Fetishization and Orientalism, What Do?
The fetishization of people that are different from you has always been an issue, sadly. It helps facilitate the colonization of those people since it reduces them to a simple and easy-to-dismantle stereotype. As a Puerto Rican growing up in Puerto Rico, the concept of imperialism and colonization was never far from my mind. It colors your everyday life! The fact that we're classified as a Commonwealth and a Free Associated State (a classier way of saying colony) makes it hard to avoid. Everything from the price of groceries, the cost of gas is underpinned by our colonial relationship with the US.
That's also not including the complicated race relations with Puerto Rico! While yes, most people are mixed to some degree with African, Spanish, and Taino descent, the issue is incredibly complex and nuanced. I love those diverse aspects of my culture, but it goes without saying that it came about from the rape, pillaging, and murder of the Tainos and the African slaves that were brought here. It's a loaded topic that I would like to explore in a future blog post—and even then, it's still not enough! That's also without factoring in how we treat Afro-Latinxs, seemingly forgetting that they have much more in common with us than the Americans and Europeans many White Latinxs are trying so desperately to emulate.
Edward Said's Orientalism—A Moment of Absolute Clarity.
Teaching history in Puerto Rico has always been rife with historic revisionism, cherry-picking, and xenophobia. One of the foundational books that the Silent Generation and Boomers used to learn about our own history was written by an American, so you can take a wild guess as to how accurate it could have been. It treated indigenous people as a monolith, so Taino traditions were fussed with the Aztecs and the Mayans indiscriminately. There are people today that still learn history in this manner! There way too many indiscretions to go through but suffice it say, it's not a good way for us to learn about our history and culture. El Boricuazo, a project spearheaded by Jesús Omar Rivera, a Puerto Rican radio and TV personality, started as a fun idea to teach Puerto Ricans interesting and lesser-known facts about our history. It quickly became much more than that, helping more and more Puerto Ricans learn their own history, free from outsider perspectives. It's not the ultimate solution, but it's a fantastic starting point.
When I entered the University of Puerto Rico in 2009 as a Comparative Literature major, the first El Boricuazo book has just come out (in 2008). It got a lot of people talking! While his book focuses more on unique and random facts about Puerto Rico, it got people curious to learn more. This book came at a time that I was a bit at odds with my identity since I didn't exactly fit the stereotype mold of how many puertorricans perceive themselves. I was considering transferring to an American university after my first year. However, in that one year, I finally felt that love and pride that many of my countrymen feel. I felt profoundly passionate about showcasing our history and culture as it was—no white-washing and no more running away from the uglier aspects. In my first year, my Social Sciences professor, Zoraida Santiago Buitrago, gave us Edward Said's seminal work, Orientalism, as assigned reading. I can't understate how life-changing it was! It helped me see how colonialism colors our everyday life, from my personal experience and seeing it done to others. It started a process of unlearning, relearning, and seeing the world from a more informed perspective
So, What Do?
After reading Said's book, it felt like a veil was lifted from my eyes (reading books that expand your awareness and force you to look at the world around you critically will do that to you). I would suggest that everyone read it, but if I were to give you the biggest takeaway, it's this: Western Culture's depiction of the "Orient" is a product of imperialism. These attitudes and behaviors exist to uphold these systems of abuse, labor, and exploitation. There's no two ways about it, folks. As an Art Historian, I'm no stranger to the practices of Orientalism and Fetishization in museums. It happens everywhere! The people subjected to these attitudes can change from country to country, but it's no coincidence that cultures dominated by BIPOC peoples are almost always on the shit end of the proverbial stick.
Like most things I've talked about, the solution to this issue isn't simple. The best place to start is to look inward. Examine your behaviors towards people in these racial and ethnic groups with an honest and critical lens. You might be a progressive individual, but there still might be some inherent social biases that you absorbed from the culture around you. Don't be overly cruel to yourself, but be aware of your actions and how they might have affected others.
Remember, no culture is a monolith. Asian and Oriental (at one point) is a term used to define people that live in a specific area that share some traits but nothing more. Even people living in one nation aren't a monolith. People living in Beijing probably aren't the same as those from Manchuria. Orientalism has become analogous with painting people from Asian and Arab countries with broad strokes, in order to make them easier to dehumanize, invade and rule. These are the same practices from the colonial exploitation from the Americas and Africa, thinly veiled as a desire for cultural exploration.
These are complex topics to confront but necessary to face. Nothing changes if we don't do anything about it! While this blog post doesn't offer a solution (I don't think any singular piece of writing can), I hope it opens up your mind and helps you start reevaluating how you look at the world around you.
