عنوان

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Zhaocaimao (Lucky Cat) Constructed by the Chinese Communities in South Africa

Number

LA107197

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Zhaocaimao (Lucky Cat) Constructed by the Chinese Communities in South Africa

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Binjun Hu

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

This paper traces how Maneki-Neko becomes appropriated by a specific demographic of people (mostly business owners) in China as Zhaocaimao since the 1980s, and travels with the recent Chinese migrants to South Africa after Apartheid. It aims to demonstrate how the flows of people and cultural symbols were mutually constructed through the ongoing, intersected process of adaptation and appropriation in new territories. A multimodal discourse analysis was performed on texts and images collected from interviews with ten people in Johannesburg's Chinatowns. The paper arises from the conceptual backdrop of Sanders's (2015) theory on adaptation and appropriation and Appadurai's (1990) work on disjunctures in the politics of global culture. It argues that the process of sustained engagement between Maneki-Neko and the Chinese people who have appropriated it is mutually constructed and undergoes constant geopolitically embedded transformations of sinification as Maneki-Neko travels to new circumstances and contexts. Notably, the transnational appropriation and adaption of cultural symbols from folk traditions in a diasporic context create a sense of empowerment and ownership. Zhaocaimao in South Africa has become a symbol of a micro-identity against the backdrop of the disjunctive global economy and culture of today which turns the locality into a discursive field of Chinese identity/Chineseness and a site of ritual economy. This paper traces how Maneki-Neko becomes appropriated by a specific demographic of people (mostly business owners) in China as Zhaocaimao since the 1980s, and travels with the recent Chinese migrants to South Africa after Apartheid. It aims to demonstrate how the flows of people and cultural symbols were mutually constructed through the ongoing, intersected process of adaptation and appropriation in new territories. A multimodal discourse analysis was performed on texts and images collected from interviews with ten people in Johannesburg's Chinatowns. The paper arises from the conceptual backdrop of Sanders's (2015) theory on adaptation and appropriation and Appadurai's (1990) work on disjunctures in the politics of global culture. It argues that the process of sustained engagement between Maneki-Neko and the Chinese people who have appropriated it is mutually constructed and undergoes constant geopolitically embedded transformations of sinification as Maneki-Neko travels to new circumstances and contexts. Notably, the transnational appropriation and adaption of cultural symbols from folk traditions in a diasporic context create a sense of empowerment and ownership. Zhaocaimao in South Africa has become a symbol of a micro-identity against the backdrop of the disjunctive global economy and culture of today which turns the locality into a discursive field of Chinese identity/Chineseness and a site of ritual economy.

Date of Publication

2020

Physical description

99-132

Title

African and Asian Studies

Volume Number

19/1-2

International Standard Serial Number

1569-2108

Subject Term

adaptation

Subject Term

appropriation

Subject Term

Chineseness

Subject Term

diaspora

Subject Term

Maneki-Neko

Subject Term

Zhaocaimao (招财猫)

Binjun Hu

Call Number

10.1163/15692108-12341448

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y