عنوان

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

شماره

LA107197

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

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

نام عام مواد

[Article]

نام نخستين پديدآور

Binjun Hu

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

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.

تاريخ نشر

2020

توصيف ظاهري

99-132

عنوان

African and Asian Studies

شماره جلد

19/1-2

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

1569-2108

اصطلاح موضوعی

adaptation

اصطلاح موضوعی

appropriation

اصطلاح موضوعی

Chineseness

اصطلاح موضوعی

diaspora

اصطلاح موضوعی

Maneki-Neko

اصطلاح موضوعی

Zhaocaimao (招财猫)

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Binjun Hu

شماره بازیابی

10.1163/15692108-12341448

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y