The Chinese diaspora’s ‘imaginary’ homeland in the novels by four Chinese-American and Chinese-Indonesian writers

Publication Title

Diaspora Studies

ISSN

09739572

E-ISSN

09763457

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Studies on Chinese diaspora and their connections with their homeland have focused on various perspectives, such as historical, socio-cultural, and economic, however, rarely discussed through literary works. This study aims to elaborate on the representations of the Chinese diaspora’s homeland in novels by two Chinese-American authors, Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan, and two Chinese-Indonesian authors, Marga T. and Mira W. By employing Salman Rushdie’s memory-based imaginary homeland and Benedict Anderson’s creation-based imagined communities, the authors of this essay discuss the Chinese-American and Chinese-Indonesian people’s views of their homeland in their present contexts in their respective countries. The Chinese-American novels present their imaginary homeland through the utilization of fragmented legends and distorted myths. On the other hand, the Chinese-Indonesian novels present their imagined homeland by foregrounding the image of modernity through the exposure of wealthy families’ lifestyles and the picture of Western-oriented education and religious affiliations. The different experiences demonstrate that the notion of ‘homeland’ needs to be widened and pluralized to be able to embrace the heterogeneity of the diaspora.

First Page

152

Last Page

169

Publication Date

11-12-2020

DOI

10.1080/09739572.2019.1708154

Keywords

Chinese diaspora, Chinese-American novels, Chinese-Indonesian novels, imaginary homeland, imagined communities

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction (CI)

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