Although the word “theory” might evoke connotations of abstraction and detachment, in fact, theory shapes the world one lives in. Theory dictates much of everyday actions—how one interacts with others, how one conducts business and how one survives day to day. While theory might seem impractical and nonsensical to some, theory merely is “what we think” and in turn that “changes how we act” (“Why Theory?” by Gang of Four, 1981). This strikes a difference between fact—an objective reality—and the interpretation of that fact—subjective perspectives or how people perceive that fact. One might explain a simple observation or fact one way, while another might have a totally different take on the matter. Either way, “what we think changes how we act.” Theory cannot be ignored. The perception of everyday fact is always an interpretation, a way of thinking about things, and no matter how hard one can try to objectify reality theory will be used in order to make sense of this world. Theory is used constantly whether an individual may be conscious of it or not. This is crucial in understanding the Asian American experience—somewhat of an epistemological shift away from traditional Western perspectives and interpretations of “fact” and into a new field of study. I seek to explore how theory (more specifically, post-modernism, race and queer theory) has shaped and benefited Asian American academia and contributed to social change and social action.
Postmodernism has contributed significantly to Asian American movements by shifting the focus away from Western perspectives and Eurocentric lenses. Postmodernism can be best understood as a critique of modernity. This theoretical perspective is unique in that it is purely a reaction to (or more specifically, in opposition of) modernity. This theory is highlighted by Osajima “as a relational phenomenon, as perspectives situated in opposition to the power and practices associated with modernism” . Thus, in order to understand post-modernism as a helpful tool in Asian American studies, one must dive into the basic assumptions of modernity. Rationality, progress, linear development and universal truth are all words that characterize modernity. Stemming from the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason , the development of the physical sciences created an age where everyday life bore universal weight. This theory was born out of laboratories and universities, which bore legitimacy and a certain authority that could not be challenged. Consequently, a largely Eurocentric/Western perspective of modern life was perpetuated through the past few centuries . Modernity is a theoretical perspective that has dramatically “changed how we act” and is still a powerful force today.
Although, humanity has not reached an age of a complete shift to postmodernism, modernity has “come under increasing scrutiny in the last two decades” . A central argument by postmodernists have been pitted against the “narrow worldview emanating from a western European perspective” in the form of the critique of metanarratives, a universal story or experience. Metanarratives take the form of universal models such as social Darwinism, science, capitalism and Christianity. Only through these metanarratives can one undergo progress, modernists would say. However, Foucault, a prominent postmodernist (although he avoids this label) proposes that metanarratives are powerful because “they have come to be commonly accepted as true, and can define the normative standards by which the truth of other claims can be made” . Instead of seeing theory as a neutral force in the world, Foucault asserts that modernity enforces and asserts power through truth tactics. Consequently, post-modernists would say, metanarratives easily push other perspectives aside, rendering them as illegitimate, invisible or unimportant. The Asian American experience is one such of these perspectives that have been pushed aside by Western metanarratives and rendered invisible in most ways until the past few decades. This is clearly demonstrated through the 1968 San Francisco State Strike. Colored and ethnic students formed a coalition named the Third World Liberation Front and went on strike against the university. The TWLF mainly fought for the establishment of a College of Ethnic Studies . The reason for this strike lies in the epistemological struggle that post-modernists would qualify as making visible the once invisible narratives in reaction against western Eurocentric metanarratives. The students of SF State sought to shed light on the multiplicity of experiences, life and history that not merely lie in the hands of the western world—but in the hands of African Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans. These students drew from a Foucauldian tradition of resistance against the “truth regime” of modernity and sought to engage in an epistemological struggle that would change the modern world for years to come.
Queer theory, in a broad sense, has been derived from postmodernism as a way to think and to resist hegemonic norms in sexuality. While theory in a broad sense can dramatically affect social action and social change, postmodernism, as a way of thinking about the world, has given way to a variety of theories that dramatically affect social action including race and sexuality. Much of racial theory and sexuality are similar by the way of underlying postmodern tendencies. Nagel discusses the importance of race and sexuality as equally significant and, in fact, related in many ways “Just as the presence off female or male bodies does not automatically result in socially meaningful ‘men’ or ‘women,’ and just as differences in sexual practice or sexual desire do not always produce sexual identities and boundaries, differences in skin color, language, religion or ancestry do not always generate strong ethnic boundaries” . Ethnicity and sexuality are constructed and defined socially and subject to assertions of hegemonic power. Resistance to hegemonic norms, as a postmodern tendency, seeks to destabilize racial and sexual equilibriums by providing once invisible perspectives to the forefront. As Asian American studies have been brought to the forefront by the 1968 SF State Strike, so has queer theory been brought to the forefront by discussions of heteronormativity and critical approaches to sexuality.
However, the discussion of race and sexuality as related subjects do not merely lie in similarities but is further found in their underlying postmodern ties. As Foucault has highlighted the powerful effects of the modern metanarrative as a tool to maintain hegemony, post-moderns have sought to bring to light the narratives that have remained invisible for so long in the form of resistance. David L. Eng designates queer theory not as separate and distinct from racial theory but as interrelated. He points out that Asian American political activism has taken a shift in the 1980s away from traditional, class-based critique of race to “queerness as a critical methodology promising to open upon a much broader set of Asian American identities” . Eng continues to situate Asian American studies in terms of queerness as an understanding of transnational culturalism and diaspora—“its rethinkings of home and nation-state across multiple identity formations and numerous locations ‘out here’ and ‘over there’” . Asian American studies can be understood not only in terms of class as a source of political resistance but as “queered” in terms of spatial identities. This intersection of race and sexuality marks a form of post-modernism as race and queer theorists seek to dismantle the western, heteronormative metanarrative. They also seek to provide a means of resistance to such hegemony in a Foucauldian understanding of power and epistemology. Theory is what we think and in turn changes how we act. In the same way, race and queer theory embedded with post-modern undertones affect how people will act.
Theory is not merely abstract concepts that are separate from everyday life. In fact, much of what we think (theory) directly correlates to social action and change. However, this does not mean that Asian American Studies and academia will have profound influence in modern society if the appropriate measures are not taken. In order to engage in resistance, Dr. Cornel West, a contemporary social theorist (particularly dealing with race and class), encourages this notion of constant “Socratic questioning” in order to “engage in a critical and open-minded assessment of history of every dogma” as a right granted by the Founding Fathers in order to protect freedom . This commitment to resistance lends its roots to a critical approach to theory. Of course theory clearly affects how one acts on a everyday basis, however, one must engage critically to theory and understand the power of theory in the relationship between how “what we think changes how we act.” Socratic questioning lends us the tools to understand post-modernism, race and queer theory as important ways of thinking about Asian American studies and are vital in engaging in resistance to hegemonic norms in a Foucauldian tradition and understanding of power.
References:
Keith H. Osajima, “Postmodernism and Asian American Studies: A Critical Appropriation,” in Privileging Positions: The State of Asian American Studies, eds. Gary Okihiro et al. (Pullman WA: Washington State University Press, 1995), 22.
Glenn Omatsu, “The ‘Four Prisons’ and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s” in The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistance in the 1990s, ed. Karin Aguuilar-San Juan (Boston: South End Press, 1994), 19-69.
Joane Nagel, “Constructing Ethnicity and Sexuality: Building Boundaries and Identities,” in Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality: Intimate Intersections, Forbidden Frontiers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 37-62.
David L. Eng, “Out Here and Over There: Queerness and Diaspora in Asian American Studies,” Social Text 52/53 (1997): 43.
Kenneth Allan, “Race Matters: Cornel West (1953—),” in Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory: Visualizing Social Worlds (Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2006), 378.
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