Made in Chimerica

Author

• Austin WangFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Industrial Design

Department

Industrial Design

First Advisor

Ilona "Lonasaurus" Gaynor

Second Advisor

Will Reeves

Third Advisor

Yasmine Hassan

Abstract

This thesis seeks to answer how prop design may function as an effective vehicle to challenge notions of orientalism, an inquiry grounded for the purposes of this thesis in contemporary Asian diasporic experiences within the United States, and spark deeper questions regarding notions of assimilation, erasure, and cultural ownership. Cultural understanding of Asian American experiences have long been tethered by White-dominant frameworks to orientalist stereotypes that range from early xenophobic caricatures to more modern dehumanization attempts via techno orientalism and model minority myths. At its fundamental core, orientalism centralizes White-dominant narratives as the major filter by which to judge, interpret, or deem aspects of Asian culture as “palatable.” Asian American history has also fed into this narrative historically as a means of surviving, producing forms of Asian American material culture that bifurcates between assimilation and retention and even celebration of Asian history and  cultural elements. This thesis will design props that narrate  this culturally confused middle ground, mining the designed icons, symbols, and stereotypes of American and Chinese cultures that complicate ideas of appropriation and imaginatively play with patterns of cultural translation and cooption.

Recommended Citation

Wang, Austin, "Made in Chimerica" (2026). Masters Theses. 1543.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1543

Creative Commons License

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