Feminine postcoloniality and resistance: Asian American and Afro-Caribbean women's fiction

This dissertation argues that writing and remembering are essential means for contemporary Asian American and Afro-Caribbean women writers to reclaim their ethnic identity and be reconciled with their "in-between" status. Writing about their native countries from this hybrid viewing position also enables them to gain a critical perspective on the impact of colonialism and its legacy upon women of color. Drawn from collective memories, their texts reflect feminist and postcolonial perspectives on the issues of history, memory, identity, and nation---all crucial to the construction of a woman's postcolonial identity. In examining the common experiences shared by women of the Asian and the African diasporas, this dissertation does not suggest that postcolonial conditions of women of color are always homogeneous. Rather, it aims to illustrate that women's histories of colonialism and their resistance against all systems of domination, resulting from colonialism, create a common context of alliance. Thus, this study examines not only women's oppression but also their methods of resistance. Additionally, it explores the discursive strategies these writers employ to create new paradigms outside hegemonic discourses of historical and nationalist representations, which often mute and misrepresent women of color. These writings represent a collection of resistance literature featuring alternative modes of documenting feminine postcoloniality.; The first chapter presents the theoretical background of feminist postcolonial discourse and resistance literature. Chapter Two, on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictee, analyzes the author's critique of the colonialist discourse of Korean history and her representation of the female body as historical text so as to uncover feminine postcolonial experiences of Koreans and Korean Americans. Chapter Three, on Jessica Hagedom's Dogeaters, views feminist nationalism as a means for Filipino women to pursue their self-determined identity as well as their personal and national freedom. The novel represents the female body not only as the locus of colonial and patriarchal oppression but also as a site of resistance. Chapter Four asserts that Michelle Cliff's Abeng and No Telephone to Heaven highlight how memory, mother, and motherland facilitate the process of reconstructing selfhood and nationhood. The final chapter discusses the definition of feminine postcoloniality in these four texts.