Chinese across Borders: Cultures of Diaspora and Mobility

This course explores literature and cinema of Chinese diaspora in Taiwan, the Malay Peninsula, and North America. Focusing on these three major destinations of Chinese immigration, the course will discuss how the Chinese diasporic population forge new relations with their cultural heritage through writing and filmmaking, how they use narratives and cameras to deal with the push and pull from their old and new homes, and how they create new identities to resist and negotiate with exclusion, racism, and social invisibility. Students begin their inquiry with a contemplation on the relationship between the notion of the mother tongue and the historical invention of the modern Chinese language. With the critical insights gained from language politics, students closely examine a set of literary works and films to discuss the Cold War divide between mainland China and Taiwan, the violence against the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, and the emergence of Chinese American as a distinct identity in North America. The course will emphasize cultural politics of identity in relation to travel itineraries, memory, inter-generational linkage, and gender and sexuality. No prerequisites. All readings will be provided in English. Fulfills premodern elective for EALC major.

Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; FA HUM; AR HUM

Chinese across Borders: Cultures of Diaspora and Mobility

EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES & CULTURES 3560

Section 01