Asian American Literature

This exhibit will explore how Asian American literature has expanded in contemporary times to encompass different facets of the Asian American experience. This is evident by the diversity of our group’s novels which examine Asian American identity within the contexts of age (adolescents to adulthood) and interpersonal relationships (those of self, family, and romantic). Joseph’s section will focus on the presence of stereotypes and their effects on Asian Americans and their struggle to find their true identity in the United States using the graphic novel, American Born Chinese. Following Joseph’s section, Sue will describe the importance of places of belonging for Asian Americans and their communities and how they contribute to their personal and social identity formation through Michelle Zauner’s Crying in Hmart Lastly, Nancy’s section will investigate the dynamics of interracial relationships in the context of the marginalization of Asian Americans as. describe in Days of Distraction

Sue

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Joseph

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Nancy

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Sue ~ Joseph ~ Nancy ~

[1]

[2]

In Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel, American Born Chinese [1], Yang explores the formation of cultural identity through the experiences of a middle school student, Jin Wang. After moving from San Francisco Chinatown to a largely white community in a small suburb, Jin faces a lot of dissonance in his identity and faces the dilemma of how to fit in with the American culture when everyone views him differently. Through a series of tumultuous events, including a mysterious new Chinese student joining his class and his crush on a white girl, Jin’s life transforms, and he makes some terrifying self-discoveries. American Born Chinese truly illustrates some of the struggles and discrimination Asian Americans face and shows that holding stereotypes over any race is very harmful, and can drastically change one’s life.

[2]

[3]

American Born Chinese

Crying in H Mart

Taking an autobiographical approach, Crying in H Mart [2], narrates the life of Michelle Zauner, a Half-Korean musician as she navigates her cultural identity, her relationship with her mother, and the grief of her mother’s passing. As the book progresses, Zauner’s relationship with her Korean immigrant mother transforms. From a place of an insecure adolescent who struggles to connect with her Korean culture in a small town to a grieving daughter who empathizes with her mother and falls in love with Korean cooking, Crying in H Mart embodies the importance and value of places of belongings in understanding one’s position in America as an Asian American.

Days of Distraction

Alexandra Chang’s fictional novel, Days of Distraction [3], follows the journey of a twenty-four-year-old, unnamed Chinese-American narrator as she embarks on a cross-country move with her longtime partner, J. The act of commitment prompts the narrator to reflect on her role in an interracial relationship and grapple with questions about cultural identity. The story is told in fragmented parts which jump from childhood to adulthood experiences that have shaped the narrator's cultural perspectives. Days of Distraction explores the challenge of finding one’s place in a society that often fails to recognize or understand them.

  • A minority group that is viewed as higher achieving and an exemplar for the rest of society. That “title” has been passed onto Asian Americans, and fuels a lot of the stereotypes they face today.

  • The environment and contexts in which one has a subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences [5]

  • A mechanism that categorizes a particular group of people based on perceived differences, such as skin color, gender, or sexual orientation, and subsequently labels that group as inferior. It involves zeroing in on a difference and using it as a tool to dismantle a sense of similarity or connectedness between individuals [6]

References

  1. Yang, G. L., & Pien, L. (2006). American Born Chinese. First Second.

  2. Zauner, M. (2021). Crying in H Mart: a memoir. First edition. New York, Alfred A. Knopf

  3. Chang, A. (2020). Days of distraction: a novel (First edition.). Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

  5. Curle, C. (2020) “Us vs. Them: The process of othering.” Canadian Museum for Human Rights. https://humanrights.ca/story/us-vs-them-process-othering

  6. Allen, K. A., Kern, M. L., Rozek, C. S., McInereney, D., & Slavich, G. M. (2021). Belonging: A Review of Conceptual Issues, an Integrative Framework, and Directions for Future Research. Australian journal of psychology, 73(1), 87–102.

Media Objects

  1. Photo by Amazon via https://www.amazon.com/American-Born-Chinese-Gene-Luen/dp/0312384483

  2. Photo by Penguin Random House via https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612676/crying-in-h-mart-by-michelle-zauner/

  3. Photo by GoodReads via https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52973514-days-of-distraction

  4. Photo by American Libraries via https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/05/02/newsmaker-gene-luen-yang/

  5. Photo by Charleston Food + Wine via https://charlestonwineandfood.com/participants/michelle-zauner/

  6. Photo by Alana Davis via https://bombmagazine.org/articles/alexandra-chang-interviewed/