CCS Seminar: IOSARN - 'Em-Butterflying Japanese: A Comparative Reflection on Australia's Oriental Fantasies'

Seminar Invitation

The Indian Ocean and South Asia Research Network (IOSARN) at UTS invites you to a seminar by Professor Nakamura Kazue from Meji University, Tokyo, Japan:

'Em-Butterflying Japanese: A Comparative Reflection on Australia's Oriental Fantasies'

Tuesday, 12 October, 12.30 to 2 pm, UTS Bldg 10 (235 Jones St), Level 5, Room 580

Abstract

Stereotyped images of Asians is a popular trope in Australian cultural history. Discourses of the 'Yellow Peril' in Australia include notions of promiscuity, fertility and effeminacy, all of which make Asians the site both of desire and repulsion. Asians are 'brown rabbits' invading white Australia with their fecundity and huge population numbers but they are also effeminate or 'em-butterflied'. Interestingly, however, Japanese studies on the 'Yellow Peril' often underestimate, or even disregard, the role of Australia in this problematic. This seminar explores the tenacious fantasy of the 'Asian' other from a Japanese viewpoint, comparing them with indigenous images of the Japanese, and using amongst others, Charles H. Pearson's famous National Life and Character (1893), Milca Eliade's Maitreyi (1933) and Alison Tilson's recent film Japanese Story (2003).

Profile

Nakamura Kazue specializes in the study of Postcolonial Literatures in English and comparative studies of literature and culture, with a special interest in ethnic and sexual minorities. She is the author of the collection of poetry Lazrus the Lizard as well as two collections of columns and essays. She has published short stories, translated Caribbean, Black British and other transcultural literatures in English. She is currently a visiting researcher at the Japanese Studies Centre at Monash University, Melbourne.

RSVP: Cornelia.Betzler@uts.edu.au

Free event. All welcome. We are looking forward to seeing you there.