A Study Of The Diasporic Identity In Shirley Geok-lin Lim's Joss And Gold

Shirley Geok-lin Lim(1944-)is a contemporary Chinese American critic and writer,whose first novel Joss and Gold narrates diaspora females' vagrant lives in Malaysia and Singapore.Studies on Shirley Lim's works are mostly concerned about ethnic claims,cultural conflicts and identity crisis,while little attention has been given on diaspora females' diasporic identity.Based on diaspora theories,this thesis aims to illustrate the diaspora females' identity choices,the construction of the diasporic identity and the characteristics of the diasporic identity as well as the significance of this identity construction in the global diaspora context.In Joss and Gold,Shirley Lim forms a tempo-spatial crisscross structure,a diaspora context,based on time and space narratives.Not only does it reflect the aesthetic significance of diaspora narration but it also contributes to the explorations of the diasporic identity.In such a diaspora space,the diaspora females are neither homeless people nor exiles.Instead they have the choices to make decisions about identities via choosing to escape initiatively,or to object marriage,or to go to the depth of the ontological questions about human life by answering “who I am” and “who I want to be”.By establishing the sisterhood,the diasporic identity that they pursue can be found or constructed,through which the characteristics of the diasporic identity including “hybridity”,“fluidity” and “in-betweenness” manifest themselves thoroughly.Nowadays,diaspora has become a striking phenomenon.It might not be a simple concept but a normalcy and trend in the world,which is not unique to ethnic groups any longer.Shirley Lim's explorations of the diasporic identity in Joss and Gold provide inspiration for our discussions about diaspora,diaspora female and the diasporic identity in Asian American studies and offer us a clear perspective to look at the diaspora phenomenon all around the world in the process of globalization.