Objects and Ornaments

Orientalism has been the primary lens for critiquing art and other forms of cultural production that reference Asia, the Middle East and North Africa ever since Edward Said published his seminal book on the topic in 1978. The term describes the way in which the West, historically, depicted those regions as exotic yet primitive, and how European and American artists repurposed Oriental cultures to suit their own colonialist narratives. But the world has changed drastically since then. China and India are now economic powerhouses and represent a global identity that largely rejects the Western gaze and dominance. Many artists from Asia and the diaspora view the future as a technological-flexible alternative to the rigid past. Orientalism, as an idea, should be reconsidered too—though critics and scholars have yet to present more up-to-date theories on appropriation.

Enter Anne Anlin Cheng, a professor of English and the director of American Studies at Princeton University, who seeks to present. The figure most affected by what Cheng describes as “crushing objecthood” is that of the “yellow woman”: an Asian female whose personhood has been constructed through inanimate “things,” or objects—that is, through ornamentation. By examining seemingly tired tropes pertaining to Asiatic femininity, the book picks up on the gendered subtext that has always been at the core of Orientalism. Cheng does not merely point out stereotypes that have long existed. Rather, her work goes a step further to unpack the mechanisms behind their existence.