalism is a term that covers notions like the adoption of a hat from a different country for Turkish nationalist dress, the fact that an Italian could be one of the most influential directors in recent Chinese cinema, that Muslim women artists explore Islamic womanhood in non-Islamic countries, that artists can embrace both indigenous and non-indigenous identity at the same time. This is more than nostalgia or bland nationalism. It is a reflection of the effect that communication and representation in recent decades have brought to the way in which national identity is crafted and constructed—yet this does not make it any less authentic. The diversity of race and culture, the manner in which they are expressed and transacted, are most evident in art, fashion, and film. This much-needed book offers a refreshing, informed, and incisive account of a paradigm shift in the ways in which identity and otherness is moulded, perceived, and portrayed. Cover Series Page Half Title Title Copyrights Dedication Page Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Histories of Cultural Fabrication Making nations Who studies whom and how The study of culture Statelessness and dispossession 2 Occidentalizing the Orient: Modern Turkey Turkey and Orientalism Turkey, modernization, and reform Early reforms and hats Headscarves, veils, and women’s clothing Banning the headscarf 3 The Global Turkish Artist Ahmet Ögüt’s poetic transpositions Hatice Güleryüz’s heteroglossias Servet Kocyigit’s reconstructions Halil Altindere’s defamations 4 Art and the Islamic Female Diaspora Shirin Neshat: From darkness to dignity Ghada Amer: The provocation of pleasure Nasim Nasr: Layered destinies Mona Hatoum: Forever in transit 5 “China,” or Contemporary Chinoiserie “China” is a room of mirrors Filmic projections and interjections Ip Man: Kinship from conflict Marco Polo: Discovery and displacement 6 Japanese Recreations: Between Kawakubo and Cosplay Meiji and modernization “Japanese” fashion Kawakubo: “I want to be forgotten” Nabokov meets Nippon: Lolita and cosplay 7 Indian Interdependence A culture of estrangement Contemporary Indian fashion 8 From Primitive to Provocative: First Nations in End Times Noble savagery, guilt, and globalization Aboriginal art: Origins Miscegenated cultures Aboriginal art is white, or not black enough Occupying multiple spaces 9 Conclusion: Floating Signifiers Notes Bibliography Index