LatinAsian Nation: Re-imagining United States history through contemporary Asian American and Latina/o literature

Asian American and Latina/o populations in the United States are often considered marginal to discourses of United States history and nationhood. From laws like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act to the extensive, racially targeted immigration rhetoric of the twenty-first century, dominant discourses in the United States have legally and rhetorically defined Asian and Latina/o Americans as alien to the imagined nation. However, these groups have histories within the United States that stretch back more than four hundred years and complicate foundational narratives like the immigrant "melting pot," the black/white binary, and American exceptionalism. This project examines how Asian American and Latina/o literary narratives can rewrite official histories and situate American history within a global context. The literary texts that I examine -- including works by Carlos Bulosan, Americo Paredes, Luis Valdez, Mitsuye Yamada, Susan Choi, Achy Obejas, Karen Tei Yamashita, Cristina Garcia, and Siu Kam Wen -- create a "LatinAsian" view of the Americas that highlights and challenges suppressed aspects of United States history.