Techno-Orientalism

Techno-Orientalism

(American Studies AMST 304 cross-listed with Science in Society Program SISP 304)

Instructor: Long T. Bui
E-mail: [email protected]
Meeting time: Monday CAMS 1 (7-9:50 PM)
Office hours: Wed 2-5 and by appointment
Skype username for online meetings: longbui1981

This course seeks to understand why Asians are so closely associated with technology, a
relationship that may seem obvious, but one that remains understudied. Throughout the course,
the overarching theme of techno-Orientalism—the exotification of Asians through technology—
will help students frame discussion of cyborgs, globalization, digital industry, high-tech labor,
and economics. Issues to be explored include the preponderance of Asians in scientific fields
and digital industries as well as the popular representation of Asians as technological whizzes.
The class scrutinizes how U.S.-Asian relations shaped the rise of high-tech superpowers like
Japan, South Korea, and China as emergent powerhouses. The class focuses primarily on the
contemporary period, centering the late 20th century to early 21st century as a seismic moment
in time for techno-Orientalism. As an interdisciplinary seminar, we will cover the gamut of fields
from sociology to literature to philosophy to media studies; this expansive scope allows for a far-
ranging knowledge base. Class participation will be highlighted with students presenting in
teams to present the materials to their peers, unpacking questions and themes raised in the texts.

Class Presentations: All students will be required to present one week in class in order to
generate discussion. Presenters must bring together all the readings for that week in a cohesive
manner, while the rest of class must bring in 3 questions or points about readings. For presenter,
think of interesting queries such as: How are the week’s readings related to previous texts and
themes discussed in class? What the argument of the author? What is the methodology and
evidence used? Is it effective? What do you find most interesting about the articles?

Gender Pronoun/Disability/Name Preference: If you have a specific name or gender pronoun
you prefer to be called by, please contact me at the beginning of the course. If you have a
disability and need specific accommodations for this class, you must contact Disability
Resources and Educational Services and get an official statement of your disability and give it to
me.

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Disability: Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with
disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and
services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined
by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and
provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and
generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible.
If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey in
Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or call 860/685-5581 for an
appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations.

Academic Integrity: This class assumes that all participants are doing assignments with
integrity. Academic dishonesty violates university regulations and is a reportable offence that
may lead to expulsion or other punishments.

Grade Breakdown: Class Assignments/Participation 30%, Midterm 30%, Final Exam 40%

Week 1: Orientalism (Monday Sept. 7)
Introductions ALL READINGS ON MOODLE. For the second week, the readings are also
available on my personal website: https://longbui1981.wordpress.com (for those not
registered)

Watch in class: “The Chinese Professor” (2012)

Week 2: The Orientalist Gaze (Monday Sept. 14)

Edward Said. “Introduction.” Orientalism. New York, NY: Pantheon, 1978, pp. 1-28.

*Ngai, Mae M. "American Orientalism." Reviews in American History 28.3 (2000): 408-415.

*Vries, Hent De. 2005. “Orientalism.” Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Lindsay Jones. New
York, NY: Macmillan, pp. 6881-6885.

*Park, Jane. “Re-Orienting the Orientalist Gaze.” Global Media Journal 4.6 (2005): 1-15.

Watch a clip: “Exploring Orientalism in Disney” (2012)

Week 3: Techno-Orientalism as Concept (Monday Sept. 21)

*Morley, David, and Kevin Robins. “Techno-Orientalism.” Spaces of Identity: Global Media,
Electronic Landscapes and Cultural Boundaries. London, UK: Routledge, 2002, pp. 147-
173.

*Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. 2008. "Orienting the Future.” Control and Freedom: Power and
Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp 171-245.

*Gibson, William. Neuromancer. Penguin, 2000, pp. 1-33.

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Watch Cloud Atlas (2012)

Week 4: The Study of Techno-Orientalism (Monday September 28)

Niu, Greta Ai-Yu. "Techno-Orientalism, Cyborgology and Asian American Studies."
Discipline and Deviance: Genders, Technologies, Machines Conference, Duke
University, October. 1998.

*Sohn, Stephen Hong. "Introduction: Alien/Asian: Imagining the Racialized Future." Melus 33.4
(2008): 5-22.

*London, Jack. “The Unparalleled Invasion: A Story.” McClure’s Magazine (July 1910):
308-316.

Week 5: Techno-Orientalism and the Western Gaze (Monday Oct. 5)

*Schneider, Florian, and Chris Goto-Jones. "Where is Digital Asia?." Asiascape: Digital
Asia 2.1-2 (2015): 5-10.

*Marchart, Oliver. "The East, the West and the Rest Central and Eastern Europe between
Techno-Orientalism and the New Electronic Frontier." Convergence: The International
Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 4.2 (1998): 56-75.

*Lozano-Mendez, Artur. 2010. "Techno-Orientalism in East-Asian Contexts: Reiteration,
Diversification, Adaptation.” Counterpoints: Edward Said’s Legacy. Edited by
Telmissany, May, and Stephanie Tara Schwartz. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, pp. 185-210.

*DeFoster, Ruth. "Orientalism for a New Millennium: Cable News and the Specter of the
‘Ground Zero Mosque.’" Journal of Communication Inquiry 39.1 (2014): 63-81.

Watch Blade-Runner (1982)

Week 6: Digital Identities and the Internet (Monday Oct. 12)

*Nakamura, Lisa. 2013. “Head-Hunting on the Internet.” Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and
Identity on the Internet. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 31-60.

*Bui, Long T. "Sex Hacker: Configuring Chinese Women in the Age of Digital Penetration."
Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology 6 (2015).

*Nakamura, Lisa. "Race in/for Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the
Internet." Works and Days 25.26 (1995): 1-8.

*Höglund, Johan. "Electronic Empire: Orientalism Revisited in the Military Shooter." Game

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Studies 8.1 (2008).

Watch: Advantageous (2013)

Week 7: The Science of Japan (Monday Oct. 19)

*Schodt, Frederik. “Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming
Robotopia.” 2009 Public Lecture.

*Ueno, Toshiya. "Japanimation and Techno-Orientalism: Japan as the Sub-Empire of Signs."
Documentary Box 9 (2003).

*Robertson, Jennifer. "Japan's First Cyborg? Miss Nippon, Eugenics and Wartime Technologies
of Beauty, Body and Blood." Body & Society 7.1 (2001): 1-34.

*Watch in class: “Yokoso! Japan. Visit Japan Campaign” and Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Midterm: Please write a 4 page single spaced paper (1 inch margins, 12 font) on the ways
Techno-Orientalism usurps and upsets our traditional ideas of “Asianness,” Asia, and/or Asians.
When Americans think about the Asian, they think about this object in certain conventional
ways. Using the texts you’ve already read, please discuss how techno-Orientalism is a
provocative creative lens for reappraising the Oriental specter of the EAst. *Your paper is due
electronically on Moodle at noon on Monday 10/26.

Oct. 26 Mid-Quarter Break (No Class)

Week 8: Science Fiction and Postmodern Cyberpunk (Monday Nov. 2)

*Huang, Betsy. "Premodern Orientalist Science Fictions." MELUS 33.4 (2008): 23-43.

*Goh, Robbie. Engaging Future Asia: Techno-Orientalisms, Ethnography, Speculative Fiction."
Creative Industries Journal 6.1 (2013): 43-56.

*Lee, Chang-Rae. 2014. On Such a Full Sea. New York: Penguin. (excerpt).

* Vinton, Arthur Dudley. Looking Further Backward: 2000-1887. Broadview Press, 1890, pp. 1-
23.

Watch a clip of Total Recall (2012) and Robot Stories (2003)

Week 9: Anti-Asian Racism and High-Tech Globalization (Monday Nov. 9)

*Saxenian, Anna Lee. "Silicon Valley’s New Immigrant High-Growth Entrepreneurs." Economic
Development Quarterly 16.1 (2002): 20-31.

*Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. "Race and/as Technology, or How to do Things to Race." Camera
Obscura 24.1 (2009): 7-35.

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*Myhrvold, Nathan and Edward Jung. “Asia’s High-Tech Boom is Good for Us, Too.” The Wall
Street Journal (July 23, 2011).

Watch a clip: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (2006)

*Wang, L. L. "Model Minority." High-Tech Coolies, and Foreign Spies: Asian Americans in
Science and Technology, With Special Reference to the Case of Dr. Wen Ho Lee.
Amerasia Journal 33.1 (2007): 51-61.

Watch film: Dark Matter (2007)

Week 10: Informational Labor and Professionals (Monday Nov. 16)

*Shu, Yuan. "Information Technologies, the US Nation-State, and Asian American
Subjectivities." Cultural Critique 40 (1998): 145-166.

*Yang, David C. "Globalization and the Transnational Asian Knowledge Class." Asian American
Law Journal 12 (2005): 137-160.

*Varma, Roli. "High-Tech Coolies: Asian Immigrants in the U.S. Science and Engineering
Workforce." Science as Culture 11.3 (2002): 337-361.

*read Asian tech articles

*Watch in class clip from “Outsourced” (2011) and I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok (2006)

Week 11: (Class cancelled Nov. 23 for Thanksgiving)

Begin reading the rest of Said’s introduction….

Week 12: (Post)humanism and Gender/Sexuality (Monday Nov. 30)

*Nguyen, Mimi. 2003. "Queer Cyborgs and New Mutants: Race, Sexuality, and Prosthetic
Sociality in Digital Space." AsianAmerica.net: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace.
Edited by Rachel Lee and Sau-Ling Wong. New York, NY: Routledge Press, pp.
281-305.

*Bui, Long T. “Glorientalization: Specters of Asia and Feminized Cyborg Workers in the U.S.-
Mexico Borderlands.” Meridians: Feminism, Race and Transnationalism 13.1 (2015):
129-156.

*Siddiqi, Dina M. "Miracle Worker or Womanmachine? Tracking (trans) National Realities in
Bangladeshi Factories." Economic and Political Weekly (2000): 11-17.

*Lai, Larissa. “Rachel.” Automaton Biographies. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009.

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Watch in class video clip of Maquilaopolis (2006)

Week 13: Hybridity and Style/Aesthetics (Monday Dec. 7) (Read Beynon, Rivera and one
more article based on whether you like EDM or Hip-Hop)

*Beynon, David. 2008. "So Flat, So Cute! Robots, Superflatness and Asian Architectural
Futures." SAHANZ 2008: History in Practice: 25th International Conference of the
Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand. Society of Architectural
Historians, Australia and New Zealand.

*Rivera, Takeo. "Do Asians Dream of Electric Shrieks?: Techno-Orientalism and
Erotohistoriographic Masochism in Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex: Human Revolution."
Amerasia Journal 40.2 (2014): 67-86.

*Ueno, Toshiya. "Techno‐Orientalism and Media‐Tribalism: On Japanese Animation and Rave
Culture." Third text 13.47 (1999): 95-106.

*McLeod, Ken. "Afro-Samurai: Techno-Orientalism and Contemporary Hip-Hop." Popular
Music 32.2 (2013): 259-275.

Watch a clip: ABDC the Kinjaz “The Dancebox” and X-Men 2 (Lady Deathstrike)

Final Paper: Write a 6-7 page single spaced paper (1 inch margins, 12 font) that analyzes
techno-Orientalism in relation to Edward Said’s framework of Orientalism. How does techno-
Orientalism extend, revise, or challenge Edward Said’s notion of Orientalism? You are required
to read more excerpts from Said’s Orientalism, using it as a guide and reference point for
discussing techno-Orientalism as an imperialist and colonial discourse based on cultural
representations, intellectual discourses, political projects, and/or moral crises. It is enticing and
easy to talk techno-Orientalism in all its coolness without regard for the groundbreaking work of
Edward Said, but Orientalism is a classic text that you must always deal with in regards to
techno-Orientalism. However, the point is not an extensive analysis of Said’s work. Use it to
synthesize and make sense of all your diverse readings on the technologization of Orientalism.
Show me that you read the articles and understood them by way of Said, who can act as a portal
to help you bring different texts and themes together. Please refer to the following sections of
Orientalism: “Introduction (1-28), “Orientalizing the Oriental” (pp. 50-73), “Projects” (pp. 73-
92), and “Crisis” (92-110). Use a minimum of 10 readings from class to make your argument.
*Edward Said. Orientalism. New York, NY: Pantheon, 1978.

*Your paper is due electronically on Moodle Friday Dec. 18 at Noon.

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