1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

17 hav ing tak en J ap an as some th ing of a role model in a r t from the early 1900s. What d is tingu ishes a r t discourses in the o the r p a r ts of Asia, is t h a t th e ir modern founda tion is in t r i c a t e ly tied up with the r e l a t iv e [lack of] in te rn a tion a l autonomy of the s t a t e , or the domestic autonomy of the ru ling elite. The s t a t e is e i th e r nominally independen t, bu t ind irec tly cons tra ined by one or s ev e ra l Euramerican powers, or is d irec tly controlled by one. The e lite may to some e x t e n t be autonomous of social p re s su re s , pa r ticu la r ly like the Thai cou rt families when they had secured a r e la tiv e ly modern ta x base in th e 18 80 s , or con tinua lly at the mercy of usu rpa tion from above or below like the ru r a l Chinese gen try in the 1930 s and 1940s. In th is con tex t a rt d iscourses are a mode of id e n t i ty -m a k in g by those tenously p re s e rv ing independence like the Thai monarchy from the 1S60s to the 1920s. They may also be a mode for opposing the already p re sen t rule of a co lon ia list, like n e o - t r a d i t i o n a l i s t s in Bengal from the early 1900s, the n a t io n a l i s t s in J a v a from the la te 1930s, or Chinese communists from the 1940 s . In many cases the discourse of works is in the sway of a n o n - a r t discourse of i n t e rp r e t a t io n s , something fa irly easily es tab lished from the v a r i e ty of formal express ions considered to have been r e p r e s e n ta tiv e of 'n a tiona l' or 'a n t i - c o lo n i a l ' sen timen t before one considers any more d irec t ideological in te rv en tion . Parallel Discourses Fu r the r obse rva tions are possible about double othering. It would seem double o the ring can only occur when the re is bo th a trad itiona l, th a t is pre-modern , pa in ting s ty le to be r e l a t iv i s ed a t the same time th a t Euramerican s ty le s are r e l a t iv i s e d on th e i r tr an s f e r . That was the Japanese , and with various r e s e rv a t io n s the Chinese and Indian cases. How