Astria Suparak’s Asian Futures, Without Asians

Performative Lecture

Wed., March 11, 5:00pm (Doors at 4:30pm for general admission seating; no late seating.) Thurs., March 12, 7:00pm (Doors at 6:30pm for general admission seating; no late seating), followed by a panel discussion at 8:30pm with Professors Preeti Chopra (Visual Studies, South Asian Art & Architecture), Derek Johnson (Media & Cultural Studies, Film), & Nam Kim (Anthropology), moderated by Helen Lee (Glass Lab, Art Department)   Surveying 60 years of mainstream science-fiction cinema, this incisive and poetic work oscillates between humor and gravity. Suparak begins by breaking down the unstable category of “Asian” through a series of maps, regulations, and geopolitical trends — inclusive of East, Southeast, South, West, and Central Asia, as well as North Africa and the Pacific Islands. She draws connections between discriminatory rhetoric and historical legislation with present day anti-Asian and anti-Arab racism, detailing how they intersect with gender, class, and sexuality. In doing so, she reveals deeply embedded prejudices that have become normalized in contemporary visual culture.