【演講公告】“Not White, Not Quite” :「反黑人」世界中的亞洲研究

講題:“Not White, Not Quite” :「反黑人」世界中的亞洲研究
講者:Leo Ching (Professor, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)
時間:04/24(一), 15:00-17:00
地點:中興大學人文大樓712教室
主持人:朱惠足(中興台文所教授)
主辦單位:國立中興大學台灣文學與跨國文化研究所


Why should scholars of Asian Studies care about antiblackness? How do we go beyond tacitly acknowledging the lack of Black people in our fields or merely pointing out negative stereotypes of Black people in Asian media and popular culture? While recognizing the importance of the politics of representation, this talk will argue above all that antiblackness constitutes the foundation of "Western" modernity based on the devaluation of Black bodies including slavery and racial capitalism. Asian and other non-European nations, in their respective pursuit of modernity, accepted and internalized antiblackness and the racial hierarchy that undergirded such a dehumanization. From "honorary whites" to "model minorities," Asians, while not white, not quite, have positioned or have been positioned in, global antiblackness and enjoyed "gratifications of whiteness" indirectly and precariously. The lack of Black presence is substituted with the fondness or submissiveness to Whiteness. Through its complicity to white supremacy, Asians participate in antiblackness. The talk will conclude by arguing that antiblackness is less about Black people per se, but reflects longstanding systemic racism and the so-called blacklash, a perceived threat to not only White supremacy but also ethno-national imaginary of Japaneseness, Chineseness, etc.

為什麼亞洲研究學者應該關心「反黑人」?我們如何能不僅止於默認我們的領域缺乏黑人,或僅指出亞洲媒體和流行文化中黑人的負面刻板印象?在意識到再現政治的重要性之同時,本次演講主要將論證:「反黑人」構成了「西方」現代性的基底,而「西方」現代性奠基於對黑人身體的貶抑——包括奴隸制度和種族資本主義。亞洲和其他非歐洲國家在各自追求現代性的過程中,接受並內化「反黑人」、以及支撐此非人化行為的種族階層制度。從「榮譽白人」到「模範少數族群」,亞洲人雖然並不完全等同於白人,但早已定位或被定位在全球「反黑人」當中,間接且不穩定地享受著「白人性的滿足感(gratification of whiteness)」。對白人的喜愛或順從取代了黑人的缺席。透過與白人至上主義的合謀,亞洲人參與了「反黑人」。演講將總結:「反黑人」與黑人本身並無太大關連,而是反映了長期存在的系統性種族主義、以及所謂的「黑人反擊(blacklash)」——被視為不僅是對白人至上主義的威脅,也是對日本性、中國性等民族國家想像的威脅。