Suaina Maira and Edward Said

                  In the article “Indo-Chic: Late Capitalism Orientalism and Imperial Culure” by Susaina Maira, it mentions the emergence of Indo-chic during the 1990s and how the South Asian youth contributed to it commercialization in the United States.  The setting of the study was in Northampton where it consisted of upper-middle class white people.  Even though there was not a local Indian American community, there were some who went to the local colleges in the city.  When the writer mentioned about “diversity” in which the institution values, it reminds of the diversity that UC Davis also values.  In the article, it mentions that “institution claims to be racial and ethnic minority equal access” but mask the the degree to which the “larger institution still fails to address the needs of population of color.” (231 Maira) Even though the South Asian youth students are able to create a space for their community at the institution, South Asian are still invisible and they are not considered part of the town.  In this case they are seen a perpetual foreigner due to their phenotype.  So South Asian youth creates their own identity in this town by bringing with them pieces of their ethnic culture, such as henna and Bindis.  However, there is also a conflict among the youth because when it comes to culture, they question its authenticity.  The reason is because they are creating an image for themselves through capitalist consumption.  They are redefining their images, or culture, through the lenses of white Americans in order for them to feel neutralized in the town.  This goes to show that people of color are constantly reworking their culture and image in order feel normal in the white American society.  Even though an institution claims to be “diverse,” there are a certain status quo that everybody has to meet.  In this case, we constantly have to rework our image in order to fit the image of American perception of Asian American.  This shows the hegemonic power that the US contains when it comes to their imperialistic power.  Using their power to define the images and perception of the minority group in order to fit the status quo.  These status quos masked the struggles that lots of people of color community go through and is depleting that idea the racism and discrimination still exist in this era. 

                  In the article “Arabs, Islam and the Dogmas of the West” by Edward Said, it mentions the origin of the term orientalism.  Orientalism is a Western idea of the great Asiatic mystery that is opposed to the West.  There is an absolute and systematic difference between the West and Orient.  For instance, orient is always perceived as mysterious, underdeveloped and inferior to the rational, developed and human “West.”  However, these perception is meant for the West to be superior to the Orients in order to maintain power.  This article heavily criticized the west for its lack of reforming and deconstructing the ideas of differentiating the West and Orients.  It is important to deconstruct these ideas because it heavily influence the way Asian American are treated in the United States.  For instance, we are aware with the amount of accommodation people of color have to do in order to fit in the American style.  One example is can be seen in the Vietnam Idol where it tries to adapt the notion of “success” from American Idol.  For its first season, it had low ratings and the producer blamed the contestant for its lack of expression instead of rationalizing that the low rating was due to demographics.  With its effort in trying to push for technological innovation in their shows, the show is masking the diversity within the country.  They are masking the rural area where it cannot seek access to the opportunities that people in urban area has.