New Collection



INTRODUCING A DIGITAL COLLECTION OF PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Diaspora Race: Navigating Identity in Asian Modernity

Aihwa Ong, 2024

This  digital collection connects several of my published articles around the theme of Asia’s evolving aesthetics and identity—from urban spaces to individual experiences to contemporary art—within a global context. My overarching thesis posits that global capitalism and racial aesthetics intersect and collide, shaping the dynamic aesthetic, cultural, and political landscape of Asian modernity. A significant aspect of this interplay is the shifting representation of the highly mobile ethnic Chinese, viewed through a global hall of mirrors that generates a spectrum of transnational racial status. Global consumer, media, and  art markets portray elite Asian status, offering positive representation for Asian Americans long marginalized in Western media. However, does the newfound cultural capital of being Asian represent merely an adjustment of Western aesthetic models rather than a fundamental departure?