Japanese woodprints issue

Dear CSSA members,As you are probably aware, we recently witnessed MIT's featuring an exhibit of Japanese wartime propaganda, which we deem most inappropriate. (http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027j/throwing_off_asia/toa_core_04.html) We would like to update you with the actions CSSA has taken regarding this Japanese woodprints issue.We have collected the emails expressing their concerns that people have written to the school. We have presented a compilation of the community's response to the school and shown the administration the reactions among the Chinese community.Please see the attached email at the end. On behalf of the Chinese Students and Scholars on campus, CSSA has sent a formal email complaint to the MIT president, Dean Colbert (the Dean for Graduate students), ISO, Ombus, as well as the authors. We have set up meetings with Dean Colbert, the Ombus, and the two authors to inform the Institute of our concerns and complaints. We are going to decide our future actions depending on the outcomes of the meetings.CSSA does encourage everybody who has additional concerns to take actions to make their voices and concerns heard. We will keep collecting your feedbacks and try our best to present all of them to the Institute. At the same time, any response from the administration will be updated to our community.Best RegardsHuan and Lin*******************************************************************************Dear President Hockfield,On behalf of the Chinese Students and Scholars on MIT campus, CSSA feltcompelled to express our horror at the way Visualizing Culture depicts theart of the war. We are shocked that such cultural insensitivity could haveoccurred at the Institute and want to make our concerns known to the MITadministration.Please find below the text of an email detailing our official response, sentto the professors of the OCW course.Best RegardsHuan Zhang, President of MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association LinHan, Vice President of MIT Chinese Student and Scholar AssociationThough we are the Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA), we comefrom an assortment of backgrounds and cultures. We value the diversitywithin our own group, and we are most grateful for the support and benefitsthe culturally-diverse MIT microcosm has afforded us and our members.However, the "Throwing off Asia" exhibit recently Spotlighted on MIT'shomepage has shaken our confidence in the cultural sensitivity we have cometo associate with this accepting environment. The exhibit has left usdisappointed at the nonchalance with which this emotionally provocative anddemeaning material was presented, as we struggle to understand how suchnegligence could have been overlooked at the Institute.In particular, the vivid images of the wartime atrocities inflicted on theChinese conjured up haunting emotions of loss and rage, not unlike thoseemotions people around the world feel toward the much better-known and moretalked-about events of the Holocaust. Already, the outcry from MIT'sChinese community has been thunderous, and the distress levels severe. Wedo understand the historical significance of these wood prints, and respectthe authors' academic freedom to purse this study. However, we are appalledat the lack of accessible explanations and the proper historical contextthat ought to accompany these images.Phrases featured prominently at the top of the page under Old China, NewJapan include "Still, predictable patterns give order to this chaos.Discipline (the Japanese side) prevails over disarray (the Chinese)," and"In short, the Chinese are riotous in every way disgracefully so in theirbehavior, and delightfully so in their accoutrements." The only circumstanceunder which these very racially-charged statements might be possiblyacceptable is if they are being used to describe the depictions of theimages. Yet at first glance, that purpose is far from obvious; instead, thetext seems to suggest that it is reporting history itself. The issue of theblatant racism so prominently exhibited in these images and descriptions isnot addressed until much further down the page, almost at the end of thearticle.In light of this, we at the CSSA would like to request the following:1) The authors should provide the proper historical context for the printsas an introductory paragraph at the top of the page. This text shouldinclude arnings stating that the images are graphical in nature and could bepotentially emotionally-damaging. This text should also address the racistsentiment and provide the historical perspective (the woodprints' wartimepropaganda nature), with which it encourages readers to bear in mind whenbrowsing through the pages.2) MIT should pay special attention to the presentation ofculturally-demeaning content, particularly to its emotionally-damagingpotential. As materials in MIT's lauded Open Course Ware, this onlineexhibit is accessible by anyone with a computer and an internet connectionanywhere around the world. Is this careless disregard for culturalsentiments what MIT wants the world to believe to be MIT's "visualization"of cultures? Is this cultural insensitivity what MIT wants to associatewith its quality and breadth of classes?While we are particularly sensitive to the exhibit's contents, we arecertainly aware of their historical significance. We have no doubt that theauthors do not endorse the wood prints' contents in any way beyond theirartistic and historical value. Nevertheless, we cannot condone theirresponsible nature in which such material has been presented. An exhibitshould provoke discussion / debate, but in this case, it could have beendone in a more delicate manner that would not involve offending the entireChinese community. We are ready to confront the past, but we believe thatauthors have a paramount duty to delivering proper guidance as well.We welcome continued conversations on this issue, and we eagerly await yourresponse.