Indian “Boarding School” and Chinese “Bachelor Society”
Forced Isolation, Cultural Identity Erasure, and Literary Resilience in American Ethnic Literatures
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20248588 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Song Li (0000-0002-6976-4696, Tsinghua University, corresponding author), Li Song (0000-0002-3973-4787) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 68 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/h14040068 |
| OpenAlex | W4408692938 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
Between 1871 and 1969, Native Americans (American Indians) endured the U.S. Federal Indian Boarding School system, while Chinese Americans faced enduring impacts from the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882–1943). Drawing on historical sources, this paper examines literary works by and about Native Americans and Chinese Americans, focusing on their sufferings under forced isolation policies. Through works like Ceremony and Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko and Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu, this study illustrates how systematic oppression, characterized by erasure of cultural identity, manifested through institutions such as “boarding school” and “bachelor society”. It explores how forced policies (like assimilation and isolation) and institutional oppression, through cultural erasure and the severing of family ties, dismantled family structures, weakened cultural transmission, and led to identity crises, inter-generational alienation, and psychological trauma in marginalized communities. These ethnic narratives not only document histories of oppression but also highlight the ethnic groups’ resilience and their efforts to reconstruct multicultural identity through cultural heritage and community ties under multifaceted pressures
Aesthetics · Art · Bachelor · Cultural identity · Erasure · Ethnic group · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Gender Studies · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Race, History, and American Society
The Fear of Chinese Power
The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Whites
The Color of Success
Impossible Subjects
Global diasporas
The Chinese Exclusion Example
Immigration at the Golden Gate
Historical Trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska Communities
American Indian Boarding School Experiences
Violence, Peace, and Peace Research
| Highly cited | No |
|---|