Abstract:In this paper, I explore how stories of lost and broken worlds have been tied to hopes a... more Abstract:In this paper, I explore how stories of lost and broken worlds have been tied to hopes about the redemptive possibilities of a new generation. I historicize and complicate the idea of children as environmental stewards of an imagined planetary future. I investigate the issue further by examining the particular figure of the child redeemer and our "investment in the image of the child as a sign of the future, as defence against loss of significance in the world" (Lebeau 179). Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant and Clio Barnard's recent film adaptation of Wilde's book will be the objects of my discussion. Barnard's film, set in the post-industrial landscape of Bradford, England, offers child protagonists who unsettle the familiar fantasy of redemption and invite us to think past sentimental and nostalgic arguments for ecological preservation (premised on preserving an unjust world as it is). While it is important not to topple the myth of childhood innocence only to resurrect another myth of childhood agency, I am interested in these moments of refusal and how they point to the limits of a sentimental ecology.
Maclear's interpretation of Lem's exhibition - large scale photographic portraits silkscr... more Maclear's interpretation of Lem's exhibition - large scale photographic portraits silkscreened onto cloth banners, film loops and a small wooden shrine - addresses notions of personal and collective memory, family history and home. Includes list of works. Biographical notes. 9 bibl. ref.
My initial interest in examining the issues presented in this article began in the spring of 1993... more My initial interest in examining the issues presented in this article began in the spring of 1993, when I first learned of an unprecedented $69 million class action suit filed against the U.S. government on behalf of the 8,600 Filipino Amerasian children left without adequate child support and compensation when the Subic Naval Base was closed in November 1992. As I followed the progress of the lawsuit (noting the dearth of media coverage), it struck me that much of the information North Americans receive about "Amerasians" has relied on imperialist rhetoric and certain patterned representation. The trope of the "marginal" and "tragic" Amerasian, recently showcased in the musical Miss Saigon, appeared as a consistent feature in many of the texts I began to review. As a "mixed-race(d)" woman, I became interested in the impact of these constructions from my own social location. (What does the presence of an Amerasian child do to narratives of "East/West" romance? How were boundaries between "races" and "nations" being naturalized on the site of the Amerasian body so as to re-consolidate white domination and U.S. hegemony?) I became concerned with identifying the weave of stories and images that were constituting Amerasians in such ways as to block other narratives from forming -- narratives that might script new hybrid ways of writing against "race," racism and narrow nationalisms. Any attempt to articulate an oppositional discourse must perforce interrogate the processes of boundary-making that have sustained such interlocking and overlapping relations of domination as imperialism, militarism, prostitution, racism, and sexism. If, for example, we accept Cynthia Enloe's characterization of military bases as "artificial societies created out of unequal relations between men and women of different races and classes" (1989, p. 2, my emphasis), then I believe it is imperative that we (as North Americans) mount our challenge by investigating the diffuse strategies and discourses that have produced and guarded concepts of immutable "difference." In simpler terms, we must look at how hierarchical "difference" is made so that we can begin to unmake it. My main objective in this article is to argue that representational practices have been crucial in mediating and naturalizing historically constructed "dividing lines." Colonialism's dividing lines have been perpetuated through media discourse and popular culture. Our task is to understand how common-sense coheres around these normalizing social scripts. North American narratives of "East-West" romance, remain, for the most part, white and male-dominated imperial fictions. The continent of Asia itself (or herself, since the "East" is often feminized), reduced in its vastness and heterogeneity, provides an oppositional frame of reference for the working out of symbolic dramas of white, male selfhood. The self-edifying discourse of imperialism's triumph over the "Oriental" female is an integral part of the structuring metaphors in these texts. (1) Yet while sex between "races" is often seen as a necessary extension of conquest, sex between "races," and more specifically, sex between people of two "different" and ostensibly unequal "nations," is never depicted as a good thing. (2) When it takes place, it is almost without exception seen as an unhealthy relationship with dire consequences. Whether it is the portrayal of two "star-crossed lovers" as in the musical Miss Saigon, or the monolithic (and often dehistoricized) depictions of Amerasian children in North American mainstream media as tragic victims of circumstance, the message is clear: unions between "races" are doomed. When racialized boundaries are blurred, biological freaks and psychologically maladjusted social misfits are conceived. Historically, the Amerasian figure has been pitched as a subtle warning of the perils involved in "race"-crossing. The paucity of other story lines makes it all the more important to understand how the one story functions to hold the existing racialized social order in place. …
Publication documenting a project in which eight women artists (Private Investigators) participat... more Publication documenting a project in which eight women artists (Private Investigators) participated in a three-week long series of performative interventions for which Banff was used as a stage set. Walter situates the artists’ works within the contexts of situationism and feminism, and suggests that the artists employ irony, parody and masquerade as forms of social critique. The author also provides descriptive analyses of each work, which are accompanied by Maclear’s “eyewitness accounts” of the site-responsive interventions. Issues discussed include: tourism, private and public space, the social construction of sex, lesbian identity and aboriginal spirituality. Includes selected journal entries by Chen and Michalofski on their “Oracle Brand” performance; brief texts by Radul on the public display of affection by heterosexual couples; transcribed field reports by the Lesbian National Parks Rangers (Dempsey and Millan); a brief statement on the significance of Niro’s and HeavyShield’s braid; a note on Kennedy’s “Windows” website. Brief biographical notes. 10 bibl. ref.
... Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Atomic Visions 29 Be... more ... Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Atomic Visions 29 Because There Were and There Weren't Cities Called Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2. Art from the Ashes 55 3. The Art of Witnessing 73 4. Strange Gaze 89 5. Mourning the Remains 117 6. The ...
Race to the Page: Positioning as a Writer of "Mixed Race"(f.1)Kyo Maclear Department of... more Race to the Page: Positioning as a Writer of "Mixed Race"(f.1)Kyo Maclear Department of Sociology in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Toronto, OntarioOnce upon a time, not so long ago...Almost a century has passed since "mixed raced" writer Sui Sin Far (1865 - 1915) wrote her autobiographical essay, "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian." As a context - specific document, "Leaves" offers a glimpse into one woman's journey as a racialized writer during a period in which ruling narratives constituted "race" as biologically determined, and thus immutable. Born to a Chinese mother and English father, and raised in Montreal during the late nineteenth century, Sui Sin Far provides an interesting point of departure for this article.At a time of entrenched, and often violent anti - Chinese racism, Sui Sin Far actively positioned herself as a "Chinese writer." The constructed nature of this assumed...
Abstract:In this paper, I explore how stories of lost and broken worlds have been tied to hopes a... more Abstract:In this paper, I explore how stories of lost and broken worlds have been tied to hopes about the redemptive possibilities of a new generation. I historicize and complicate the idea of children as environmental stewards of an imagined planetary future. I investigate the issue further by examining the particular figure of the child redeemer and our "investment in the image of the child as a sign of the future, as defence against loss of significance in the world" (Lebeau 179). Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant and Clio Barnard's recent film adaptation of Wilde's book will be the objects of my discussion. Barnard's film, set in the post-industrial landscape of Bradford, England, offers child protagonists who unsettle the familiar fantasy of redemption and invite us to think past sentimental and nostalgic arguments for ecological preservation (premised on preserving an unjust world as it is). While it is important not to topple the myth of childhood innocence only to resurrect another myth of childhood agency, I am interested in these moments of refusal and how they point to the limits of a sentimental ecology.
Maclear's interpretation of Lem's exhibition - large scale photographic portraits silkscr... more Maclear's interpretation of Lem's exhibition - large scale photographic portraits silkscreened onto cloth banners, film loops and a small wooden shrine - addresses notions of personal and collective memory, family history and home. Includes list of works. Biographical notes. 9 bibl. ref.
My initial interest in examining the issues presented in this article began in the spring of 1993... more My initial interest in examining the issues presented in this article began in the spring of 1993, when I first learned of an unprecedented $69 million class action suit filed against the U.S. government on behalf of the 8,600 Filipino Amerasian children left without adequate child support and compensation when the Subic Naval Base was closed in November 1992. As I followed the progress of the lawsuit (noting the dearth of media coverage), it struck me that much of the information North Americans receive about "Amerasians" has relied on imperialist rhetoric and certain patterned representation. The trope of the "marginal" and "tragic" Amerasian, recently showcased in the musical Miss Saigon, appeared as a consistent feature in many of the texts I began to review. As a "mixed-race(d)" woman, I became interested in the impact of these constructions from my own social location. (What does the presence of an Amerasian child do to narratives of "East/West" romance? How were boundaries between "races" and "nations" being naturalized on the site of the Amerasian body so as to re-consolidate white domination and U.S. hegemony?) I became concerned with identifying the weave of stories and images that were constituting Amerasians in such ways as to block other narratives from forming -- narratives that might script new hybrid ways of writing against "race," racism and narrow nationalisms. Any attempt to articulate an oppositional discourse must perforce interrogate the processes of boundary-making that have sustained such interlocking and overlapping relations of domination as imperialism, militarism, prostitution, racism, and sexism. If, for example, we accept Cynthia Enloe's characterization of military bases as "artificial societies created out of unequal relations between men and women of different races and classes" (1989, p. 2, my emphasis), then I believe it is imperative that we (as North Americans) mount our challenge by investigating the diffuse strategies and discourses that have produced and guarded concepts of immutable "difference." In simpler terms, we must look at how hierarchical "difference" is made so that we can begin to unmake it. My main objective in this article is to argue that representational practices have been crucial in mediating and naturalizing historically constructed "dividing lines." Colonialism's dividing lines have been perpetuated through media discourse and popular culture. Our task is to understand how common-sense coheres around these normalizing social scripts. North American narratives of "East-West" romance, remain, for the most part, white and male-dominated imperial fictions. The continent of Asia itself (or herself, since the "East" is often feminized), reduced in its vastness and heterogeneity, provides an oppositional frame of reference for the working out of symbolic dramas of white, male selfhood. The self-edifying discourse of imperialism's triumph over the "Oriental" female is an integral part of the structuring metaphors in these texts. (1) Yet while sex between "races" is often seen as a necessary extension of conquest, sex between "races," and more specifically, sex between people of two "different" and ostensibly unequal "nations," is never depicted as a good thing. (2) When it takes place, it is almost without exception seen as an unhealthy relationship with dire consequences. Whether it is the portrayal of two "star-crossed lovers" as in the musical Miss Saigon, or the monolithic (and often dehistoricized) depictions of Amerasian children in North American mainstream media as tragic victims of circumstance, the message is clear: unions between "races" are doomed. When racialized boundaries are blurred, biological freaks and psychologically maladjusted social misfits are conceived. Historically, the Amerasian figure has been pitched as a subtle warning of the perils involved in "race"-crossing. The paucity of other story lines makes it all the more important to understand how the one story functions to hold the existing racialized social order in place. …
Publication documenting a project in which eight women artists (Private Investigators) participat... more Publication documenting a project in which eight women artists (Private Investigators) participated in a three-week long series of performative interventions for which Banff was used as a stage set. Walter situates the artists’ works within the contexts of situationism and feminism, and suggests that the artists employ irony, parody and masquerade as forms of social critique. The author also provides descriptive analyses of each work, which are accompanied by Maclear’s “eyewitness accounts” of the site-responsive interventions. Issues discussed include: tourism, private and public space, the social construction of sex, lesbian identity and aboriginal spirituality. Includes selected journal entries by Chen and Michalofski on their “Oracle Brand” performance; brief texts by Radul on the public display of affection by heterosexual couples; transcribed field reports by the Lesbian National Parks Rangers (Dempsey and Millan); a brief statement on the significance of Niro’s and HeavyShield’s braid; a note on Kennedy’s “Windows” website. Brief biographical notes. 10 bibl. ref.
... Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Atomic Visions 29 Be... more ... Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Atomic Visions 29 Because There Were and There Weren't Cities Called Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2. Art from the Ashes 55 3. The Art of Witnessing 73 4. Strange Gaze 89 5. Mourning the Remains 117 6. The ...
Race to the Page: Positioning as a Writer of "Mixed Race"(f.1)Kyo Maclear Department of... more Race to the Page: Positioning as a Writer of "Mixed Race"(f.1)Kyo Maclear Department of Sociology in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Toronto, OntarioOnce upon a time, not so long ago...Almost a century has passed since "mixed raced" writer Sui Sin Far (1865 - 1915) wrote her autobiographical essay, "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian." As a context - specific document, "Leaves" offers a glimpse into one woman's journey as a racialized writer during a period in which ruling narratives constituted "race" as biologically determined, and thus immutable. Born to a Chinese mother and English father, and raised in Montreal during the late nineteenth century, Sui Sin Far provides an interesting point of departure for this article.At a time of entrenched, and often violent anti - Chinese racism, Sui Sin Far actively positioned herself as a "Chinese writer." The constructed nature of this assumed...
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