Metonymic Figures: Cultural Representations of Foreign Domestic Helpers and Discourses of Diversity in Hong Kong

S. Jayawickrama, 萨兰雅· 扎雅卫迦玛
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

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.
转喻人物:外籍家庭佣工的文化表征与香港的多元话语
外籍家庭佣工占香港少数族裔人口总数的近一半,因此,在这个后殖民、全球化的中国城市,任何关于多样性的讨论都不可或缺。在亚洲,多样性的话语是从复杂的历史、政治和文化因素的交汇处演变而来的,这些因素包括殖民主义、后殖民主义、传统和殖民前的习俗和价值观、宗教和精神信仰,以及西方衍生的关于权利和公民身份的自由民主话语。“多样性”已被香港政府确定为香港的核心价值和属性之一,但这并不是一个经过仔细研究和界定的概念。本文通过分析外籍家庭佣工的各种文化表现形式,包括电视节目和广告、短篇文学小说、网络色情小说、社交媒体,以及多媒体艺术作品的例子,来探讨多样性的话语。总的来说,这些代表性的形式提供了对塑造私人和公共话语和感知的文化想象的见解。采用认知语言学和后殖民研究的方法,本文着重于转喻技术,例如,加倍和替代,以论证外国家庭佣工的表现揭示了主流文化的焦虑、恐惧和欲望。这篇文章表明,外籍家庭佣工成为一个关键人物,围绕着他们,有关香港大多数华裔人口的种族、性别、性取向和阶级的问题流传开来。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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