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Metonymic figures: Cultural representations of foreign domestic helpers and discourses of diversity in Hong Kong
Author(s)
Date Issued
2017
Journal
ISSN
2353-7795
Citation
Cultural Diversity in China, Jul 2017, vol. 3(1), pp. 1-20.
Description
Open Access
Type
Peer Reviewed Journal Article
Abstract
Foreign Domestic Helpers account for nearly half of Hong Kong’s total ethnic minority population and are therefore integral to any discussion of diversity in the postcolonial, global Chinese city. In Asia, discourses of diversity have evolved from the juncture of complex historical, political, and cultural factors including colonialism, postcoloniality, traditional and precolonial customs and values, religious and spiritual beliefs, as well as Western-derived liberal-democratic discourses of rights and citizenship. “Diversity” has been identified as one of the core values and attributes of the territory by the Hong Kong Government yet it is not a concept that is carefully interrogated and delineated. This essay examines discourses of diversity via analysis of a varied set of cultural representations of Foreign Domestic Helpers, including a television programme and advertisements, a work of short literary fiction, online erotic fiction, social media, as well as an example of multi-media artwork. Taken together, these representative forms provide insight into the cultural imaginary that shapes private and public discourse and perception. Using an approach informed by both cognitive linguistics and postcolonial studies, the essay focuses on metonymic techniques, for example, doubling and substitution to argue that representations of Foreign Domestic Helpers reveal the anxieties, fears, and desires of the dominant culture. The essay shows that the Foreign Domestic Helper becomes a critical figure around whom linked questions of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in the majority ethnic Chinese population of Hong Kong circulate.
外籍家庭傭工佔香港少數族裔將近一半的人口,因此多樣性討論對於中國的這個後殖民時代的國際大都市是不可或缺的.在亞洲,多元性的論述肇始於複雜的歷史,政治和文化因素的交會點,包括殖民主義,後殖民性,傳統和前殖民風俗與價值,宗教和精神信仰,以及源自西方有關權利與公民權的自由民主話語. "多樣性" 被香港政府認為是這片地域的屬性和核心價值之一,雖然這個概念還沒有被仔細地檢視和界定過.本文透過分析一組對外籍家庭傭工的不同文化表象,包括電視節目,廣告,短篇小說,網路情色小說,社群媒體以及多媒體藝術作品,來檢視多元性的論述.總而言之,透過這些表象形式,我們可以看到塑造私人和公共話語與觀念的文化想像.利用包含認知語言學和後殖民研究的方法,本文聚焦轉喻(metonymic)手法,例如替身(doubling)和角色替代(substitution),由此來說明外籍家庭傭工的表徵揭示了主導文化的焦慮,恐懼和慾求.本文顯示外籍家庭傭工變成盤旋在佔香港多數的華人群體中,連結族群,性別,性向和階級等議題中的一個重要角色.
外籍家庭傭工佔香港少數族裔將近一半的人口,因此多樣性討論對於中國的這個後殖民時代的國際大都市是不可或缺的.在亞洲,多元性的論述肇始於複雜的歷史,政治和文化因素的交會點,包括殖民主義,後殖民性,傳統和前殖民風俗與價值,宗教和精神信仰,以及源自西方有關權利與公民權的自由民主話語. "多樣性" 被香港政府認為是這片地域的屬性和核心價值之一,雖然這個概念還沒有被仔細地檢視和界定過.本文透過分析一組對外籍家庭傭工的不同文化表象,包括電視節目,廣告,短篇小說,網路情色小說,社群媒體以及多媒體藝術作品,來檢視多元性的論述.總而言之,透過這些表象形式,我們可以看到塑造私人和公共話語與觀念的文化想像.利用包含認知語言學和後殖民研究的方法,本文聚焦轉喻(metonymic)手法,例如替身(doubling)和角色替代(substitution),由此來說明外籍家庭傭工的表徵揭示了主導文化的焦慮,恐懼和慾求.本文顯示外籍家庭傭工變成盤旋在佔香港多數的華人群體中,連結族群,性別,性向和階級等議題中的一個重要角色.
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