Identity In Cultural Displacement: Cultural Translation In Diaspora Chinese American Literature

The definition of translation has been constantly expanded and extended beyond itstraditional precinct of linguistic and semantic transference between languages. Inpostcolonial theory it is even further amplified as postcolonial writing in whichtranslation is integrated into writing as resistance to colonial power. Homi Bhabhafurthered it by insisting that the state of being transferred from a country (thus aculture) to another should be interpreted as “cultural translation”. In this sense,Diaspora is “cultural translation” on account of its involvement in cross-border andcross-culture shift.The Diaspora Chinese have been always under the interactive effect of “this” and“that”, the two antitheses derived from their diasporic transplantation from one cultureto another: this culture versus that culture, Periphery versus Center, and I versus Other.In different historic stages, the interaction between “this” versus “that” presenteditself in variation from incompatibility to undistinguishable integration in differentsocial contexts. Corresponding to the variation, the diasporic Chinese Americanwriters referred to varied strategies to counter the mixing effect of “this” and “that”.In case of incompatibility of “this” versus “that”, they were compelled to be eitherthis or that and most of them, propelled by the eagerness to be recognized, temporizedwith the discourse of Orientalism of the “Center” and “Other”. In the context ofcultural pluralism of the1960s, minorities including the diasporic Chinese wereseemingly given more freedom to present themselves and more chances to be heardand seen. The diasporic Chinese American writers therefore started their quest for “I”and the equality between the majority culture (WASP culture) and the minoritycultures. They usually referred to Chinese culture in their writing to justify theidentity of diasporic Chinese Americans. More often than not, they ended up in adilemma of being neither “this” nor “that” owing to their duality in cultural identity.Urged by the overwhelming multiculturalism in the1990s, the diasporic Chinese American writers transcended the one-fold entanglement of identity for a reach tointegration of both “this” and “that”. What resulted in the process from either/or toneither/nor to both/and? How was the inextricable interaction between “this” and“that” presented in the diasporic writings of different stages? What could be foundfrom the aforesaid presentation and what foreglimpse does the finding bear? These arethe prior concerns of this paper.This paper aims at a systematic observation of the interactive effect of “this” versus“that” in diasporic Chinese American Literature from a postcolonial perspective andaims to conclude that “this” and “that” are never the two rigid and static antitheses buttwo fluid and interactive antitheses of many theses. Therefore,“identity” is alwaysunder construction rather than a fixed attribute of a group.