ULT2298A: Travelling Cultures - Asian Diaspora

Introduction

The processes of globalization have clearly transformed the world that we live in, bringing us the promises, the rewards, and the effects of easy travel, flexible mobility, and a sense of transnationality. These are all part of what Arjun Appadurai calls the "global cultural flows" that have transformed and continue to transform and impact our understanding of what constitutes cultural and national identities, and how these identities are constructed. The traditional postcolonial analysis of these global transformational forces is to identify their links to the hegemony of late capitalism and Western cultural imperialism. This module seeks to both augment and question this argument by focusing instead on Asian diasporic identities in an attempt to problematize the subject/object cultural relation that has transfixed this traditional analysis. The postcolonial argument posits that the West basically intrudes upon and changes cultural forms and practices of the East, while the latter passively submits itself to this hegemony. Hence, a study of the problematics of contemporary Asian cultural negotiations (particularly in light of postcolonial histories and globalization) and the rise of a new diasporic consciousness will reveal how Asians at "home" or in diaspora are capable of mastering the shifting dynamics of power and agency in order to produce, for instance, alternative versions of modernity and postmodernity, new cosmopolitanisms, or "Asian" forms of capitalist practices, all in response to the dominant narrative of globalization. The opportunities of travel for business and leisure, as opposed to simply forced migration and exile, also offer many a newfound cultural mobility that encourages a radical rethinking of homeland, nation, and culture. James Clifford's conception of a "traveling culture" becomes especially significant here in that "native" culture, as a non-static entity, is not only affected and transformed by the intrusion of "imperialist" cultures. In the age of globalization, the "native" culture, as a culture that "travels," also takes an active part in transforming both itself and the cultures it encounters. This module will investigate the above ideas through an analysis of literary and cinematic texts as modes of expressing an Asian diasporic consciousness. These readings will also be accompanied by other theoretical and critical texts by scholars from various disciplines. The reading and writing assignments will enable us to explore concepts such as:

• imaginary homelands;
• processes and effects of migration; migrant identities;
• formation of national identities both from within and without;
• cultural hybridity and its relation to diaspora;
• travel and tourism;
• gender and sexuality as sites of diasporic negotiation in the reification of and/or resistance to national and cultural identities and ideologies;
• cosmopolitanism and transnationalism; alternative modernities and postmodernities.

Objectives

This module has two sets of learning objectives. As this is ultimately a module of literary study, students will learn to:

• identity various literary and film genres, and their conventions;
• understand some basic literary critical approaches and theories and how to use them;
• use effective close reading techniques in the explication of primary texts;
• write well-constructed critical essays using these texts as the foundation for their arguments;
• participate fluently in class and IVLE discussions of the issues dealt with in the module.

The topic for this module covers a very specific theoretical terrain; hence, students are also expected to acquire the following areas of knowledge and abilities:

• basic theoretical frameworks for analyzing globalization and diaspora;
• theories of postcolonial studies and history as they relate to Asian cultural identities;
• basic methodologies and concepts in cultural, literary, and film criticism;
• exposure to some of the major literature and film that deal with these theoretical issues.

Required Texts

Readings:

Appadurai, Arjun. "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy." Modernity at Large. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1996. 27-47.

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London: Verso, 1991. 1-7; 37-46; 187-206.

Chin, Marilyn. The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty. Minneapolis: Milkwood Editions, 1994. (Poetry selections).

Chow, Rey. "King Kong in Hong Kong: Watching the 'Handover' from the U.S.A." Social Text 16 (1998): 93-108.

Chua, Beng Huat. "Consuming Asians: Ideas and Issues" and "Singaporeans Ingesting McDonald's." Consumption in Asia: Lifestyles and Identities. Ed. Chua Beng Huat. London: Routledge, 2000.

Clifford, James. "Diaspora." Cultural Anthropology 9:3 (1994): 302-338.

Clifford, James. "Traveling Cultures." Cultural Studies. Eds. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, and Paula Treichler. New York: Routledge, 1992. 96-116.

Gotera, Vince. "Vietnam Era Vet." Asian American Literature. Ed. Shawn Wong. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. 361-362.

Hall, Stuart. "Cultural Identity and Diaspora." Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Eds. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. New York: Columbia UP, 1994. 392-403.

Iyer, Pico. Video Night in Kathmandu. New York: Vintage, 1988. 3-28.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York: Vintage, 1976.

Kureishi, Hanif. My Beautiful Laundrette. London: Faber and Faber, 1986.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. London: Flamingo, 1999. (Selections).

Lee, Li-Young. "The Cleaving." The City in Which I Love You. Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1990.

Lim, Shirley. Among the White Moonfaces: Memoirs of a Nyonya Feminist. Singapore: Times Books International, 1996.

Manalansan, Martin, IV. "Diasporic Deviants/Divas: How Filipino Gay Transmigrants 'Play with the World.'" Queer Diaspora. Eds. Cindy Patton and Benigno Sanchez-Eppler. Durham: Duke UP, 2000. 183-203.

Mitchell, Katharyne. "The Hong Kong Immigrant and the Urban Landscape: Shaping theTransnational Cosmopolitan in the Era of Pacific Rim Capital." Asia/Pacific as Space of Cultural Production. Eds. Rob Wilson and Arif Dirlik. Durham: Duke UP, 1995. 284-310.

Miyoshi, Masao. "A Borderless World? From Colonialism to Transnationalism and the Decline of the Nation-State." Global/Local: Cultural Production and the Transnational Imaginary. Durham: Duke UP, 1996.

Ong, Aihwa. ""Flexible Citizenship among Chinese Cosmopolitans." Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling beyond the Nation. Eds. Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1998. 134-162.

Films:

East is East, Dir. Damien O'Donnell.

The Wedding Banquet, Dir. Ang Lee.

Chinese Box, Dir. Wayne Wang.

Supplementary Texts:

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th Edition.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. 4th Edition.

Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: Key Concepts. 2nd Edition.

Holman, C. Hugh, and William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature. 9th Edition.