RG ST 71 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Oedipus Complex, Hierophany, Federal Holidays In The United States
Polly Bemis (Lalu Nathoy) 1894
➔Photo taken as a requirement of the federal gov’t (ID photograph)
◆All Chinese in US needed to have photograph taken and sent to the gov’t
◆Coincidence: The only other people who were photographed and cataloged were
criminals
➔Demonstrates counter-disciplinarity
◆Her photo is interpreted as her being Christian (hand is resting on something
assumed to be a Bible) or heroically settling down in the US as a Chinese
immigrant and being successful (nice clothes)
◆These assumptions are made through lenses
● When religious and Asian American biases are denied, her true self can
be understood
○ Polly Bemis as Lalu Nathoy, a Mongol and Muslim
Gue Owen
“A Christian Chinese American from Grangeville and Lewiston, Idaho”
Positioned with confidence and wealth
➔Shows the confidence that Christianity gave to immigrants
Whistler’s Mother aka “Arrangement in Gray and Black”
➔Mother is a standard icon of American motherhood
➔Curtains are a Japanese set
◆In this very American icon, orientalism is present
➔techniques and detail with the art are Influenced by Japanese aesthetics
◆Even in the most mundane American icons, there is a mixture of Eastern and
Western culture
Chang and Eng Bunker (1811-1874)
➔Siamese twins from Siam
◆Orientalist fascination disappears because they are baptists
● People wanted to imagine them as being exotic
➔Part of the circus
2 definitions of religion
Functional definitions: religion is instrumental, functions to do work for human individuals and
groups
POSITIVE
Melford Spiro
➔Culturally-patterned interactions with culturally-postulated superhuman beings
◆Ritual actions that are valued by a particular community with gods
➔Trying to create a definition broad enough to encompass all religions
➔favored by anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists
◆Religion operates within a matrix of other things within society
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Document Summary
Photo taken as a requirement of the federal gov"t (id photograph) All chinese in us needed to have photograph taken and sent to the gov"t. Coincidence: the only other people who were photographed and cataloged were criminals. Her photo is interpreted as her being christian (hand is resting on something assumed to be a bible) or heroically settling down in the us as a chinese immigrant and being successful (nice clothes) When religious and asian american biases are denied, her true self can be understood. Polly bemis as lalu nathoy, a mongol and muslim. A christian chinese american from grangeville and lewiston, idaho . Shows the confidence that christianity gave to immigrants. Whistler"s mother aka arrangement in gray and black . Mother is a standard icon of american motherhood. In this very american icon, orientalism is present. Techniques and detail with the art are influenced by japanese aesthetics.
