CULTURAL POLITICS AND EN-GENDERING IDENTITIES
Making Home
American Son
What does it mean in the novel to be an “American Son”? Paradox benevolent assimilation
versus domestic processes of racialization
Symbolism of absentee father “We are here because you were
there”Intersectionality of
racialization National belonging racialization gendering sexualization
US whiteness properly heteronormative & masculine
Philippine browness savage, primitive, emasculated
EN-GENDERING IDENTITIES
American Son - Performance of “Chicano hypermasculinity” as survival strategy Not dismantling racist/patriarchal
system but attempting to beat itIn the ao dai beauty
pageants, how is Vietnamese femininity performed? And for what purpose?
Woman & Nation
Woman’s body as synecdoche of national body Synecdoche – when a part comes to symbolize
a wholePossession of woman’s body &
possession of land Examples: Miss Lien & Ika Interlocking systems of colonial/militarized
domination and patriarchal dominationWoman as bearer of national culture &
reproducer of nation Protection of women parallels protection of
land – anticolonial yet patriarchal nationalisms
Burden of women as symbol of national & cultural purity
Cultural Politics & Imaging National Identities
What is “cultural politics”? culture (n) – the set of shared attitudes, values, goals,
and practices that characterize an institution, organization or group
How are those shared attitudes, values, goals and practices created? How do people come to identify as belonging to a common culture? Primarily through symbolism, narrative,
ritual and creative productions you come to imagine yourself in community with others that all share the same culture
ao dai pageants & politics
ao dai as counter-symbol of Communist uniform and symbol of alternate Vietnamese nationalism
ao dai pageant: as celebration of Vietnamese
feminine beauty in opposition to white beauty standard
as tool for shaping 2nd generation ethnic identity
Ao dai pageant contradictions “hybridized beauty”?
Fil Am Cultural Politics & Palengke Pageants
What is “palengke-style politics”?
How do beauty pageants in the Filipino American community compare/contrast with the ao dai pageants?
What type of Filipino American identity is created through “palengke” politics and its beauty pageants?
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