Book contents
- The Cambridge History ofAsian American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
- Part II The Exclusion Era, World War II, and the Immediate Postwar Era
- Part III The Asian American Movement
- Part IV Canons
- 16 The Emergence of Asian American Literature as an Academic Field
- 17 Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and the Impact of Theory
- 18 Heterogeneity to Multiplicity: Building Asian American Literary Critique
- 19 Whose Asias?
- 20 The South Asian American Challenge
- 21 Contemporary Filipino American Writers and the Legacy of Imperialism
- Part V Post-1965 and the Twenty-First Century
- Part VI Twenty-First Century: 9/11, Empire, and Other Challenges to Literature
- Bibliography
- Index
20 - The South Asian American Challenge
from Part IV - Canons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge History ofAsian American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
- Part II The Exclusion Era, World War II, and the Immediate Postwar Era
- Part III The Asian American Movement
- Part IV Canons
- 16 The Emergence of Asian American Literature as an Academic Field
- 17 Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and the Impact of Theory
- 18 Heterogeneity to Multiplicity: Building Asian American Literary Critique
- 19 Whose Asias?
- 20 The South Asian American Challenge
- 21 Contemporary Filipino American Writers and the Legacy of Imperialism
- Part V Post-1965 and the Twenty-First Century
- Part VI Twenty-First Century: 9/11, Empire, and Other Challenges to Literature
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
South Asian American literature makes readers confront the triangulation of British and US empires in processes of South Asian racialization in the United States, forcing one to think about the United States and Britain as aligned and competing empires. South Asian American literature causes one to consider how the United States assumes the imperial mantle by calling attention to the connections between subcontinental nationalisms. The first so-called subaltern diaspora of the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries was made up primarily of slaves, indentured laborers, and other kinds of workers to Indian Ocean islands, East Africa, the Caribbean, and the West Coast of North America. South Asian diasporic literature in the Americas is one of the most cohesive hemispherically oriented diasporic literatures within Asian American studies. The creative work of South Asian American literature's most prominent author Jhumpa Lahiri offers a barometer of the evolving perceptions of South Asian American literature.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature , pp. 355 - 370Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015