Asian American citizenship through interracial relationships

Drawing on recent developments in theories of race, gender, sexuality, identity and nation, my dissertation is a study of interracial desire as a theme in literary texts by Asian American male writers. Traditional approaches to the issue of interracial romance have largely perceived minority members' desire for interracial relations as evidence of their personal attempt to overcome an "inferiority complex." Rejecting this simplistic definition, this thesis complicates the conventional understanding of interracial desire with such factors as gender, sexuality, national identity, and national membership.; An important part of this project on Asian American literature is the centrality of race and sexuality in the context of U.S. citizenship and national identity. Throughout this dissertation I seek to find some answers for the following questions: How have the concepts of race, gender, and sexuality been incorporated into the definition of American identity and into the granting of American citizenship? What are the various methods Asian American male writers have employed to assert their masculinity as a strategy to reclaim their legitimate membership in American society, politics, and culture?; Despite wide circulation of stereotypes of Asian American men, Asian American men's own literary voices and visions have been excluded from American national narratives in general, and from the traditional canon of American literature in particular. This literary study of Asian American male writers' representation and interpretation of interracial relations not only gives the silenced and marginalized Asian American men an opportunity to express their own perspectives on the issues of race, gender, sexuality, national identity and membership, but it also makes great strides towards discovering a pro-feminist Asian American masculinity as an alternative to the traditional violent and misogynist stance of Asian American manhood. Their literature thus looks forward to a more inclusive and democratic American citizenship.