Title Tonal intelligence : the aesthetics of Asian inscrutability during the long Cold War / Sunny Xiang

Published New York : Columbia University Press, [2020] ©2020

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 353 pages) : illustrations Series Literature Now Literature now. Contents Introduction: Hardly war, partly history -- The tone of intelligence : unconventional warfare and its archives -- The tone of the rumors : something in the air -- The tone of the times : a surpassing hurry -- The tone of documentation : the brainwashee's drone -- The tone of intimacy : among the fish -- Coda: The tone of commons : solidarities without a solid Summary Why were U.S. intelligence organizations so preoccupied with demystifying East and Southeast Asia during the mid-twentieth century' Sunny Xiang offers a new way of understanding the American cold war in Asia by tracing aesthetic manifestations of 'Oriental inscrutability' across a wide range of texts. She examines how cold war regimes of suspicious thinking produced an ambiguity between 'Oriental' enemies and Asian allies, contributing to the conflict's status as both a 'real war' and a 'long peace.' Xiang puts interrogation reports, policy memos, and field notes into conversation with novels, poems, documentaries, and mixed media work by artists such as Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ha Jin, and Trinh T. Minh-ha. She engages her archive through a reading practice centered on tone, juxtaposing Asian diasporans who appear similar in profile yet who differ in tone. Tonal Intelligence considers how the meaning of race, war, and empire came under pressure during two interlinked periods of geopolitical transition: American 'nation-building' in East and Southeast Asia during the mid-twentieth century and Asian economic modernization during the late twentieth century. By reading both state records and aesthetic texts from these periods for their tone rather than their content, Xiang shows how bygone threats of Asian communism and emergent regimes of Asian capitalism have elicited distinct yet related anxieties about racial intelligibility. Featuring bold methods, unlikely archives, and acute close readings, Tonal Intelligence rethinks the marking and making of race during the long cold war.-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Sunny Xiang is assistant professor of English at Yale University In English Print version record Subject Orientalism -- United States -- History -- 20th century Cold War -- Secret service Asians in literature. Asians in motion pictures. Asian Americans -- Race identity Propaganda, American -- Asia -- History -- 20th century Propaganda, American -- Pacific Area -- History -- 20th century Asian Americans -- Ethnic identity LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- Asian American. Asian Americans -- Race identity Asians in literature Asians in motion pictures Diplomatic relations Orientalism Propaganda, American Public opinion, American SUBJECT Asia -- Foreign public opinion, American Pacific Area -- Foreign public opinion, American United States -- Foreign relations -- 1945-1989. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140098 Subject Asia Pacific Area United States Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780231551915 0231551916

Other Titles Aesthetics of Asian inscrutability during the long Cold War

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