[Commlist] New book: The Sublime Object of Orientalism: Asian Physical Culture in the West

Paul Bowman is very happy to let you know that the latest book - /The 
Sublime Object of Orientalism: Asian Physical Culture in the West /- has 
been published today by Hong Kong University Press. Here is the blurb:

/The Sublime Object of Orientalism/ proposes that globalised Asian 
physical cultural practices such as taiji, qigong, yoga, and meditation 
can be understood by examining the intimate connection between Western 
orientalism and the Romantic aesthetic notion of the sublime. The book 
recasts ‘orientalist physical culture’ as practices animated by the 
sublime and argues that this relationship is stronger than has hitherto 
been recognised by commentators.

Bowman combines new readings of philosophers and cultural critics such 
as Slavoj Žižek and Jane Iwamura with analyses of film, media, and Asian 
physical practices and their entrepreneurial forms to shed light on the 
quest to articulate a philosophy of orientalist physical culture. He 
also explores ways to make sense of orientalist physical culture in the 
contemporary world and evaluate the often-problematic ideologies that 
circulate around these cultural practices without either uncritically 
accepting their value or rejecting them outright. This empathetic and 
accessible volume is a must-read for students, researchers, and teachers 
of cross-cultural studies, cultural theory, postcolonialism, and 
orientalism.

For good measure, here are the cover endorsements:

‘Bowman underscores the urgency of bringing both the physical and the 
metaphysical, the embodied and the aesthetic into critical dialogue with 
the histories of Orientalism. The result is a captivating tour of the 
persistence of the sublime in the West’s putative encounters with Asian 
cultures. Beautifully articulated with erudition, feeling, and candour, 
this is a central work for a globally interconnected approach to 
cultural studies.’

—Rachel Harrison, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), 
University of London


‘In /The Sublime Object of Orientalism/, Paul Bowman does not shy away 
from calling out scholars of “the Orient” on their willingness to treat 
Said’s paradigmatic critique as somehow sacred ground. Indeed, in 
highlighting the physical part of “oriental” physical culture, Bowman 
forces us to consider whether Orientalism-as-accusation may be the most 
Orientalist act of all.’

—Adam D. Frank, author of /Taijiquan and the Search for the Little Old 
Chinese Man: Understanding Identity through Martial Arts/


The book is available through Hong Kong University Press here: 
https://hkupress.hku.hk/Sublime_Object_of_Orientalism 
<https://hkupress.hku.hk/Sublime_Object_of_Orientalism>

It is also distributed in the US by the University of Chicago Press: 
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo280178696.html 
<https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo280178696.html>

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