Few people understand the term “Orientalism” and especially how it’s used in the media and in connection with ethnic groups.

Sylvia Chan-Malik, a doctoral candidate at the University of California-Berkeley, spoke to about 40 people Tuesday evening in a speech titled “Orientalism is Forever: Islam, Hip Hop, and the remaking of Asian-American Studies.”

A candidate to join Northwestern’s Asian-American studies department, Chan-Malik said Orientalism explains how and why Asian Americans are perceived as strange, exotic and foreign. She said she hopes to teach classes on Orientalism that incorporate other ethnic studies.

Pop culture can be analyzed through Orientalism, she said. Young people are exposed to media, such as magazine covers and music videos that stereotype ethnic groups.

“Very rarely do young people stop to think about what it means,” Chan-Malik said. “How what you’re watching is related to what you are living and how race works in this country.”

Chan-Malik said artists in the black hip-hop community, such as Busta Rhymes, use Orientalism and Asian stereotypes as an escape from their own problems and social restrictions.

She described how in Rhymes’ music video “Pass the Courvoisier,” he begins to fight with a large black woman. Suddenly, he is transported to a mystical world filled with beautiful Asian women who pamper and massage him, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jamie Foxx. They later fight off ninjas and sumo wrestlers who appear.

This might seem silly, but it is significant, Chan-Malik said.

After the fight, Rhymes and the others finally have complete power, she said. They have escaped the gender politics they have faced in the real world. In the video, the Asian women are submissive so the black men can get relief and feel dominant, Chan-Malik said.

Media such as Rhymes’ video represent an escape from real life and an alternative to the racial confines of America, Chan-Malik said.

Chan-Malik also spoke about how Muslim Americans were considered strange and faced discrimination even before Sept. 11, similar to how Asian Americans have been treated throughout American history.

Chan-Malik ended her presentation with a quote from writer Alvin Lu.

“Asian American is a slippery concept, but Orientalism is forever.”

Reach Lauren Levy at [email protected].