I. Internal Orientalism and Minorities in China

A. Schein, Louisa. 1997. "Gender and Internal Orientalism in China." Modern China 23(1): 69-98.
B. Miao ethnic performances & gender = "Voracious domestic consumption of minority cultures" (70).
C. Internal Orientalism: Han, cosmopolitan Chinese fascination with and titillation by the "exotic"
D. Demographics

1. 55 minority nationalities
2. 8.1% of population (1990 census)
3. Often located in resource rich north, south, west
4. Han: plains, coast, east

E. State policies

1. Revolution: embrace pluralism
2. Late 50s-cultural revolution: Hanification, modernization
3. Late 1980s-present: yearning for tradition, fears of loss of identity ==> romanticization of primitive

F. Internal orientalism = "adoption of Western orientalist logics and premises for self-representation in the course of Asian processes of identity production" (73).
G. Gendered components
H. Circumstances of image production augment Said's discursive analysis
I. How do these practices affect women?

 

II. Images of Miao Women

A. Associations of minority women with nature: modern-backward, civilized-wild
B. Bookmarks and postcards
C. Candy episode
D. Eroticism: voluptuous, revealed, inviting; disapproval and arousal
E. Experience of Miao women in cities: valorization and backwardness

1. Dilemmas of being "exotic"
2. Hairstyles
3. Self-consciousness about Miao identity

F. Who gets chosen to represent Miao-ness and why?

1. Remuneration as counter-orientalism
2. Colonialist plunder ==> market exchange, commodification of heritage
3. Miao men: objectify "their" women

G. Dynamics of agency: "Miao were not mute objects of representation, but rather active subjects engaged in the molding of their own self-representation" (86).
H. Han perspectives on Miao

1. Modernization is not loss of culture
2. Civilizing mission

I. Schein: these processes constrain, but do not silence minorities

 

III. Mobility and the Politics of Appearance

A. Chio, Jenny. 2014. A Landscape of Travel: The Work of Tourism in Rural Ethnic China. Seattle: University of Washington Press: Chinese tourism to ethnic minority areas
B. Visuality and mobility --> landscapes of travel
C. How is tourism created? Villagers learn "how to be ethnic and rural in particular ways that have emerged in tension and in tandem with larger national policies for development and modernization" (xxi).
D. Mobility is part of modernization agenda: "Thus mobility is doubly revealing as an analytical perspective on both individual, subjective experiences of encountering the world beyond one's home and as a shared, community chance for an active, productive role in national modernization agendas" (xxiv).
E. Villagers are valued for their immobility, for staying in place
F. Two villages: Upper Jidao and Ping'an: map

1. Ping'an: ethnic Zhuang village in Guangxi, part of Guilin Longji Terraced Fields Scenic Area
2. Upper Jidao: ethnic Miao village in Guizhou
3. Fieldwork photos

G. Chapter 4: politics of appearance: "Power and knowledge intersect and interact in highly charged contests over who and what may constitute the appropriate and desired look of a place" (138).

1. Visual landscape: houses, fields, people
2. Tourists' visual practices: looking, postcards, photos, videos
3. Visualization is "central to the process of creating knowledge about the self and the other that is inherent in and vital to doing tourism" (135).
4. National media images, ethnic theme parks shape how villagers package themselves
5. Municipal government: preservation programs, building codes

H. Upper Jidao: village of wooden houses

1. New "clothing" in 2005: cover "all concrete sides of the houses that could be seen either from the highway or from the main walking paths" (143).
2. Miao women's dress
3. Film: Anayi, 2006

I. Ping'an: terraced fields

1. Well-known appearance requires constant upkeep
2. Tour guide: tourists should take photos with people in them so they know that these are not naturally occurring
3. Models

a. Internal Orientalism
b. Migrant women
c. Sweet talk
d. Not ethnically Zhuang
e. 2008 Beijing Olympics controversy over children wearing costumes of China's 56 ethnic groups in China

i. International media: fake
ii. Chinese audience: children represented ethnicity in general, not themselves as ethnic persons

f. Migrant models reiterated gender, class, and social status inequality (169)

J. "Photography thus becomes the occasion for creating a familiar and believable shared social relationship between ethnic minorities and mainstream citizens in present-day China by playing to expectations and stereotypes, which could reinforce national discourses of social harmony" (170).