The Construction Of Chinese American Identity In Third Space

Situated in the worlds in-between, Chinese Americans have suffered from the cultural conflicts, the racial discrimination and the stereotypes that marginalized them as the Other. Confused by this context, Chinese Americans are eager to seek and construct a new identity. Therefore, identity-seeking and identity construction of Chinese Americans become the major task of Chinese American literature. However, in the process of their identity-seeking, Chinese American writers are caught up in the predicament between Chinese traditional culture and American mainstream culture. Hommi Bhabha, one of the most influential postcolonial theorists, deals with the issue of identity construction with his creative postcolonial theories, especially his theories of Third Space, hybridity and cultural translation, which open up new possibilities and perspectives for the writers of ethnic minorities in matters of identity construction.To Gish Jen, the outstanding Chinese American writer, identity is not fixed but it is characterized by fluidity and hybridity. Typical American (1991), her debut novel, demonstrates her effort at the creative explorations on the issue of identity construction. She not only deals with the construction of a new identity with fluidity and hybridity of Chinese Americans, but also shows her great concerns for the new definition of the typical American today. From the postcolonial perspective, the process of identity-seeking in the novel reveals that in a Bhabhaian Third Space, Chinese Americans assert a new identity that is neither Chinese nor American, but distinctively Chinese American—a product of "hybridity." Therefore, this dissertation seeks to draw from Hommi Bhabha's postcolonial theory to analyze Jen's fictional explorations on the issue of the identity construction of Chinese Americans and hopefully, to serve as an illumination for the Chinese Americans who are constructing their new identity in the age of globalization.