Embracing the East : white women and American orientalism / Mari Yoshihara.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yoshihara, Mari, 1968- author.

Series:

ACLS Humanities E-Book (Series)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asia--Foreign public opinion, American.

Asia.

Asia--In literature.

United States--Race relations.

United States.

United States--Ethnic relations.

Women, White--Race identity--United States.

Women, White.

Women, White--United States--Ethnic identity.

Orientalism--Social aspects--United States.

Orientalism.

Public opinion--United States.

Public opinion.

East and West--History.

East and West.

Ethnic relations.

Literature.

Orientalism--Social aspects.

Public opinion, American.

Race relations.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2003]

Summary:

This study ranges across American literature, art & popular culture to examine how white American women found new forms of expression, and freedom in their construction of Orientalism. This interdisciplinary work draws on diverse materials and approaches, including performance studies & literary analysis.

As exemplified by Madame Butterfly, East-West relations have often been expressed as the relations between the masculine, dominant West and the feminine, submissive East. Yet, this binary model does not account for the important role of white women in the construction of Orientalism. Mari Yoshihara's study examines a wide range of white women who were attracted to Japan and China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and shows how, through their engagement with Asia, these women found new forms of expression, power, and freedom that were often denied to them in other realms of their lives in America. She demonstrates how white women's attraction to Asia shaped and was shaped by a complex mix of exoticism for the foreign, admiration for the refined, desire for power and control, and love and compassion for the people of Asia. Through concrete historical narratives and careful textual analysis, she examines the ideological context for America's changing discourse about Asia and interrogates the power and appeal--as well as the problems and limitations--of American Orientalism for white women's explorations of their identities.; Combining the analysis of race and gender in the United States and the study of U.S.-Asian relations, Yoshihara's work represents the transnational direction of scholarship in American Studies and U.S. history. In addition, this interdisciplinary work brings together diverse materials and approaches, including cultural history, material culture, visual arts, performance studies, and literary analysis.

Contents:

Introduction

PART ONE: Materializing Asia

1. Asia as Spectacle and Commodity: The Feminization of Orientalist Consumption

2. Visualizing Orientalism: Women Artists' "Asian" Prints

PART TWO: Performing Asia

3. "When I Don Your Silken Draperies": New Women's Performances of Asian Heroines

4. Racial Masquerade and Literary Orientalism: Amy Lowell's "Asian" Poetry

5. "Side by Side with These Men I Lie at Night": Sexuality and Agnes Smedley's Radicalism

PART THREE: Authorizing Asia

6. "Popular Expert on China": Authority and Gender in Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth

7. Re-gendering the Enemy: Culture and Gender in Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Conclusion

Materializing Asia

Performing Asia

Authorizing Asia.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-235) and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (, viewed July 8, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Yoshihara, Mari, 1968- Embracing the East.

ISBN:

9780198033233

0198033230

0195185102

9780195185102

019514533X

9780195145335

0195145348

9780195145342

128053530X

9781280535307

1282367374

9781282367371

9786612367373

6612367377

9786610535309

6610535302

1602564590

9781602564596

0190287004

9780190287009

OCLC:

57365434

Publisher Number:

2027/heb02736 hdl

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license