Imagined community
Chinatown narrative in Fae Myenne Ng's Bone and Steer Toward Rock
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2179733 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xiujuan Lan (0009-0002-6378-1409) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 798-811 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Postcolonial Writing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9855 • E-ISSN: 1744-9863 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449855.2023.2289064 |
| OpenAlex | W4390344310 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
Drawing upon theories of space, postcolonialism, and studies of community, this article evaluates the multifaceted role of Chinatown within American society. As a heterotopic space and symbol that carries the collective memory of diasporic Chinese traditional culture, Chinatown’s cultural and geographical connotations also allude to the Chinese pursuit of dreams and endurance in a foreign land. The article examines Chinese American writer Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone (1994) and Steer Toward Rock (2008) as evidence of Chinatown’s tangible and psychological basis for the Chinese American community, and their testimony to the othering and isolation of Chinese immigrants. The precarious foundation and gradual disintegration of this community, propelled by escalating internal conflicts, Chinese immigrants’ identity anxiety, and their yearning for departure from Chinatown, is also discussed. Finally, the article considers the prospects of constructing a combinatorial community through hybridity and negotiations, fostering a renewed sense of hybrid identity in this in-between space
Aesthetics · Art · China · Chinatown · Chinese americans · Ethnic group · Hybridity · Identity (music · Identity negotiation · Immigration · Isolation (microbiology · Linguistics · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Negotiation · Social science · Sociology · Symbol (formal · Anthropology · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies · Gender Studies · History
| Highly cited | No |
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