Mobile Homes: Spatial and Cultural Negotiation in Asian American Literature

The history and significance of Asian migration in North America are distinctive from those European immigrants and their descendants. European Americans in general have enjoyed more geographical, cultural, and socio-economic mobility than Asian Americans. Physical mobility for the former group is closely linked to status but often signals economic and cultural barriers for the latter. Sauling Wong contends, traveling for mainstream Americans usually signifies liberation and expansion, but for Asian Americans, oppression and exploitation. Some Asian American texts featuring migration and border crossing may contest the above mentioned peripatetic traditions. In many cases Asian travelers are able to turn their experience of forced mobility to talk about movements between geographical borders as well as those across class, ethnic, gender, and gastronomic lines. The writers discussed in the book include Chiang Yee, Hualing Nieh, David Wong Louie, Fae Myenne Ng, John Okada, and Toshio Mori. Theirpublication dates span from the 1940s up to 2000.