LASA/EANLAS: Rethinking Trans-Pacific Ties: Asia and Latin America

The gaze of Coloniality: a dilemma of Asian immigrants in Brazil

• In Event: Asian Communities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Over the years, Brazilian society’s discussion of colonial heritage has focused on the unbalanced conditions between European descent and African or Indian descent, which of course is closely related to its colonial and slavery history. Beginning in the 19th century, a large number of Japanese, Lebanese, Syrian, Korean, and Mainland Chinese people immigrated and settled in Brazil, profoundly changing the population here, especially in the southeastern region. However, due to the comparatively recent history of Asian immigrants, this group has been excluded, to a certain extent, from racial discussions. Are Asian immigrants affected by the colonial heritage after arriving in Brazil? This paper intends to discuss how to explain the general experience of social exclusion of Brazil's Asian descendants, even after three or more generations of living in the receiving country.
To answer this question, this article analyses the common and unconscious gaze from the European tradition, which is received as dominant by the whole society, while other groups of people, including Asian descents, are viewed as, even for themselves, observed objects from outside. Based on the Male Gaze theory of Laura Mulvey and Quijano’s Coloniality of Power theory, the Gaze of Coloniality shows its existence from basic education to art theory, and its influence on the self-positioning of every ethnic group.

Authors

• Jinxu Wang, Universidade de São Paulo

• Ana C Pompeu, Universidade de São Paulo