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Oxford University Press, USA
Virtual Orientalism: Asian Religions and American Popular Culture
Virtual Orientalism: Asian Religions and American Popular Culture
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Saffron-robed monks and long-haired gurus have become familiar characters on the American popular culture scene. Jane Iwamura examines the contemporary fascination with Eastern spirituality and provides a cultural history of the representation of Asian religions in American mass media.
Encounters with monks, gurus, bhikkhus, sages, sifus, healers, and masters from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and religious traditions provided initial engagements with Asian spiritual traditions. Virtual Orientalism shows the evolution of these interactions, from direct engagements with
specific individuals to mediated relations with a conventionalized icon: the Oriental Monk. Visually and psychically compelling, the Oriental Monk becomes for Americans a ''figure of translation''--a convenient symbol for alternative spiritualities and modes of being. Through the figure of the
solitary Monk, who generously and purposefully shares his wisdom with the West, Asian religiosity is made manageable-psychologically, socially, and politically--for popular culture consumption. Iwamura's insightful study shows that though popular engagement with Asian religions in the United States
has increased, the fact that much of this has taken virtual form makes stereotypical constructions of the spiritual East obdurate and especially difficult to challenge.
Author: Jane Iwamura
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/14/2011
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780199738618
Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2011
Encounters with monks, gurus, bhikkhus, sages, sifus, healers, and masters from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and religious traditions provided initial engagements with Asian spiritual traditions. Virtual Orientalism shows the evolution of these interactions, from direct engagements with
specific individuals to mediated relations with a conventionalized icon: the Oriental Monk. Visually and psychically compelling, the Oriental Monk becomes for Americans a ''figure of translation''--a convenient symbol for alternative spiritualities and modes of being. Through the figure of the
solitary Monk, who generously and purposefully shares his wisdom with the West, Asian religiosity is made manageable-psychologically, socially, and politically--for popular culture consumption. Iwamura's insightful study shows that though popular engagement with Asian religions in the United States
has increased, the fact that much of this has taken virtual form makes stereotypical constructions of the spiritual East obdurate and especially difficult to challenge.
Author: Jane Iwamura
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/14/2011
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780199738618
Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2011
About the Author
Jane Naomi Iwamura is Assistant Professor of Religion and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on Asian American religions, race and popular culture in the United States (with an emphasis on visual culture), and her publications include the co-edited volume, Revealing the Sacred in Asian and Pacific America (2003).
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