Cultural Dysphoria: Exploring British Asian Female Identities Through Arts Practices

关于英国亚裔女性的文化认同存在着广泛的概括。我的研究通常被描述为屈从（Ahmed, 2020），我的研究使用艺术实践来批判性地质疑英国亚裔女性文化观念的关联。Avtar Brah的研究将是一个起点。她指出，亚洲女性在英国生活的社会现实是围绕着经济、政治和文化模式的复杂联系构成的，这些模式标志着“种族”、阶级、民族和性别之间的相互关系（Brah, 1987）。作为一名英国亚裔女性，我的研究将借鉴围绕自我民族志领域不断增长的研究成果。通过提出关于交叉性女权主义和归属感的问题（Anitha, 2018），我基于实践的方法也将探索英国亚裔艺术家-包括Sutapa Biswas， Zarina Bhimji和Permindar kaur -如何在他们的实践中使用自我反思来探索身份的表现。文化焦虑症可以理解为个人文化表现或身份的社会期望与他们对该文化的期望体现之间的不协调，或者不确定他们适合现有文化类别的位置（Sharma, 2017）。我的研究将首先作为一个概念模型来检验这一点，探索存在的本质，通过文化经验来理解差异；其次，作为一种物质模型，利用文化焦虑现象来体现不和谐的体验。我试图回答两个相关的问题：艺术实践和理论如何阐明英国亚洲女性经验的可表演性（Butler, 2015; Hall, 2017）和交叉性（Crenshaw, 1989）的复杂性？-作为一种与身份形成相关的失调形式，“文化焦虑”如何发展成为一种概念和物质模型，以解决与英国亚裔女性有关的艺术实践、交叉性和自我民族志的话语（Ahmed, 2008; Chang H, 2008）？这项研究将借鉴我作为一名知名艺术家的实践经验。我将使用雕塑，表演和电影建立在我以前的研究和我的硕士（区分）使用的自我民族志方法。硕士课程的出版和电影《自我人类学》（2020）获得了2020年首届AIS奖，并在莱斯特的AIS节上展出。我的硕士Final Major Project是一系列测试和体现Cultural Dysphoria概念的艺术作品，并获得了2020年泰特利物浦奖。我还将通过我与考文垂双年展和Ikon画廊的委托来利用网络，以获得博士学位。

Broad generalisations of British Asian women exist in relation to their cultural identity. Often described as subservient (Ahmed, 2020), my study uses arts practice to critically question the associations of cultural perceptions for British Asian women. Avtar Brah's research will be a starting point. She states that the social reality of Asian women's lives in Britain is constituted around a complex articulation of the economic, political, and cultural modalities which mark the interrelationship between 'race', class, ethnicity, and gender (Brah, 1987). As a British Asian woman my research will draw on the growing body of research around the field of autoethnography. Through raising questions about intersectional feminism and belonging (Anitha, 2018), my practice based methodologies will also explore how British Asian artists -including Sutapa Biswas, Zarina Bhimji and Permindar Kaur-use self-reflexivity in their practice toexplore the performance of identities. Cultural Dysphoria can be understood as the dissonance between the social expectations of an individual's cultural performance or identity, and their desired embodiment of that culture, or uncertainty about where they fit into existing cultural categories (Sharma, 2017). My research will examine this firstly as a conceptual model, exploring the nature of being to understand difference through cultural experience; secondly, as a material model, embodying experience of dissonance using the phenomenon of Cultural Dysphoria. I seek to answer two related questions: - How can arts practice and theory articulate the performability (Butler, 2015; Hall, 2017) and complexities of intersectional (Crenshaw, 1989) British Asian female experience?- As a form of dissonance related to identity formation, in what ways can "Cultural Dysphoria" be developed as a conceptual and material model to address discourses on art practice, intersectionality and autoethnography in relation to British Asian women (Ahmed, 2008; Chang H, 2008)?The research will draw upon my own practice as an established artist. I will use sculpture, performance and film building upon my previous research and the autoethnographic approaches used on my Masters (distinction). The MA resulted in a publication and film, The Anthropology of the Self (2020), which won the Inaugural AIS award 2020 and was showcased at the AIS festival in Leicester. My Masters' Final Major Project was a series of artworks that tested and embodied the concept of Cultural Dysphoria and won the Tate Liverpool Award 2020. I will also draw on the networks through my commissions with Coventry Biennial and Ikon Gallery for the benefit of this PhD.