Speculative Asias

Catalog description

From Seoul as the glittering metropolis of Korean music, fashion, and cuisine to TikTok and the "Turning Chinese" trend that celebrates Chinese consumer culture, we seem to be firmly in what scholars have deemed "The Asian Century" of East Asia's economic and technological ascendence. Yet in Ridley Scott's classic cyberpunk film Blade Runner (1982), Asia is the setting of a regressive future in which synthetic humans are cloned as a source of cheap, disposable labor. This course examines how Orientalism, or the West's racialized imagination of the East, intersects with anxieties around the Asian Century. We will trace how techno-Orientalist tropes emerge through a range of English-language speculative fictions including novels, poetry collections, graphic novels, films, and music, moving from 19th century fears around the Yellow Peril to 21st century engagements with these tropes by authors of Asian descent. Our reading practice will cohere around two, interrelated poles: how to critique appropriations of Asia in the western imagination by reading against the grain, and how to identify re-appropriations, looking backward to search for futurity, collectivity, and hope. By the end of the semester, you will be given the opportunity to analyze a speculative Asian text of your own choosing.