[KS] can Asian Americans have a voice in Asian Studies?

Vladimir Tikhonov vladimir.tikhonov at east.uio.no
Wed Oct 1 12:48:26 EDT 2003




Dear Will, and others following this thread,

>Thanks for the correction. In fact, I was not completely sure how the name 
>of the Vietnamese author, which reads "Pan P'aeju" in Korean, should be 
>put in Vietnamese. Interestingly, the book used to be included into some 
>editions of Liang's collected works printed posthumously. As far as I 
>could understand, the only academic work in South Korean historiography 
>that analyses the influence of The Wollam wang guksa in some details, is 
>Ch'oe KiyOng's paper, entitled "KugyOk Wollam wang guksa e kwanhan 
>ilgoch'al", and printed in <Tonga YOn'gu>, Vol. 6, 1985 (reprinted in 
><Han'guk kUndae Kyemong Undong YOn'gu>, Ilchogak, 1997). But, 
>unfortunately, Ch'oe doesn't analyze this work in the wider context of the 
>development of ideas of "anti-hegemonic solidarity" in Korea, although it 
>seems to be only natural to remember, for example, wide interest about 
>Chang ChiyOn-translated AegUp kUnsesa (Recent History of Egypt - printed 
>by HwangsOng sinmun sa in 1905, with Pak Unsik's highly impassioned 
>foreword) in this context. Inspired partly by Liang Qichao's philippics 
>against the "new methods of ruining [others'] countries" devised by the 
>Europeans, and partly by some currents in Japanese Pan-Asianism, this 
>current of thought seems to leave a strong imprint in Korean 
>intellectuals' consciousness - and eventually, some of the earlier readers 
>of Phan Boi Chau and Liang Qichao became Communists and Anarchists in the 
>1920s, and converted "Asianism" into "anti-imperialist solidarity".
>
>Yours,
>Vladimir
>
>
>
>At 15:41 30.09.2003 -0400, you wrote:
>>Vladimir,
>>
>>One correction: The Wollam wang guksa (Viet nam vong quoc su) was not 
>>written
>>by Liang Qichao. He did write the dedication to it. The work (translated 
>>into
>>Korean in about 1905) was by the Vietnamese intellectual-activist Phan Boi
>>Chau.
>>
>>Will Pore
>>
>> >===== Original Message From Vladimir Tikhonov 
>> <vladimir.tikhonov at east.uio.no>
>>=====
>> >Dear Ann,
>> >
>> >Frankly, the idiosyncratic interpretation of the minjung literature as
>> >"democratic" (in the current American sense of the world) looks to me
>> >biased not that much ethnically/racially as ideologically. What is
>> >omitted/sidelined is obvious anti-imperialist/socialist/"third
>> >world"-solidarist self-identification of many minjung authors. By the way,
>> >I sense really strong "dominant" bias in terming all the plethora of
>> >anti-systemic movements in contemporary South Korea either "nationalist" or
>> >"anti-American". "MinjokjuUi" was, for many of the proponents of the
>> >movement, as much "nationalism" as "third-worldism" - in the 1980s, they
>> >clandestinely read on Ho Chi Minh, and in the late 1990s, Che Gevara became
>> >a new star. That were exactly the heirs of the 1980s movement who started
>> >in the late 1990s the campaign of disclosure of the atrocities committed by
>> >Park Chong Hee army in South Vietnam - and this campaign was moved exactly
>> >by the passion for Asian/"third world" solidarity. In fact, this all goes
>> >back very deep, down to the times in the 1900s when the anti-colonial
>> >narrative on the demise of Vietnam (WOllam Mangguksa in Korean, by Liang
>> >Qichao and a Vietnamese anti-colonial activist) was the must-read among the
>> >"new intelligentsia". But I guess that this side of the minjung movement -
>> >the most dangerous for the US hegemony in the long run - was largely
>> >sidelined by some of the "mainstream" American narratives on the subject.
>> >
>> >With best greetings,
>> >
>> >Vladimir
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >At 11:35 28.09.2003 -0700, you wrote:
>> >>   Dear Vladimir,
>> >>
>> >>I will give an example of the relevance of the politics of race in Asian
>> >>studies.
>> >>When I, as an Asian American not born in Korea, discuss Korean minjung
>> >>nationalist literature, am I not using Western dominant narratives of
>> >>democratic revolution, and thereby serving the mythic, hegemonic American
>> >>ideology of "melting pot"?  As Rey Chow notes, it is important to
>> >>recognize Koreans' lived experiences of the ideology of democracy, and
>> >>Koreans' perceptions and translations of that ideology.  In the U.S.,
>> >>"certain ethnic groups, as a result of racism, will never be able to enact
>> >>in full "the script of "consent."  (Wong, 1993:41):  "With European
>> >>ethnics, there is enough cultural congruence with the Anglo mainstream,
>> >>and enough reality in the promised rewards of assimilation, to validate
>> >>the rhetoric of consensual nation-building and blunt the damage of
>> >>generational divisions.  Asian Americans are socialized into embracing the
>> >>same expectations but are denied their full realization on a collective
>> >>basis."  (Wong 1993: 43).
>> >>
>> >>Ann
>> >>
>> >>Citation:
>> >>Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, Reading Asian American Literature: From Necessity
>> >>to Extravagance (Princeton: Princeton Univerrsity Press, 1993).
>> >>
>> >>----- Original Message -----
>> >>From: <mailto:vladimir.tikhonov at east.uio.no>Vladimir Tikhonov
>> >>To: <mailto:Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>Korean Studies Discussion List
>> >>Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 1:59 AM
>> >>Subject: Re: [KS] can Asian Americans have a voice in Asian Studies?
>> >>
>> >>Dear colleagues,
>> >>
>> >>if what Ann Lee writes about the atmosphere of the "WASP domination" in
>> >>our field in the USA is true (as I have never been over there, it is hard
>> >>for me to assess the situation on my own), that I cannot help concluding
>> >>that, perhaps, old Soviet Union wasn't the worst of all possible worlds.
>> >>Several prominent ethnic Korean scholars won recognition in their
>> >>respective special fields (M.N.Pak - ancient history, G.F.Kim - North
>> >>Korean politics, Lim Su - folk sayings, etc.) as "dominant authorities",
>> >>so to say, and I really don't remember any talks about "tribe wars" along
>> >>ethnic lines among their  students, so ethnically mixed as they were. I
>> >>don't think anybody really questioned - or would ever question - the
>> >>loyalty of the ethnic Korean "patriarchs" of Soviet/Russian Korean Studies
>> >>to Soviet/Russian culture or research traditions. Perhaps - I just guess -
>> >>it was old intelligentsia tradition of fighting against official
>> >>antisemitism/"patriotic" chauvinism in Tzarist Russia, in combination with
>> >>Tzarist/Soviet tradition of absorbing ethnically heterogeneous local
>> >>elites, that precluded any ethnic divisions in the Korean Studies field?
>> >>Anyway, I can only hope that the immunity to racialist taxonomies will
>> >>survive in Russia, despite all the efforts to the contrary on the part of
>> >>its today's rulers...
>> >>
>> >>Vladimir Tikhonov
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>At 15:28 25.09.2003 -0700, you wrote:
>> >>>Dear list,
>> >>>
>> >>>I have failed in my bid to be a cultural comprador.
>> >>>Collecting my unemployment checks, I have time to read what I want to 
>> read.
>> >>>I can't help asking myself whether or not Asian Americans can have a
>> >>>voice in Asian Studies.
>> >>>Orientalists remind us that only a native's "access" to Asian culture
>> >>>could possibly give an Asian any use value in the field.  This results in
>> >>>pitting Asian Americans (issei, nisei, 1.5 generations, and in betweens)
>> >>>against each other -- a divisive strategy that succeeds because of the
>> >>>economics of Necessity, in which Asian Americans are only too willing to
>> >>>sell each other out in order to survive.  It is a strategy that pre-empts
>> >>>any possible alliances that Asian Americans might try to form, alliances
>> >>>that dominant whites find threatening.
>> >>>I remember a male WASP professor at Harvard (now at a different school)
>> >>>asking department majors to introduce ourselves and our reasons for
>> >>>majoring in East Asian Studies.  One Asian student, recently immigrated,
>> >>>said he wanted to study his culture.  I said I had a somewhat academic
>> >>>interest in Asia, rather than studying it as "my culture," since I was
>> >>>born in N.Y.C. and grew up here.
>> >>>The WASP male professor, perhaps sensing a smugness in my attitude,
>> >>>immediately said, "But isn't that what it is?  _Your_ culture?"  It was a
>> >>>harsh rebuke of my confidence in my American identity.  My skin color
>> >>>meant, to him, that I would never be accepted as an American.
>> >>>
>> >>>Ann Lee
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>Vladimir Tikhonov,
>> >>Department of East European and Oriental Studies,
>> >>Faculty of Arts,
>> >>University of Oslo,
>> >>P.b. 1030, Blindern, 0315, Oslo, Norway.
>> >>Fax: 47-22854140; Tel: 47-22857118
>> >>Personal web page:
>> >>http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/volodyatikhonov.html
>> >>Electronic classrooms: East Asian/Korean Society and Politics:
>> >>                        http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.html
>> >>                        East Asian/Korean Religion and Philosophy:
>> >>
>> >>http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html
>> >>----------
>> >
>> >Vladimir Tikhonov,
>> >Department of East European and Oriental Studies,
>> >Faculty of Arts,
>> >University of Oslo,
>> >P.b. 1030, Blindern, 0315, Oslo, Norway.
>> >Fax: 47-22854140; Tel: 47-22857118
>> >Personal web page:
>> >http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/volodyatikhonov.html
>> >Electronic classrooms: East Asian/Korean Society and Politics:
>> >                        http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.html
>> >                        East Asian/Korean Religion and Philosophy:
>> >
>>http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html
>> >
>> >----------
>
>Vladimir Tikhonov,
>Department of East European and Oriental Studies,
>Faculty of Arts,
>University of Oslo,
>P.b. 1030, Blindern, 0315, Oslo, Norway.
>Fax: 47-22854140; Tel: 47-22857118
>Personal web page: 
>http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/volodyatikhonov.html
>Electronic classrooms: East Asian/Korean Society and Politics:
>                        http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.html
>                        East Asian/Korean Religion and Philosophy:
> 
>http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html
>
>----------

Vladimir Tikhonov,
Department of East European and Oriental Studies,
Faculty of Arts,
University of Oslo,
P.b. 1030, Blindern, 0315, Oslo, Norway.
Fax: 47-22854140; Tel: 47-22857118
Personal web page: 
http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/volodyatikhonov.html
Electronic classrooms: East Asian/Korean Society and Politics:
                        http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.html
                        East Asian/Korean Religion and Philosophy:
                        http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html

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