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Asian American Studies Today
Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media
What will the future look like? To judge from many speculative fiction films and books, from Blade Runner to Cloud Atlas , the future will be full of cities that resemble Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and it will be populated mainly by cold, unfeeling citizens who act like robots. Techno-Orientalism investigates the phenomenon of imagining Asia and Asians in hypo- or hyper-technological terms in literary, cinematic, and new media representations, while critically examining the stereotype of Asians as both technologically advanced and intellectually primitive, in dire need of Western consciousness-raising.
The collection’s fourteen original essays trace the discourse of techno-orientalism across a wide array of media, from radio serials to cyberpunk novels, from Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu to Firefly . Applying a variety of theoretical, historical, and interpretive approaches, the contributors consider techno-orientalism a truly global phenomenon. In part, they tackle the key question of how these stereotypes serve to both express and assuage Western anxieties about Asia’s growing cultural influence and economic dominance. Yet the book also examines artists who have appropriated techno-orientalist tropes in order to critique racist and imperialist attitudes.
Techno-Orientalism is the first collection to define and critically analyze a phenomenon that pervades both science fiction and real-world news coverage of Asia. With essays on subjects ranging from wartime rhetoric of race and technology to science fiction by contemporary Asian American writers to the cultural implications of Korean gamers, this volume offers innovative perspectives and broadens conventional discussions in Asian American Cultural studies.
The collection’s fourteen original essays trace the discourse of techno-orientalism across a wide array of media, from radio serials to cyberpunk novels, from Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu to Firefly . Applying a variety of theoretical, historical, and interpretive approaches, the contributors consider techno-orientalism a truly global phenomenon. In part, they tackle the key question of how these stereotypes serve to both express and assuage Western anxieties about Asia’s growing cultural influence and economic dominance. Yet the book also examines artists who have appropriated techno-orientalist tropes in order to critique racist and imperialist attitudes.
Techno-Orientalism is the first collection to define and critically analyze a phenomenon that pervades both science fiction and real-world news coverage of Asia. With essays on subjects ranging from wartime rhetoric of race and technology to science fiction by contemporary Asian American writers to the cultural implications of Korean gamers, this volume offers innovative perspectives and broadens conventional discussions in Asian American Cultural studies.
272 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2015
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December 2, 2019this was pretty ok ! as someone coming in with no background, this was fruitful but by nature went wide and shallow - a collection of v short essays around/on techno-orientalism.
good ground covered:
- generally the idea of asian bodies being both laboriously human and inhumanly futuristic is cool; the idea of asia being both the future at its best and most dehumanizing is cool
- really liked chasing roots of techno-orientalism in depictions of japanese soldiers in 1905 (‘horde’, brutal but machine-like in turns, inhumanly self sacrificing).
- loved the read on western and esp. kotaku’s coverage of asian gamer death, and its connection with larger Western fascination with ‘inhuman’ and unsustainable work done by asian bodies, from gold farming for money to simply leisure-gaming so hard you die in an internet cafe.
- validating to hear how gibson might actually be good still, but only his later stuff that’s more reflexive (japan looking at the west looking at japan)
- i just wanna know more about fu manchu now and that’s great
- hey did you know that the guy who wrote red dawn went on the write homefront? and companies that make army war training video games also make popular ones? fucked up. not one-hundo on how directly that’s about techno-orientalism, but good to know
- close reading of the difference engine, and its ‘temporal’ placement of asia, africa, and europe was just well written.
- reads of singapore and japan capitalizing/using/being themselves influenced by western conceptions of asia being the neoliberal technological future was spicy also
cons: i was sort of scrabbling for a foothold of what techno-orientalism actually is, esp in relation to orientalism. this made the Point of close readings of say, Son of Sinbad in the context of techno-orientalism hard to grasp (isn't that just orientalism?) some dates were thrown out to demarcate the start of techno-orientalism - the japanese-russian war in 1905, fordism, 1980s when japan became both a massive consumer and massive producer of western media and technology - but nothing definitive. some unifying principles were suggested too: both orientalism and techno-orientalism are about modernity, but if orientalism is a product of the west then techno-orientalism is also a product of "information capitalism" (not further defined). chinese and japanese consumerism, bidirectional trade/information transfer, conception of asia as the locus and symbol of futurity - none of these came up in all the essays consistently enough for me to stand firmly on.
the other hiccup for me is that while yellow peril and fear of a north korean or japanese invasion and vietnam war came up, islamaphobia or war on terror did not. this seems odd when the essays do talk about Son of Sinbad, harem girls, and cheap indian labor. in general this comes back down to the definition of techno-orientalism (is islamaphobia out of scope? why?). but also, asian enough to support my argument, not asian enough for nuance/specificity is such a chinese/eastasian american thing to do tbh.
finally there was some mention of techno-orientalism encapsulating a non-hegemonic take on orientalism, one where asia has a say on the orientalist narrative being taken (japan especially in dialogue with the west). however, that felt like a really big hole that wasn’t addressed by these american and canadian essay writers. wish to see more but so it goes.
good ground covered:
- generally the idea of asian bodies being both laboriously human and inhumanly futuristic is cool; the idea of asia being both the future at its best and most dehumanizing is cool
- really liked chasing roots of techno-orientalism in depictions of japanese soldiers in 1905 (‘horde’, brutal but machine-like in turns, inhumanly self sacrificing).
- loved the read on western and esp. kotaku’s coverage of asian gamer death, and its connection with larger Western fascination with ‘inhuman’ and unsustainable work done by asian bodies, from gold farming for money to simply leisure-gaming so hard you die in an internet cafe.
- validating to hear how gibson might actually be good still, but only his later stuff that’s more reflexive (japan looking at the west looking at japan)
- i just wanna know more about fu manchu now and that’s great
- hey did you know that the guy who wrote red dawn went on the write homefront? and companies that make army war training video games also make popular ones? fucked up. not one-hundo on how directly that’s about techno-orientalism, but good to know
- close reading of the difference engine, and its ‘temporal’ placement of asia, africa, and europe was just well written.
- reads of singapore and japan capitalizing/using/being themselves influenced by western conceptions of asia being the neoliberal technological future was spicy also
cons: i was sort of scrabbling for a foothold of what techno-orientalism actually is, esp in relation to orientalism. this made the Point of close readings of say, Son of Sinbad in the context of techno-orientalism hard to grasp (isn't that just orientalism?) some dates were thrown out to demarcate the start of techno-orientalism - the japanese-russian war in 1905, fordism, 1980s when japan became both a massive consumer and massive producer of western media and technology - but nothing definitive. some unifying principles were suggested too: both orientalism and techno-orientalism are about modernity, but if orientalism is a product of the west then techno-orientalism is also a product of "information capitalism" (not further defined). chinese and japanese consumerism, bidirectional trade/information transfer, conception of asia as the locus and symbol of futurity - none of these came up in all the essays consistently enough for me to stand firmly on.
the other hiccup for me is that while yellow peril and fear of a north korean or japanese invasion and vietnam war came up, islamaphobia or war on terror did not. this seems odd when the essays do talk about Son of Sinbad, harem girls, and cheap indian labor. in general this comes back down to the definition of techno-orientalism (is islamaphobia out of scope? why?). but also, asian enough to support my argument, not asian enough for nuance/specificity is such a chinese/eastasian american thing to do tbh.
finally there was some mention of techno-orientalism encapsulating a non-hegemonic take on orientalism, one where asia has a say on the orientalist narrative being taken (japan especially in dialogue with the west). however, that felt like a really big hole that wasn’t addressed by these american and canadian essay writers. wish to see more but so it goes.
July 12, 2022
a truly phenomenal collection … I would have written a better thesis if I finished this entirely before I started writing LOL … but also, it was a very fascinating read regardless
July 21, 2020
A few of the chapters I really enjoyed ("I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley," "The Mask of Fu Manchu, Son of Sinbad, and Star Wars IV: A New Hope: Techno- Orientalist Cinema as a Mnemotechnics of Twentieth- Century U.S.- Asian Conflicts," and "Racial Speculations: (Bio)technology, Battlestar Galactica, and a Mixed- Race Imagining") but several chapters I found convoluted since I hadn't consumed the original source material (or perhaps I lack in my comprehension of critical literature). Nonetheless, this book is essential for sci-fi (especially cyberpunk) lovers.
November 13, 2017
Essential reading.
February 17, 2022
An excellent collection of essays, really well-organized. I don't know very much about the topic of techno-Orientalism, and I found this text to be a great entry point.
December 26, 2025
This was mentioned by a friend back in September who was taking a class on this topic. It was my first foray into Asian American studies scholarship and techno-orientalism, so the essays took a substantial amount of context to understand.
Techno-orientalism is a modern and more sophisticated extension of orientalism as defined by Said, in that it continues the west's portrayal of the east as backwards and uncivilized. However, it does so using hypermodern and futuristic environments with orientalist symbolism while dehumanizing or excluding Asian individuals. This juxtaposition reinforces the roles of the west/occidental traveler as moral arbiter with individualistic agency constrated with the east/oriental foil as marginalized and fetishized victim of exploitative neoliberalism.
It took until the conclusion to really understand the shared themes of the essays, especially since I was familiar with none of the speculative fiction texts, films, or television series mentioned in the essays.
A few of the earlier essays discuss yellow peril through the lens of techno-orientalism, using speculative fiction as a way to uncover anxieties in the west regarding the economic or martial rise of Asian nations. I found this particularly interesting, as I have seen yellow peril discussed using sociological, legal, and economic frameworks, but not through depictions in media.
It also harkens to Claire Jean Kim's racial triangulation theory later on while discussing the role of anti-Asianness and anti-blackness in false universality, seen in multiple mediums of speculative media, which combine purported "color-blind" constructions with techno-primitivism and techno-orientalism.
Two essays that stood out to me:
I, Stereotype by Seo-Young Chu specifies a set of constraints where stereotypes (shortcuts) can be used ethically, which also classifies most uses as unethical. This means there is a need for education about and reclamation of stereotypes about Asian Americans in media that we create to prevent self-perception through destructive stereotypes. I really liked this framework since it prevents ambiguity over whether or not a stereotype is truly harmful, through providing a clear delination according to three criteria. Expanding on this idea, in addition to creating new art that subverts these stereotypes, what room is there for using new tools to modify existing art to prevent unethical uses of stereotypes?
A Poor Man from a Poor Country by Charles Park made me think more closely about some ideas I considered back in high school. Park contends that techno-orientalist readings of Paik (a video artist who incorporates Asian and Buddhist themes in his work) is an incorrect categorization. Instead, Park sees it as representative of lived experiences crossing cultures, rather than a deliberate act of self-orientalization. It's clear that the economic and cultural incentives for artists of Asian descent to incorporate vaguely oriental themes into their work are significant. This was also true for writers when Frank Chin criticized the formulaic "Chinese American autobiography" written to appeal to white readers. Instead of taking a categorical stance that all melding of east and west is inauthentic, drawing from both requires both knowledge of both (through study or lived experience) and a willingness to depart from the norms of both. I agree with Park in seeing Paik's journey as authentic and emblematic of what Asian Americans experience: simultaneous cultural modalities across space (the immigration experience and visits) and time (retaining elements of a culture that existed at one point in Asia but is now only experienced by the diaspora).
Techno-orientalism is a modern and more sophisticated extension of orientalism as defined by Said, in that it continues the west's portrayal of the east as backwards and uncivilized. However, it does so using hypermodern and futuristic environments with orientalist symbolism while dehumanizing or excluding Asian individuals. This juxtaposition reinforces the roles of the west/occidental traveler as moral arbiter with individualistic agency constrated with the east/oriental foil as marginalized and fetishized victim of exploitative neoliberalism.
It took until the conclusion to really understand the shared themes of the essays, especially since I was familiar with none of the speculative fiction texts, films, or television series mentioned in the essays.
A few of the earlier essays discuss yellow peril through the lens of techno-orientalism, using speculative fiction as a way to uncover anxieties in the west regarding the economic or martial rise of Asian nations. I found this particularly interesting, as I have seen yellow peril discussed using sociological, legal, and economic frameworks, but not through depictions in media.
It also harkens to Claire Jean Kim's racial triangulation theory later on while discussing the role of anti-Asianness and anti-blackness in false universality, seen in multiple mediums of speculative media, which combine purported "color-blind" constructions with techno-primitivism and techno-orientalism.
Two essays that stood out to me:
I, Stereotype by Seo-Young Chu specifies a set of constraints where stereotypes (shortcuts) can be used ethically, which also classifies most uses as unethical. This means there is a need for education about and reclamation of stereotypes about Asian Americans in media that we create to prevent self-perception through destructive stereotypes. I really liked this framework since it prevents ambiguity over whether or not a stereotype is truly harmful, through providing a clear delination according to three criteria. Expanding on this idea, in addition to creating new art that subverts these stereotypes, what room is there for using new tools to modify existing art to prevent unethical uses of stereotypes?
A Poor Man from a Poor Country by Charles Park made me think more closely about some ideas I considered back in high school. Park contends that techno-orientalist readings of Paik (a video artist who incorporates Asian and Buddhist themes in his work) is an incorrect categorization. Instead, Park sees it as representative of lived experiences crossing cultures, rather than a deliberate act of self-orientalization. It's clear that the economic and cultural incentives for artists of Asian descent to incorporate vaguely oriental themes into their work are significant. This was also true for writers when Frank Chin criticized the formulaic "Chinese American autobiography" written to appeal to white readers. Instead of taking a categorical stance that all melding of east and west is inauthentic, drawing from both requires both knowledge of both (through study or lived experience) and a willingness to depart from the norms of both. I agree with Park in seeing Paik's journey as authentic and emblematic of what Asian Americans experience: simultaneous cultural modalities across space (the immigration experience and visits) and time (retaining elements of a culture that existed at one point in Asia but is now only experienced by the diaspora).
March 31, 2023
This was pretty good. I got the book a while ago and was spurred to read it by a different research project I was doing that referenced it.
It's a nice introductory text, I think. I like all the multimedia analysis. I don't think there are that many actually published books on techno-orientalism. A lot of stuff I've seen have just used it as a technique for analysis. It's a good work and I'm glad it's out there, big rec if you're interested, a lot of prereq texts though so read those before you read an analysis of it
It's a nice introductory text, I think. I like all the multimedia analysis. I don't think there are that many actually published books on techno-orientalism. A lot of stuff I've seen have just used it as a technique for analysis. It's a good work and I'm glad it's out there, big rec if you're interested, a lot of prereq texts though so read those before you read an analysis of it
September 10, 2022
good, 3.5, feel like i can expand on this
October 23, 2022
just found out techno is racist :(
July 1, 2021
super interesting read, examined harmful scifi tropes that I had never considered before
August 14, 2021
Mr. Roh, Ms. Huang and Ms. Niu wherever you are have a great day
August 22, 2021
i read this for class and surprisingly really liked it. really makes you think about asian portrayal in media and how harmful it can be when playing into stereotypes
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews