In thinking about dieselpunk’s aesthetics and historical context and how to engage with that without glorifying war and Nazis or relying on Orientalist tropes, I plan on going through a list of media and articles to set a baseline for dieselpunk as it’s currently expressed and discussed.
I’ll be adding to this regularly.
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When I say “disorienting”, I mean it in the traditional sense of the word: I want us to lose our bearings, to stray from the paths we know. I want us to be lost. I want us to deconstruct and dismantle the familiar and unfamiliar. In disorienting us, I want to offer us the opportunity to reclaim our paths on our own terms.
disorient, v., to displace, to lose one’s bearings, to lose one’s sense of time, of place, of identity
But when I say “disorienting”, I also mean it in an imagined sense of the word: perhaps not disorienting, but unorienting. I turn from the ideologies that homogenized my ancestors and millions of others into “the Orient”. I turn from the true east I know, the European influence that dominates the land I’ve settled on. I disorient the Orient. I reorient the Orient.
disorient, v., to dismantle Orientalism, to accord individuality to the homogenized Orient
And when I say disorienting us, I mean to say that I am not omniscient: I don’t know all the answers. I learn and theorize, and I’m disoriented along with you.
These are nascent thoughts. Over time, they’ll solidify. Most likely they’ll change. However they morph, I’m honored that you’re here with me.
This is an archive of an inactive blog. My thoughts and opinions may have changed since the publication of these posts.
disorienting us is the thinky-thoughts blog of one S. Qiouyi Lu, who is, among other things, second-generation Han Chinese-American, genderescent, and nonbinary. Ae/aer/aers, they/them/theirs, and pronounless references are all acceptable.
