EXHIBITING RACE AND CULTURE

Guest Editors:

Professor Constance Chen (Loyola Marymount University)

Professor Melody Rod-ari (Loyola Marymount University)

Publication Date: Issue planned for Summer/Fall 2017 publication

Due Date: Paper submission (5,000-6,000 words excluding endnotes) due November 15, 2016

In 1886, Queen Victoria opened the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London seated on the golden throne of the deposed Maharaja Ranjit Singh as a potent symbol of the “bonds of union” within the British Empire.  While Indian colonial subjects were made visible through the creation and dissemination of certain visual imageries, they were rendered powerless and voiceless in the process.  In recent decades, scholars from a multitude of disciplines have problematized Western perceptions of “the East” by interrogating and dismantling existing paradigms and frameworks.  Moreover, the display and repatriation of Asian and Pacific Islander cultural artifacts as well as the (in)visibility of Asian Pacific Americans in popular media have led to discussions regarding how various peoples have sought to conceptualize themselves locally and internationally, thereby further complicating racial discourses and transnational exchanges.

In this special issue of Amerasia Journal, we seek to examine the ways in which visual representations have shaped political, socioeconomic, cultural, and ideological milieus on both sides of the Pacific across historical time and geographical space.  How have Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders been portrayed and—in turn—portrayed themselves in museums, world’s fairs, international biennales, visual and performing arts, the media, literature, film and television, politics, and beyond?  How do imperialist sentiments still manifest themselves through the visual?  How are race and culture imagined and redefined from differing localities and time periods?  How can marginalized groups utilize the depiction of the non-West to refashion individual and national identities?  We invite submissions that delve into topics such as, but not limited to, the display of indigenous cultures in museums, the role of heritage sites and tourism in the fabrication of nationalism, the construction of race in electoral politics, the intersection of racial and gender discourses in film and television, the engendering of Otherness by peoples of color, the impact of political cartoons on nineteenth-century immigration legislations as well as comparative analyses across racial-ethnic groups.  We are particularly interested in essays that use interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cultural perspectives.

Submission Guidelines and Review Process:

The guest editors, in consultation with the Amerasia Journal editors and peer reviewers, make the decisions on which submissions will be included in the special issue.  The process is as follows:

• Initial review of submitted papers by guest editors and Amerasia Journal editorial staff
• Papers approved by editors will undergo blind peer review
• Revision of accepted peer-reviewed papers and final submission

All correspondences should refer to “Amerasia Journal Exhibiting Race and Culture Issue” in the subject line.  Please send inquiries and manuscripts to Professor Constance Chen (cchen@lmu.edu), Professor Melody Rod-ari (mrodari@lmu.edu), and Dr. Arnold Pan, Associate Editor (arnoldpan@ucla.edu).