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Transpacific Cartographies
Narrating the Contemporary Chinese Diaspora in the United States
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2024
About this book
Transpacific Cartographies examines how contemporary Chinese diasporic narratives address the existential loss of home for immigrant communities at a time of global precarity and amid rising Sino-US tensions. Focusing on cultural productions of the Chinese diaspora from the 1990s to the present -- including novels by the Sinophone writers Yan Geling (The Criminal Lu Yanshi), Shi Yu (New York Lover), Chen Qian (Listen to the Caged Bird Sing), and Rong Rong (Notes of a Couple), as well as by the Anglophone writer Ha Jin (A Free Life; A Map of Betrayal), selected TV shows (Beijinger in New York; The Way We Were), and online literature -- Melody Yunzi Li argues that the characters in these stories create multilayered maps that transcend the territorial boundaries that make finding a home in a foreign land a seemingly impossible task. In doing so, these “maps” outline a transpacific landscape that reflects the psycho-geography of homemaking for diasporic communities. Intersecting with and bridging Sinophone studies, Chinese American studies, and diaspora studies and drawing on theories of literary cartography, Transpacific Cartographies demonstrates how these “maps” offer their readers different paths for finding a sense of home no matter where they are.
Author / Editor information
MELODY YUNZI LI is an assistant professor in Chinese studies at the University of Houston, Texas. She is the coeditor of Affective Geographies and Narratives of Chinese Diaspora.
Reviews
"Transpacific Cartographies is particularly refreshing and capacious. Focusing on the 'new immigrants' to the U.S. from China since the 1980s, this book expands the study of Chinese American experience to transnational and translingual negotiations in the dire times of Sinophobia and U.S.-China contention. Carefully engaging Sinophone texts with discourses of diaspora and geocriticism, Li sheds light on the powers of mapping and 'homemaking' with which Chinese diasporic communities navigate being and belonging."— Chih-ming Wang, author of Transpacific Articulations: Study Abroad and the Remaking of Asian America
"A comprehensive survey of contemporary Chinese diaspora writing. . . . Li's cartographic approach makes a crucial intervention in diaspora studies by radically liquidating "home" and setting it on a journey of infinite possibilities. Written in the age of global pandemic and increased tensions between the United States and China, the book accurately captures the most up-to-date Chinese diasporic experience, which also resonates with the age of global displacement where "home/land" as a settled place becomes almost inconceivable."
— The Journal of Asian Studies"This exploration stands out as a significant contribution to the discourse. . . . Li offers a fresh perspective on the experiences of the Chinese diaspora in recent decades, enriching our understanding of their cultural and social dynamics. . . . Li’s book thoughtfully extends the scope of traditional literary and cinematic studies to encompass a diverse array of genres and historical periods."— Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR)
"Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, Transpacific Cartographies makes for a particularly meaningful read at a moment of high political tensions between the United States and China... Li’s book will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Chinese, Asian American, and comparative literature."
— Chinese Literature and Thought Today"A groundbreaking work. . . . Significant for its focus on contemporary Chinese diasporic writers in the United States. This focus fills a gap in Asian American literary studies. . . . A timely contribution towards understanding the China-US relationship and its significant impact on individuals' everyday lives. Li's book urges us to envision a political future that provides a great capacity for homemaking and belonging."— Jingqiu Guan, Journal of Intercultural Studies
"Transpacific Cartographies examines diasporic psycho-social instabilities and emergences in timely, fresh, coherent ways never done before. At a time of perilous, if not phobic, interactions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, Melody Li’s focus on the reworlding dynamics and transpacific complexities of “home” from bilingual and diasporic writers like Ha Jin and Yan Geling create insights that are everywhere fresh, poetic, transcultural, uncanny, and elegant."— Rob Sean Wilson, author of Reimagining the American Pacific: From South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond
"Transpacific Cartographies is an invaluable resource for students, scholars and researchers of Sinophone studies, Asian American studies and literary cartographies, as well as for general readers interested in the Chinese diasporic experience more broadly. What is more, Li's text positions itself as a useful starting point for future comparative studies of how different Asian diasporic groups map their home concepts."— European Journal of American Culture
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Introduction
1 -
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1 Mapping Experiences of De/Reterritorialization: Ha Jin’s A Map of Betrayal
24 -
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2 Cartographing Carceral Dystopia in the Mao Era Yan Geling’s The Criminal Lu Yanshi
46 -
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3 Affective Mapping of Touristic Diasporic Experience
65 -
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4 The Palimpsestic Map of the American and Chinese Dreams Contested Sites in Overseas Chinese Immigrant Stories
90 -
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Coda: Charting an Online Chinese Diasporic Literary Map
117 -
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Acknowledgments
135 -
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Notes
139 -
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Bibliography
163 -
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Index
175 -
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About the Author
183
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 12, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9781978829367
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978829367
Keywords for this book
chinese; chinese american; asain american; asian; immigration; emigration; identity; racism; race; ethnicity; xenophobia; culture; pop culture; belonging; Sino-US tension; politics; political tension; CCP; communism; capitalism; socialism; diaspora
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
