“The Daughter of Fu Manchu”

Meridians ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (S1) ◽  
pp. 389-409
Author(s):  
Shoba Sharad Rajgopal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Women's Studies ◽  
Television News ◽  
Asian Women ◽  
Feminist Critique ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
The West ◽  
Women In Cinema ◽  
The Masses

Abstract Courses regarding race, gender, and representation are not easy to teach under any circumstances, but even more so in predominantly White classrooms in the post 9/11 United States, where the masses have been fed a diet of xenophobic, anti-Asian propaganda inculcating an “us” versus “them” mentality. This article analyzes the discourse of empire, a metaphor that has been used time after time to construct a mythical and menacing Other. In contrast, the portrait of Asian women in cinema and television news as traditional, veiled, and inhabiting a separate sphere adds to this representation of Asian cultures as premodern and irrevocably opposed to the West, much as portrayed in Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” theory. The author illustrates this transnational feminist critique with a documentary used in Women’s Studies classes, Deborah Gee’s landmark film Slaying the Dragon (1988).

On the Muslim Question

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Norton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
The West ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Security Values ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Democratic Life

In the post-9/11 West, there is no shortage of strident voices telling us that Islam is a threat to the security, values, way of life, and even existence of the United States and Europe. For better or worse, “the Muslim question” has become the great question of our time. It is a question bound up with others—about freedom of speech, terror, violence, human rights, women's dress, and sexuality. Above all, it is tied to the possibility of democracy. This book demolishes the notion that there is a “clash of civilizations” between the West and Islam. What is really in question, the book argues, is the West's commitment to its own ideals: to democracy and the Enlightenment trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity. In the most fundamental sense, the Muslim question is about the values not of Islamic, but of Western, civilization. Moving between the United States and Europe, the book provides a fresh perspective on iconic controversies, from the Danish cartoon of Muhammad to the murder of Theo van Gogh. It examines the arguments of a wide range of thinkers—from John Rawls to Slavoj Žižek. It also describes vivid everyday examples of ordinary Muslims and non-Muslims who have accepted each other and built a common life together. Ultimately, the book provides a new vision of a richer and more diverse democratic life in the West, one that makes room for Muslims rather than scapegoating them for the West's own anxieties.

Mafias on the Move

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Varese
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
At Will

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As this book explains, the truth is more complicated. The author has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. The book spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, the book charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. The book explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. A pioneering chapter on China examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. This book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.

Women's Studies in the Western United States

NWSA Journal ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-189
Author(s):  
Karen L. Salley ◽  
Barbara Scott Winkler ◽  
Megan Celeen ◽  
Heidi Meck
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Women's Studies ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Women’S Studies

NENHUM “CHOQUE DAS CIVILIZAÇÕES”: UMA ANÁLISE DAS GEOGRAFIAS IMAGINATIVAS NA MÍDIA IMPRESSA ÁRABE APÓS OS ATENTADOS DE 11 DE SETEMBRO DE 2001

GEOgraphia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (41) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Shadia Husseini de Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Print Media ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Critical Geopolitics ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
The West ◽  
Arab Media ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Imaginative Geographies ◽  
Il Y A

Resumo: Enquanto existem muitos estudos sobre a reprodução da teoria do “choque das civilizações” e do “mundo islâmico” como o “outro” do Ocidente em mídias ocidentais após os atentados de 11 de setembro de 2001, são extremamente escassos aqueles que analisam a presença dessa teoria nas mídias árabes. Quais são os discursos geopolíticos (re)produzidos nessas mídias com o objetivo de enquadrar e explicar os atentados? Qual é o papel da teoria do “choque das civilizações” e das representações do Ocidente que se manifestam nesse contexto? Este artigo procura responder essas perguntas a partir de uma perspectiva da geopolítica crítica, valendo-se do conceito de “geografias imaginativas”. Os principais jornais transnacionais árabes, al-Hayat, al-Quds al-Arabi e Asharq Al-Awsat, constituem o exemplo empírico. Este artigo mostra que a teoria do “choque das civilizações” – por sua vez duplamente assentada em regionalizações geográficas tradicionais e em uma construção binária entre Ocidente e mundo islâmico – é rejeitada nos jornais analisados. Em vez de se apoiar nessa teoria, os acontecimentos de 11 de setembro de 2001 e os atentados terroristas nos anos seguintes, bem como as geografias imaginativas do Ocidente reproduzidas nesse contexto, são enquadrados e formados por meio de um discurso multifacetado e profundamente pós-colonial. Palavras-chave: Geografias imaginativas. Geopolítica crítica. Mídia impressa árabe. Crítica pós-colonial. NO “CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS”: AN ANALYSIS OF IMAGINATIVE GEOGRAPHIES IN ARAB PRINT MEDIA AFTER 9/11 Abstract: While many studies analyse the reproduction of the “clash of civilizations” theory and the “Islamic world” as the West’s “other” in Western media after 9/11, there are only few works dedicated to Arab media. What are the geopolitical discourses (re)produced in Arab media framing and explaining the attacks? What is the role of the “clash of civilizations” theory and the representations of the West in this context? This paper addresses these questions from the perspective of critical geopolitics using the concept of “imaginative geographies”. The transnational Arab newspapers al-Hayat, al-Quds al-Arabi e Asharq Al-Awsat serve as the empirical example. I argue that the theory of the “clash of civilizations” – which is based on traditional geographical regionalisations and a binary construction between the West and the Islamic world – is rejected in the analysed newspapers. Instead, 9/11 and other terrorist attacks in the subsequent years as well as the imaginative geographies of the West reproduced in this context are based on a multifaceted and profoundly post-colonial discourse. Keywords: Imaginative Geographies. Critical Geopolitics. Arab Print Media. Postcolonial Critique. AUCUN “CHOC DES CIVILISATIONS”: UNE ANALYSE DES GEOGRAPHIES IMAGINAIRES DANS LES MEDIAS ARABES IMPRIMES APRES LES ATTENTATS DU 11 SEPTEMBRE 2001 Resumé: Bien que de nombreuses études analysent la reproduction de la théorie du “choc des civilisations” et du “monde islamique” comme “l’autre” de l’Occident dans les médias occidentaux après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001, il y a peu de travaux consacrés aux médias arabes. Quels sont les discours géopolitiques (re)produits dans ces médias pour contextualiser et expliquer les attaques ? Quels sont les rôles de la théorie du “choc des civilisations” et de la représentation de l’Occident dans ce contexte ? Cet article tente de répondre à ces questions dans une perspective de géopolitique critique, en utilisant le concept de “géographies imaginaires”. Les principaux journaux transnationaux arabes, al-Hayat, al-Quds al-Arabi e Asharq Al-Awsat sont le matériau de l’enquête. Cet article montre que la théorie du “choc des civilisations” – elle-même basée sur les régionalisations géographiques traditionnelles et la construction opposant Occident et monde islamique – est rejetée dans les journaux analysés. Au lieu de cela, les événements du 11 septembre 2001 comme les attentats terroristes des années suivantes, ainsi que les géographies imaginaires de l’Occident reproduites dans ce contexte, sont façonnés par un discours à multiples facettes, profondément post-colonial. Mots-clés: Géographies Imaginaires. Géopolitique Critique. Médias Imprimés Arabes. Critique Postcoloniale.

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geir Lundestad
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
The West ◽  
Economic Modernization

There are no laws in history. Realists, liberals, and others are both right and wrong. Although no one can be certain that military incidents may not happen, for the foreseeable future China and the United States are unlikely to favor major war. They have cooperated well for almost four decades now. China is likely to continue to focus on its economic modernization. It has far to go to measure up to the West. The American-Chinese economies are still complementary. A conflict with the United States or even with China’s neighbors would have damaging repercussions for China’s economic goals. The United States is so strong that it would make little sense for China to take it on militarily. There are also other deterrents against war, from nuclear weapons to emerging norms about international relations. It is anybody’s guess what will happen after the next few decades. History indicates anything is possible.

The Proximity of Other Skins

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celine Parreñas Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Korea ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Spectator ◽  
Existing Frames ◽  
The Voice

Transnational films representing intimacy and inequality disrupt and disgust Western spectators. When wounded bodies within poverty entangle with healthy wealthy bodies in sex, romance and care, fear and hatred combine with desire and fetishism. Works from the Philippines, South Korea, and independents from the United States and France may not be made for the West and may not make use of Hollywood traditions. Rather, they demand recognition for the knowledge they produce beyond our existing frames. They challenge us to go beyond passive consumption, or introspection of ourselves as spectators, for they represent new ways of world-making we cannot unsee, unhear, or unfeel. The spectator is redirected to go beyond the rapture of consuming the other to the rupture that arises from witnessing pain and suffering. Self-displacement is what proximity to intimate inequality in cinema ultimately compels and demands so as to establish an ethical way of relating to others. In undoing the spectator, the voice of the transnational filmmaker emerges. Not only do we need to listen to filmmakers from outside Hollywood who unflinchingly engage the inexpressibility of difference, we need to make room for critics and theorists who prioritize the subjectivities of others. When the demographics of filmmakers and film scholars are not as diverse as its spectators, films narrow our worldviews. To recognize our culpability in the denigration of others unleashes the power of cinema. The unbearability of stories we don’t want to watch and don’t want to feel must be borne.

scholarly journals Environmental justice, settler colonialism, and more-than-humans in the occupied West Bank: An introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27
Author(s):  
Irus Braverman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The West ◽  
The Core ◽  
Waste Concrete

Our special issue provides a first-of-its kind attempt to examine environmental injustices in the occupied West Bank through interdisciplinary perspectives, pointing to the broader settler colonial and neoliberal contexts within which they occur and to their more-than-human implications. Specifically, we seek to understand what environmental justice—a movement originating from, and rooted in, the United States—means in the context of Palestine/Israel. Moving beyond the settler-native dialectic, we draw attention to the more-than-human flows that occur in the region—which include water, air, waste, cement, trees, donkeys, watermelons, and insects—to consider the dynamic, and often gradational, meanings of frontier, enclosure, and Indigeneity in the West Bank, challenging the all-too-binary assumptions at the core of settler colonialism. Against the backdrop of the settler colonial project of territorial dispossession and elimination, we illuminate the infrastructural connections and disruptions among lives and matter in the West Bank, interpreting these through the lens of environmental justice. We finally ask what forms of ecological decolonization might emerge from this landscape of accumulating waste, concrete, and ruin. Such alternative visions that move beyond the single axis of settler-native enable the emergence of more nuanced, and even hopeful, ecological imaginaries that focus on sumud, dignity, and recognition.

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