Description
Book Synopsis Investigating the politics of seeing and its effects, this book draws on Slavoj Žižek’s notion of fetish and Walter Benjamin’s notion of the optical unconscious to offer newer concepts: “tinted glasses”, through which we see the world; “unit-thinking”, which renders the world as consisting of discrete units; and “coherants”, which help fragmented experiences cohere into something intelligible. Examining experiences at a Japanese heritage language school, a study-abroad trip to Sierra Leone, as well as in college classrooms, this book reveals the workings of unit-thinking and fetishism in diverse contexts and explores possibilities for social change.
Trade Review “This is a unique book that is both theoretically lucid and draws together a very interesting set of seemingly incommensurable ethnographic examples and renders them comparable.” • Paul Manning, Trent University
“In its coherence and patience with dwelling on specific concepts and the optics of engagements with particular objects, the manuscript offers refreshing and trans-disciplinary insights into contemporary culture.” • John Borneman, Princeton University
Table of Contents Acknowledgments
Introduction: Tinted Glasses, Unit Thinking, and Coherants
Chapter 1. The Politics of Vision and the Fetish beyond Optical Unconscious: Towards Spectacle Pedagogy
Chapter 2. Seeing Failed Ninja, Ghost Samurai, and Last Samurai: Phantom Japan at a Weekend Japanese Language School in the US
Chapter 3. Seeing Angels: The Fetish of Smiling Angels in the “Poor but Happy” Discourse in Sierra Leone
Chapter 4. Seeing Holy Mouth Man: Fetish of Study Abroad Transformation Talk
Chapter 5. Seeing Dr Jekyll in Mr. Hyde: Political Others and Beyond Polarization of “Critical” and “Uncritical”
Chapter 6. Seeing Fairies and Anti-Spectacle Pedagogy: Cottingley Photographs of Fairies and Linguistic Landscape Project
Chapter 7. Seeing Santa Claus and Elves: Swinging between Fantasy-World-for-Escape and Scrutinized-World-for-Change
Chapter 8. Seeing Robbers, Freaks, and Dirt: Seeing Maui’s Fishhook in Scorpio and Fetish of Us
Conclusion: Continuing Dialogues
References
Index
