Critical Negotiations

Weiwei Shen

Critical Negotiations

New Perspectives on Asian American Women’s Fiction

by Weiwei Shen (Author)
©2019, Thesis, 214 Pages
English Studies

Series: Bayreuther Beiträge zur Literaturwissenschaft, Volume 38

In a global context where the speed and volume of migration have continuously increased, communicative failure shows up in cultural conflicts as thematized in Asian American women’s literature. When the text surface suggests that migrant identity is flexibly hybrid, are there deeper textual layers? This book probes the limitations not only of the usual methods of literary study, but of Western constructions of the experience of loss and deprivation. Can literary interpretation gain from adapting new conceptualizations developed in the science-oriented field of intercultural communication studies? A critical negotiation concept opens unexpected analytical potential with far-reaching implications.

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgments
About the author
About the book
Citability of the eBook
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
- 1 Migration and Asian Diaspora in the Age of Globalization
- 2 Asian American Diaspora Literature as a Literary Genre
- 3 Hybridity: From Celebration to Problematization
- 4 “Negotiation” as Theoretical Underpinning
- 5 Choice of Literary Works
1 A Critical Theorization of Identity Negotiation
- 1.1 Intercultural Concepts of Identity22
  - 1.1.1 Themes of “Culture” in Intercultural Communication
  - 1.1.2 Theorizing Cultural Identity in Intercultural Communication
    - I. Identity Management Theory
    - II. Critical and Interpretive Cultural Identity Negotiation Theory
    - III. Integrative Identity Negotiation Theory (IINT)
    - IV. Intercultural Personhood
    - V. Intercultural Communicative Competence
  - 1.1.3 Finding a Construct
- 1.2 Identity Negotiation as a Philosophical Symbol
  - 1.2.1 Postmodernist Communication as “Rubbing off”
  - 1.2.2 A “General Politics” of Truth
  - 1.2.3 Gain, Loss, Exchange
  - 1.2.4 Mindfulness and Asiacentric Identification
- 1.3 Excursus: A Conceptual Dilemma?24
2 Negotiating in Exile
- 2.1 Introduction
  - 2.1.1 Bharati Mukherjee as a Famous American Writer
  - 2.1.2 Jasmine as a Battlefield
- 2.2 Mindful Identity Negotiation
  - 2.2.1 Jasmine’s Mindfulness in Communication
  - 2.2.2 Embracing Difference
  - 2.2.3 Jasmine’s Rebellion: Being Many Selves
- 2.3 Nonlinear Time
3 Negotiating a Home in the Floating World32
- 3.1 Introduction
  - 3.1.1 Internment and In-Between Spaces
  - 3.1.2 Ukiyo: An Unstable World for a Stable Family
- 3.2 Seeking a Home
  - 3.2.1 Traumatic Silence
  - 3.2.2 Olivia’s Bildungsroman: Breaking Silence
  - 3.2.3 Growing Up Japanese: Conflicts and Transcendence
- 3.3 Olivia’s Mindfulness in Growth
4 Negotiating the Typical American35
- 4.1 Introduction
  - 4.1.1 Postmodernist Reading?
  - 4.1.2 Mindful Dialogic “Rubbing Off”
  - 4.1.3 Jen’s Defense against “Typicalness”
- 4.2 Negotiating the “Typical” American Dream
  - 4.2.1 Typical American? Typical Chinese Immigrant?
  - 4.2.2 The Failure of an American Dream
  - 4.2.3 Helen’s Vulnerable Identity
- 4.3 Renegotiating with the Social Reality
  - 4.3.1 Escaping From the Fort
  - 4.3.2 Making One’s Own Choices?
  - 4.3.3 Playing the WASP Game
  - 4.3.4 No Walls between the Rooms?
Conclusion
- Comparison and Contrast
- A Negotiation of Power
- Reflection
  - “Life-centered” Analysis
  - Mutual Adaptation
Bibliography

Pages:

214

Year:

2019

ISBN (HARDBACK):

9783631786628 (Active)

ISBN (EPUB):

9783631796917 (Active)

ISBN (PDF):

9783631796900 (Active)

DOI:

10.3726/b15928

Language:

English

Keywords:

intercultural competence, Power, adaptation, Interculturality, Intercultural literature

Published:

Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2019., 214 pp.

Weiwei Shen graduated from Hangzhou Dianzi University and received her postgraduate education at Zhejiang University. Sponsored by the Chinese Scholarship Council, she was a visiting scholar at the University of Bayreuth, gaining Co-tutelle doctoral degrees both from Bayreuth and from Shanghai International Studies University. She is currently employed as Associate Professor in the English Department of Hangzhou Medical College.

You do not have access to the Supplementary.

Critical Negotiations

Similar titles