| This project examines U.S. multiculturalism from the perspective of Asian American writings and draws a contrast between politically acquiescent multiculturalism and politically conscious multiculturalism. One goal of my project is to bring attention to writers who seek to highlight a critical awareness of Asian Americans' social and economic status and their position as "unassimilable aliens," "yellow perils," "coolies," "modern-day high tech coolies," or as a "model minority," which were ideologically woven through the complex interactions of capital and labor in the U.S. cultural and labor history.; Most popularly received Asian American writings have in fact been silent about what we might call the material histories that have conditioned the lives of immigrants in the United States. The literary representations produced by Asian American writers have failed to reflect the differentiation practiced towards minority immigrants along race/ethnicity lines. Conversely, a discrete body of politically engaging Asian American multicultural writings attempts to arouse critical awareness of how racial/ethnic minority groups have been systematically differentiated according to their race, ethnicity, gender, and nation in the developmental process of U.S. capitalism. In a departure from the celebration of Asian immigrants' success stories, I have attempted to reveal with a dissident voice how immigrant labor has been economically and ideologically exploited in the process of U.S. capital formation, and how the issues of U.S.-centered globalization and the differentiation of immigrants within the nation are interconnected.; By analyzing six novels under the categories of politically acquiescent Asian American multicultural writings (Jade Snow Wong's Fifth Chinese Daughter and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club) and politically conscious Asian American writings (Carlos Bulosan's America Is In The Heart, Fae Myenne Ng's Bone, Karen Yamashita's Tropic of Orange, and Ruth Ozeki's My Year of Meats), this project suggests that more productive means of analysis must be brought to the understanding of Asian American writings, many of which have been attempting to raise awareness of the politicizing effects of U.S. multiculturalism. |
