Invisibility in African American and Asian American Literature

Invisibility in African American and Asian American Literature

Author: Klara Szmańko

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2008-09-08

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0786439521

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The book is a comparative study of the invisibility trope in African American and Asian American literature. It distinguishes between various kinds of invisibility and offers a genealogy of the term while providing a theoretical dissection of the invisibility trope itself. Investigating the various ways of striving for visibility, the author places special emphasis on the need for cooperation among various racial groups. While the book explores invisibility in a variety of African American and Asian American literary texts, the main focus is on four novels: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Maxine Hong Kingston's Tripmaster Monkey and Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker. The book not only sheds light on the oppressed but also exposes the structures of oppression and the apparatus of power, which often renders itself invisible. Throughout the study the author emphasizes that power is multi-directional, never flowing only in one direction. The book brings to light mechanisms of oppression within the dominant society as well as within and between marginalized racial groups.


Book Synopsis Invisibility in African American and Asian American Literature by : Klara Szmańko

Download or read book Invisibility in African American and Asian American Literature written by Klara Szmańko and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2008-09-08 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is a comparative study of the invisibility trope in African American and Asian American literature. It distinguishes between various kinds of invisibility and offers a genealogy of the term while providing a theoretical dissection of the invisibility trope itself. Investigating the various ways of striving for visibility, the author places special emphasis on the need for cooperation among various racial groups. While the book explores invisibility in a variety of African American and Asian American literary texts, the main focus is on four novels: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Maxine Hong Kingston's Tripmaster Monkey and Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker. The book not only sheds light on the oppressed but also exposes the structures of oppression and the apparatus of power, which often renders itself invisible. Throughout the study the author emphasizes that power is multi-directional, never flowing only in one direction. The book brings to light mechanisms of oppression within the dominant society as well as within and between marginalized racial groups.


Invisibility in African American Novels

Invisibility in African American Novels

Author: Stefanie Krause

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-07

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13: 3638671682

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Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Mannheim, course: African American Novels, language: English, abstract: Blindness is a topic in many African American novels published in the middle of the 20th century. However, this does not mean that black protagonists are over-averaged disabled. The inability of seeing refers more to a special type of blindness: a psychical one. This kind of disablement is "a matter of the construction of [the] inner eyes, those eyes with which [one] look[s] through [the] physical eyes upon reality" (Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. London: Penguin Books, 1965. p.7). It is a way of refusing to recognise people and their character traits, which African Americans were often confronted with. This ignorance of the - mainly - "white" society is picked out as a central theme in many African American novels and, therefore, it will be the topic of this publishing. To prove this thesis, the following analysis will examine some example scenes from Ralph Ellison's 1952 published novel Invisible Man. As one single book is not sufficient to establish a thesis for a whole genre, additionally scenes from Richard Wright's 1940 published novel Native Son and Ann Petry's 1946 published novel The Street will be briefly analysed. Even though a comparison between all three novels would have been interesting as well, this work will take its main focus on one single novel, to go as deeply into detail as the limited space allows, instead of giving only a cursory overview of different works. For the same reason, this work will not contain a summary of the discussed novels as these are expected to be known. As the title of the work probably raises the expectation of an analysis of the physical blindness, this topic will be worked out in the second chapter, concentrating on Invisible Man, and, later on, briefly on Native Son. The attempts to point out its metaphorical meaning and to connect this with th


Book Synopsis Invisibility in African American Novels by : Stefanie Krause

Download or read book Invisibility in African American Novels written by Stefanie Krause and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2007-07 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Mannheim, course: African American Novels, language: English, abstract: Blindness is a topic in many African American novels published in the middle of the 20th century. However, this does not mean that black protagonists are over-averaged disabled. The inability of seeing refers more to a special type of blindness: a psychical one. This kind of disablement is "a matter of the construction of [the] inner eyes, those eyes with which [one] look[s] through [the] physical eyes upon reality" (Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. London: Penguin Books, 1965. p.7). It is a way of refusing to recognise people and their character traits, which African Americans were often confronted with. This ignorance of the - mainly - "white" society is picked out as a central theme in many African American novels and, therefore, it will be the topic of this publishing. To prove this thesis, the following analysis will examine some example scenes from Ralph Ellison's 1952 published novel Invisible Man. As one single book is not sufficient to establish a thesis for a whole genre, additionally scenes from Richard Wright's 1940 published novel Native Son and Ann Petry's 1946 published novel The Street will be briefly analysed. Even though a comparison between all three novels would have been interesting as well, this work will take its main focus on one single novel, to go as deeply into detail as the limited space allows, instead of giving only a cursory overview of different works. For the same reason, this work will not contain a summary of the discussed novels as these are expected to be known. As the title of the work probably raises the expectation of an analysis of the physical blindness, this topic will be worked out in the second chapter, concentrating on Invisible Man, and, later on, briefly on Native Son. The attempts to point out its metaphorical meaning and to connect this with th


Invisible Asians

Invisible Asians

Author: Kim Park Nelson

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2016-03-18

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0813584396

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The first Korean adoptees were powerful symbols of American superiority in the Cold War; as Korean adoption continued, adoptees' visibility as Asians faded as they became a geopolitical success story—all-American children in loving white families. In Invisible Asians, Kim Park Nelson analyzes the processes by which Korean American adoptees’ have been rendered racially invisible, and how that invisibility facilitates their treatment as exceptional subjects within the context of American race relations and in government policies. Invisible Asians draws on the life stories of more than sixty adult Korean adoptees in three locations: Minnesota, home to the largest concentration of Korean adoptees in the United States; the Pacific Northwest, where many of the first Korean adoptees were raised; and Seoul, home to hundreds of adult adoptees who have returned to South Korea to live and work. Their experiences underpin a critical examination of research and policy making about transnational adoption from the 1950s to the present day. Park Nelson connects the invisibility of Korean adoptees to the ambiguous racial positioning of Asian Americans in American culture, and explores the implications of invisibility for Korean adoptees as they navigate race, culture, and nationality. Raised in white families, they are ideal racial subjects in support of the trope of “colorblindness” as a “cure for racism” in America, and continue to enjoy the most privileged legal status in terms of immigration and naturalization of any immigrant group, built on regulations created specifically to facilitate the transfer of foreign children to American families. Invisible Asians offers an engaging account that makes an important contribution to our understanding of race in America, and illuminates issues of power and identity in a globalized world.


Book Synopsis Invisible Asians by : Kim Park Nelson

Download or read book Invisible Asians written by Kim Park Nelson and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first Korean adoptees were powerful symbols of American superiority in the Cold War; as Korean adoption continued, adoptees' visibility as Asians faded as they became a geopolitical success story—all-American children in loving white families. In Invisible Asians, Kim Park Nelson analyzes the processes by which Korean American adoptees’ have been rendered racially invisible, and how that invisibility facilitates their treatment as exceptional subjects within the context of American race relations and in government policies. Invisible Asians draws on the life stories of more than sixty adult Korean adoptees in three locations: Minnesota, home to the largest concentration of Korean adoptees in the United States; the Pacific Northwest, where many of the first Korean adoptees were raised; and Seoul, home to hundreds of adult adoptees who have returned to South Korea to live and work. Their experiences underpin a critical examination of research and policy making about transnational adoption from the 1950s to the present day. Park Nelson connects the invisibility of Korean adoptees to the ambiguous racial positioning of Asian Americans in American culture, and explores the implications of invisibility for Korean adoptees as they navigate race, culture, and nationality. Raised in white families, they are ideal racial subjects in support of the trope of “colorblindness” as a “cure for racism” in America, and continue to enjoy the most privileged legal status in terms of immigration and naturalization of any immigrant group, built on regulations created specifically to facilitate the transfer of foreign children to American families. Invisible Asians offers an engaging account that makes an important contribution to our understanding of race in America, and illuminates issues of power and identity in a globalized world.


Invisible

Invisible

Author: Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Published: 2021-11-09

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1506470920

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In Invisible, Grace Ji-Sun Kim examines racism, sexism, and xenophobia as she works toward ending Asian American women's invisibility. She proclaims that the histories, experiences, and voices of Asian American women must be rescued from obscurity. Speaking with the weight of a theologian, she powerfully paves the way for a theology of visibility.


Book Synopsis Invisible by : Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Download or read book Invisible written by Grace Ji-Sun Kim and published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Invisible, Grace Ji-Sun Kim examines racism, sexism, and xenophobia as she works toward ending Asian American women's invisibility. She proclaims that the histories, experiences, and voices of Asian American women must be rescued from obscurity. Speaking with the weight of a theologian, she powerfully paves the way for a theology of visibility.


Visions of Whiteness in Selected Works of Asian American Literature

Visions of Whiteness in Selected Works of Asian American Literature

Author: Klara Szmańko

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-03-07

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1476620431

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Author Toni Morrison stressed the need to analyze race in American literature by white authors by shifting focus "from the racial object to the racial subject." Representations of whiteness in certain works by Asian American authors reveal what happens when the visual dynamics of ethnography are reversed, and those persons often considered as objects--Asian Americans, other minorities--are allowed to see and judge those who so often objectify them. This study emphasizes social power structures, the aesthetics of whiteness and transformational identity politics. Works examined include Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior (1976) and China Men (1980), and The Fifth Book of Peace (2003); Leonard Chang's The Fruit 'N Food (1996); and, Joy Kogawa's Obasan (1981).


Book Synopsis Visions of Whiteness in Selected Works of Asian American Literature by : Klara Szmańko

Download or read book Visions of Whiteness in Selected Works of Asian American Literature written by Klara Szmańko and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-03-07 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author Toni Morrison stressed the need to analyze race in American literature by white authors by shifting focus "from the racial object to the racial subject." Representations of whiteness in certain works by Asian American authors reveal what happens when the visual dynamics of ethnography are reversed, and those persons often considered as objects--Asian Americans, other minorities--are allowed to see and judge those who so often objectify them. This study emphasizes social power structures, the aesthetics of whiteness and transformational identity politics. Works examined include Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior (1976) and China Men (1980), and The Fifth Book of Peace (2003); Leonard Chang's The Fruit 'N Food (1996); and, Joy Kogawa's Obasan (1981).


Minority Invisibility

Minority Invisibility

Author: Wei Sun

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9780761837800

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Minority invisibility has gone unnoticed in the communication discipline. It denies the existence of racial problems by consciously or unconsciously downplaying, ignoring, or oversimplifying the issues. This is evidenced from the claims of color-blindness and reverse discrimination, the belief in model minorities, and exaggerated, negative, or purposeful racial displays that permeate American culture. Using in-depth interviews with Asian-American professionals from various metropolitan areas, this study investigates these professionals' perceptions on minority invisibility and model minority status. It explores Asian Americans' ethnic consciousness on four levels, discussing how the group perceives their individual invisibility, their group members' invisibility, the invisibility of other American co-cultural groups, and finally their expectations in changing minority invisibility in the United States. The work considers diverse viewpoints on minority invisibility, model minority, satisfaction and dissatisfaction with mainstream American culture, and co-cultural ethnic relations. This study is useful to graduate and undergraduate students and researchers with an interest in race relations, Asian-American studies, co-cultural theory, and intercultural communication studies. Book jacket.


Book Synopsis Minority Invisibility by : Wei Sun

Download or read book Minority Invisibility written by Wei Sun and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2007 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Minority invisibility has gone unnoticed in the communication discipline. It denies the existence of racial problems by consciously or unconsciously downplaying, ignoring, or oversimplifying the issues. This is evidenced from the claims of color-blindness and reverse discrimination, the belief in model minorities, and exaggerated, negative, or purposeful racial displays that permeate American culture. Using in-depth interviews with Asian-American professionals from various metropolitan areas, this study investigates these professionals' perceptions on minority invisibility and model minority status. It explores Asian Americans' ethnic consciousness on four levels, discussing how the group perceives their individual invisibility, their group members' invisibility, the invisibility of other American co-cultural groups, and finally their expectations in changing minority invisibility in the United States. The work considers diverse viewpoints on minority invisibility, model minority, satisfaction and dissatisfaction with mainstream American culture, and co-cultural ethnic relations. This study is useful to graduate and undergraduate students and researchers with an interest in race relations, Asian-American studies, co-cultural theory, and intercultural communication studies. Book jacket.


Invisible Subjects

Invisible Subjects

Author: Heidi Kim

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-03-04

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0190456264

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Invisible Subjects broadens the archive of Asian American studies, using advances in Asian American history and historiography to reinterpret the politics of the major figures of post-World War II American literature and criticism. Taking its theoretical inspiration from the work of Ralph Ellison and his focus on the invisibility of a racial minority in mainstream history, Heidi Kim argues that the work of American studies and literature in this era to explain and contain the troubling Asian figure reflects both the swift amnesia that covers the Pacific theater of WWII and the importance of the Asian to immigration debates and civil rights. From the Melville Revival through the myth and symbol school, as well as the fiction of John Steinbeck and William Faulkner, the postwar literary scene exhibits the ambiguity of Asian forms in the 1950s within the binaries of foreigner/native and black/white, as well as the constructs of gender and the nuclear family. It contrasts with the tortured redefinitions of race and nationality that appear in immigration acts and court cases, particularly those about segregation and interracial marriage. The Melville Revival critics' discussion of a mythic and yet realistic diabolical Asian, the role of a Chinese housekeeper in preserving the pioneer family in Steinbeck's East of Eden, and the extent to which the history of the Mississippi Chinese sheds light on Faulkner's stagnant societies all work to subsume a troubling presence. Detailing the archaeology and genealogy of Asian American Studies, Invisible Subjects offers an original, important, and vital contribution to both our understanding of American literary history and the general study of race and ethnicity in American cultural history.


Book Synopsis Invisible Subjects by : Heidi Kim

Download or read book Invisible Subjects written by Heidi Kim and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Invisible Subjects broadens the archive of Asian American studies, using advances in Asian American history and historiography to reinterpret the politics of the major figures of post-World War II American literature and criticism. Taking its theoretical inspiration from the work of Ralph Ellison and his focus on the invisibility of a racial minority in mainstream history, Heidi Kim argues that the work of American studies and literature in this era to explain and contain the troubling Asian figure reflects both the swift amnesia that covers the Pacific theater of WWII and the importance of the Asian to immigration debates and civil rights. From the Melville Revival through the myth and symbol school, as well as the fiction of John Steinbeck and William Faulkner, the postwar literary scene exhibits the ambiguity of Asian forms in the 1950s within the binaries of foreigner/native and black/white, as well as the constructs of gender and the nuclear family. It contrasts with the tortured redefinitions of race and nationality that appear in immigration acts and court cases, particularly those about segregation and interracial marriage. The Melville Revival critics' discussion of a mythic and yet realistic diabolical Asian, the role of a Chinese housekeeper in preserving the pioneer family in Steinbeck's East of Eden, and the extent to which the history of the Mississippi Chinese sheds light on Faulkner's stagnant societies all work to subsume a troubling presence. Detailing the archaeology and genealogy of Asian American Studies, Invisible Subjects offers an original, important, and vital contribution to both our understanding of American literary history and the general study of race and ethnicity in American cultural history.


Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation

Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation

Author: David L. Eng

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2019-01-17

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1478002689

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In Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation critic David L. Eng and psychotherapist Shinhee Han draw on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with several strands of psychoanalytic thought, they develop the concepts of racial melancholia and racial dissociation to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation. These case studies of first- and second-generation Asian Americans deal with a range of difficulties, from depression, suicide, and the politics of coming out to broader issues of the model minority stereotype, transnational adoption, parachute children, colorblind discourses in the United States, and the rise of Asia under globalization. Throughout, Eng and Han link psychoanalysis to larger structural and historical phenomena, illuminating how the study of psychic processes of individuals can inform investigations of race, sexuality, and immigration while creating a more sustained conversation about the social lives of Asian Americans and Asians in the diaspora.


Book Synopsis Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation by : David L. Eng

Download or read book Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation written by David L. Eng and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation critic David L. Eng and psychotherapist Shinhee Han draw on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with several strands of psychoanalytic thought, they develop the concepts of racial melancholia and racial dissociation to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation. These case studies of first- and second-generation Asian Americans deal with a range of difficulties, from depression, suicide, and the politics of coming out to broader issues of the model minority stereotype, transnational adoption, parachute children, colorblind discourses in the United States, and the rise of Asia under globalization. Throughout, Eng and Han link psychoanalysis to larger structural and historical phenomena, illuminating how the study of psychic processes of individuals can inform investigations of race, sexuality, and immigration while creating a more sustained conversation about the social lives of Asian Americans and Asians in the diaspora.


Asian American Dreams

Asian American Dreams

Author: Helen Zia

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2001-05-15

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780374527365

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" ... about the transformation of Asian Americans ... into a self-identified racial group that is influencing every aspect of American society."--Jacket.


Book Synopsis Asian American Dreams by : Helen Zia

Download or read book Asian American Dreams written by Helen Zia and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2001-05-15 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " ... about the transformation of Asian Americans ... into a self-identified racial group that is influencing every aspect of American society."--Jacket.


Resisting Asian American Invisibility

Resisting Asian American Invisibility

Author: Stacey J. Lee

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0807781274

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Resisting Asian American Invisibility highlights one group’s struggle for educational justice. Based on in-depth ethnographic research in formal and informal educational spaces, this book argues that Hmong American youth are rendered invisible by dominant racial discourses and current educational policies and practices. The book illustrates the way that Hmong American students are erased by the Black and White racial paradigm and the Asian American pan-ethnic category that perpetuates the model minority stereotype. Furthermore, Lee and a team of Southeast Asian American graduate student researchers explore how current educational policies around English learners marginalize Hmong youth. Far from being passive or silent victims, Hmong American communities actively resist their invisibility through various forms of educational advocacy and community-based education. In the tradition of critical ethnography, the author and her research team also look at what these individual and local stories expose about larger social forces, norms, and institutions. Book Features: Focuses on a Southeast Asian American group that has gotten little attention in education literature.Highlights the unique histories and educational experiences, concerns, and challenges facing Hmong American students in a Midwest city.Examines both school and community-based educational spaces.Draws on research conducted as a follow-up study to the author’s book, Up Against Whiteness: Race, School, and Immigrant Youth.


Book Synopsis Resisting Asian American Invisibility by : Stacey J. Lee

Download or read book Resisting Asian American Invisibility written by Stacey J. Lee and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resisting Asian American Invisibility highlights one group’s struggle for educational justice. Based on in-depth ethnographic research in formal and informal educational spaces, this book argues that Hmong American youth are rendered invisible by dominant racial discourses and current educational policies and practices. The book illustrates the way that Hmong American students are erased by the Black and White racial paradigm and the Asian American pan-ethnic category that perpetuates the model minority stereotype. Furthermore, Lee and a team of Southeast Asian American graduate student researchers explore how current educational policies around English learners marginalize Hmong youth. Far from being passive or silent victims, Hmong American communities actively resist their invisibility through various forms of educational advocacy and community-based education. In the tradition of critical ethnography, the author and her research team also look at what these individual and local stories expose about larger social forces, norms, and institutions. Book Features: Focuses on a Southeast Asian American group that has gotten little attention in education literature.Highlights the unique histories and educational experiences, concerns, and challenges facing Hmong American students in a Midwest city.Examines both school and community-based educational spaces.Draws on research conducted as a follow-up study to the author’s book, Up Against Whiteness: Race, School, and Immigrant Youth.