Wednesday, February 24, 2016

“MADE IN CHINA? Trinidad and the Case for a Hemispheric Asian American Studies”

Sponsored by Asian / Asian American Studies Institute in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Associate Professor SEAN METZGER will make the case for a hemispheric Asian American studies via the work of several artists from Trinidad by examining the ways Chineseness has shaped and continues to shape this Caribbean island nation.

Moving from the Society of Trinidad Independents through the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago to the more contemporary work of Christopher Cozier, Metzger’s talk will probe the ways in which Chinese investment – both fiscal and cultural – have molded this small island and what the implications of such investment in helping to shift understandings of local and national cultures. This talk builds on earlier work as a Framing the Global fellow with Indiana University and Indiana University Press for which he is working on a second book, tentatively called The Chinese Atlantic.

Professor Metzger works at the intersections of Asian American, Caribbean, Chinese, film, performance and sexuality studies. His first book, Chinese Looks: Fashion, Performance, Race (Indiana UP, 2014) examines articles of clothing and modes of adornment as a window on how American views of China have changed in the past 150 years, from yellow-face performance in the 19th century to Jackie Chan in the 21st century. The text provides a cultural history of three iconic objects in theatrical and cinematic performance: the queue, or man’s hair braid; the woman’s suit known as the qipao; and the Mao suit – as each object emerges at a pivotal moment in US-China relations.

He has co-edited several collections of essays, the most recent entitled Islands, Images, Imaginaries with Francisco J. Hernández Adrián and Michaeline Crichlow, published as a special issue of the journal Third Text in 2014. In addition to his academic work, he spent three years in social services at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and as an independent consultant to school districts and other non-profit institutions. He continues consulting work on an ad-hoc basis. Prior to his arrival at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Metzger was assistant professor of English, theater studies, and Asian & Middle Eastern studies at Duke University.