Gilbert Gammad
Sau-Ling C. Wong's article, "Denationalisation Reconsidered: Asian American Cultural Criticism at a Theoretical Crossroads," discusses the emergence of diasporic/transnational discourse within the field of Asian American studies by exploring three key ideas that generated this theoretical turn. The first is the easing of cultural nationalist concerns (1), or rather the expansion of the definition of Asian American to include the post-1965 transmigrants and a move outside of the domestic space of Asian America to include voices that had been neglected. The second is the increase in permeability between the subject categories of Asian and Asian American as a result of a shift in the patterns of movement across the pacific (see the discussion of 'parachute kids' on page 7) (5). The third is the shift from a domestic perspective to a diasporic perspective, meaning the generation of a transnational perspective to discuss the ties between Asian Americans and their relationships with their respective home-countries (9).
Most interesting to me from this article is the caution Wong has with regard to denationalisation with regard to Asian American cultural criticism as discussed on page 18. Here, comparing African American perspectives of denationalisation with Asian American perspectives, she notes that they are wholly different in that the former serves to undo cultural amnesia, while the latter may serve to exacerbate "liberal pluralism's already oppressive tendency to 'disembody,' leaving America's racialised power structure intact" (18). Wong's caution with denationalisation, specifically with regard to the shift from the historical politick of Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies of "claiming America," makes sense as it generates difficulty in forming co-alitions across difference within the domestic realm.
Question:
Echoing Wong's questions in the afterword, what is the usefulness in thinking transnationally for a field based in histories of resistance within the domestic U.S. sphere / how can a transnational perspective inform our activism in the domestic sphere? Do we potentially forget our Western U.S. National privilege when we front a diasporic perspective over a domestic one, and thus participate in a form of imperialism?
Works Cited:
Wong, Sau-Ling C. "Denationalisation Reconsidered: Asian American Cultural Criticism at a Theoretical Crossroads." Amerasia Journal 21:1 & 2 (1995): 1-27.
Image: http://www.asianweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/student-protests.jpg
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