Global Cultures Essay West Rest

Claire Lemaigre
Creative Direction for Fashion Year 2
Cultural and Historical Studies
Global Cultures


"Segments of the modern world of commodities are working hard to create a belief that difference, with respect of ethnicity and race, no longer rests upon the supremacy of Western culture… however… contemporary culture is presenting open desire for the Other in a completely new way" (Sernhede, 2000)



"Segments of the modern world of commodities are working hard to create a belief that difference, with respect of ethnicity and race, no longer rests upon the supremacy of Western culture… however… contemporary culture is presenting open desire for the Other in a completely new way" (Sernhede, 2000)



The essay question is posing a problematic dichotomy/opposition (`however`) between the alleged illusion/belief that Western supremacy no longer exists AND contemporary culture is creating new forms of Othering. My essay will challenge this dichotomy by questioning the very categories of western, eastern and the other, showing that othering is a complicated multi dimensional process… not a one way traffic…

Provincializing Europe – Chakrabarti


While this question seems to be encouraging the reader to talk about the West's desire for the East and western supremacy, I find it more interesting to disagree with the question, and turn it on its head, saying that, yes, contemporary Eastern culture is presenting desire for the Other (in the case, the West), in a new way: by turning it into the other. This question is interesting because of the different debates it opens up about transnational flows, the Other, and the relationship between the West and the Rest. Does Western culture reign supreme, enforcing hegemony upon so-called Other cultures? Do changing commodity flows, and a changing consumer, mean that a change is coming about, in which Eastern cultures demand as much respect as Western cultures? Does desire only exist in a Western gaze upon an Eastern, or exotic, scene or person? This essay is trying to prove that an important power shift towards the Rest is slowly taking place, and has been taking place for a few decades, shown by shifting luxury spending and the SUBALTERN/OTHER having a voice.

The main discussion in this essay will be about the West and the Rest. Stuart Hall coined the concept of the West and the Rest, which is a theory about how the West "Others" the Rest of the world, and also how the concept of West only exists because of the concept of the Rest. He defines the West as "a society that is developed, industrialized, urbanized, capitalist, secular, and modern" (Hall and Gieben, 1992). The Rest is everything that is left, which truly is the literal meaning of the word. This is a great example of hegemony, which is a cultural dominance that is consensual: the West defines the Rest as such, but the Rest allows, even encourages it to happen by conforming to Western manners of dress.

Include a reference re hegemony Edward Said`s intro to Orientalism + original concept is in Antonio Gramsci



This will be further discussed later. The Rest, in the example of West and the Rest, is the Other: they are similar concepts. Othering someone is the act of defining ones own positive identity through stigmatizing, exoticising and denigrating an Other: it is also a concept that only exists as a negative of something else: the Other only exists if there is a normative way of being, in this case being Western. This Western way of Othering something, or someone, is an example of discourse. Discourse is a written or spoken statement that influences actions, and of course is told/written by someone/many people with great power, and often society at large. Lastly, there are transnational flows: these can be cultural flows, economic flows, or political flows, but they are all happening between nations, and come about simply through nations having contact. Two examples of this will be discussed: in the influx of Japanese designers to Paris, and in the recent example of Americana acting as a source of inspiration for a young, female and Japanese designer. SUBALTERN?


1st : The West is traditionally seen as powerful and the image of modernity, causing other countries to dress like it (Edwards, 2007; Molony, 2007) As a capitalist world, does money not equate to power? Therefore, does the luxury-spending chart below not mean that the Rest now has more power than the West?
And yes, while the assumption can be made that brands bought are mostly Western (with Italian companies taking 24% of luxury sales and French companies taking 25% of luxury sales (D'Arpizio, 2013) ), the rest of this essay is proving that "that slow and uneven…story of the decentring of the West" (Hall, 1996) is coming true.

What, why, who, when, where, how: An image published in the Financial Times in October 2014, showing luxury consumers' nationalities, and how much each nationality would spend, on average. It is relevant because it shows how much less the Western consumer is willing to spend, thus decreasing their relevance to luxury brands.


2nd: The Japanese overtaking of Paris beginning in the 70s began to show a great change that was beginning to take place: kondo


3rd: Toga A/W14, Japanese female designer (yasuko Furuta), influenced by Americana, Othering the West?
Something that is interesting in this show is Yasuko Furuta's decision to use white and black models, as normally she uses Asian models


Style.com images of Toga A/W14, collection inspired by America, in horse print, denim, aprons worn by blacksmiths, butchers etc. Designer Yasuko Furuta.











Good quotes:
"geographical separateness helped to naturalize its Otherness" (Jordan and Weeden, 2000)
Jordan, G. and Weeden, C. (2000). When the Subalterns Speak, What Do They Say? Radical Cultural Politics in Cardiff Docklands. In: S. Hall, ed., Without Guarantees: In Honour of Stuart Hall, 1st ed. London: Verso, p.168.
"'enthusiasm for aliens' was the term used to describe the increasing interest of the bourgeoisie in places and peoples from other continents" (Sernhede, 2000)
"the roots of modern exoticism may… be found in the era of the discovery of the new world. The discovery forced Europe to reflect over what it means to be civilized and European." (Sernhede, 2000)
"a longing to escape civilization and its discontents became the basis for a burgeoning fascination with foreign cultures" (Sernhede, 2000)
"there is a craving to posess certain of the desired attributes of the Other at the same time that the Other must be destroyed because he represents something perceived as lacking in oneself" (Sernhede, 2000)
"we fear or idealize the Other not because he is evil or good but rather because he, through being different, is charged with beliefs that correspond to deeply embedded unconscious needs" (Sernhede, 2000)
Sernhede, O. (2000). Exoticism and Death as a Modern Taboo: Gangsta Rap and the Search for Intensity. In: S. Hall, ed., Without Guarantees: In Honour of Stuart Hall, 1st ed. London: Verso, pp.300-315.
"both the popular and the postcolonial are elaborated in terms of contesting the powers of a hegemonic formation that seeks to establish and maintain their subalternity not only in economic and political terms but also in cultural and aesthetic ones" (Chambers, 2000)
Chambers, I. (2000). At the End of this Sentence a Sail Will Unfurl... Modernities, Musics and the Journey of Identity. In: S. Hall, ed., Without Guarantees: In Honour of Stuart Hall, 1st ed. London: Verso, pp.65-75.






Bibliography:
1. Hall, S. and Gieben, B. ed., (1992). The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power. In: Formations of Modernity, 1st ed. Cambridge: The Open University, pp.184-225.
2. Molony, B. (2007). Gender, Citizenship and Dress in Modernizing Japan. In: M. Roces and L. Edwards, ed., The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas, 1st ed. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, p.85.
3. Edwards, L. (2007). Dressing for Power: Scholars' Robes, School Uniforms and Military Attire in China. In: M. Roces and L. Edwards, ed., The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas, 1st ed. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, p.42.
4. D'Arpizio, C. (2013). Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study Fall 2013 - Bain & Company. [online] Bain.com. Available at: http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/luxury-goods-worldwide-market-study-fall-2013.aspx [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].
5. Hall, S. (1996). The Question of Cultural Identity. In: S. Hall, D. Held and K. Thompson, ed.,Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies, 1st ed. Massachusetts: Blackwell, p.69.