Ackbar Abbas

M. Ackbar Abbas

On June 30, 1997, Hong Kong as we knew disappeared, ceased its singular and ambiguous existence as a colonial holdover and became part of the People's Republic of China. In an exploration of its cinema, architecture, photography, and literature, Ackbar Abbas considers what Hong Kong, with its unique relations to decolonization and disappearance, can teach us about the future of both the colonial city and the global city. The culture of Hong Kong encompasses Jackie Chan and John Woo, and postmodern skyscrapers. According to Abbas, Hong Kong's peculiar lack of identity is due to its status "not so much a place as a space of transit", whose residents think of themselves as transients and migrants on their way from China to somewhere else. Abbas explores the way that Hong Kong's media saturation changes its people's experience of space so that it becomes abstract, dominated by signs and images that dispel memory, history, and presence. Hong Kong disappears through simple dualities such as East/West and tradition/modernity. What is missing from a view of Hong Kong as merely a colony is the paradox that Hong Kong has benefitted and made a virtue of its dependent colonial status, turning itself into a global and financial city and outstripping its colonizer in terms of wealth. Combining theory and a critical perspective, this work captures the complex situation of the metropolis that is contemporary Hong Kong. Ackbar Abbas is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong. This book is intended for students and researchers working in Asian and cultural studies.

Culture and the Politics of Disappearance

Hong Kong

Wimal Dissanayake

John Nguyet Erni

Internationalizing Cultural Studies is an unprecedented resource that introduces and consolidates existing key and important writings in cultural studies literature from different regions of the world. The editors have designed the readings to challenge practitioners in the West and beyond to redefine cultural studies as a truly global movement. Contains 44 contemporary essays that introduce diverse intellectual traditions of cultural studies Includes lively and accessible introductions from an international panel of expert editors Features worldwide coverage, including Asia, Europe, and Africa Organizes material around key themes to aid disciplinary discussion – including race and ethnicity, transnationalism, gender and sexual cultures, media production and consumption, urban life, popular practices, technocultures, and visual cultures Offers shape – for the first time in one volume – to this complex and diverse field

An Anthology

Internationalizing Cultural Studies

David Martinez

Jean-Marc Lalanne

Jimmy Ngai

First monograph on the Hong Kong filmmaker, an important figure in contemporary cinema regarded as one of the best filmmakers of his generation Wong Kar-wai films the flow of contemporary images from the inside, hones them to an almost dizzying point of seductiveness, but also addresses the damage they do. Individuals are alone, orphaned, unfit for love, unable to exert the slightest influence on reality. His films works like prisms--collecting the luminous reflections of cityscapes and the somber psyches of his characters, diffracting them in the brightly colored facets of a video clip. There remains what is the true measure of any great filmmaker: a perfectly articulated vision of the state of the world, here and today. Directors influenced by Wong include Quentin Tarantino, Sofia Coppola, Tsui Hark and Barry Jenkins. Wong Kar-wai (born 1956) is an award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker and producer. Notable films include Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love, 2046, My Blueberry Nights and The Grandmaster. In May 2018, he was awarded a Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.

Wong Kar Wai

Ackbar Abbas

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