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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Virginia Commonwealth University

Journal

Cultural Identity

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Chinese Americans And The Borderland Experience On Golden Mountain: The Development Of A Chinese American Identity In The Woman Warrior: Memoirs Of A Girlhood Among Ghosts, Diane Todd Bucci Jan 2007

Chinese Americans And The Borderland Experience On Golden Mountain: The Development Of A Chinese American Identity In The Woman Warrior: Memoirs Of A Girlhood Among Ghosts, Diane Todd Bucci

Ethnic Studies Review

In The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston tells the story of her immigrant family and their efforts to rise above their working-class status in America, which optimistic Chinese regard as the Golden Mountain. The Hongs' experience is not unlike that of other immigrants who come to America to escape hardship in their homeland and hope to live the American Dream. The road to American success has numerous obstacles, and immigrants encounter many conflicts on their journey. One conflict relates to their cultural identities. Gloria Anzaldúa uses the word "borderland" to refer to the meeting …


Tongues United: Polyphonic Identities And The Hispanic Family, José Medina Jan 2006

Tongues United: Polyphonic Identities And The Hispanic Family, José Medina

Ethnic Studies Review

In this paper I will use the Bakhtinian notion of polyphony,1 of a choral dialogue of multiple and heterogeneous voices, to elaborate a pluralistic account of cultural identity in general and of Hispanic identity in particular. I will complicate and further pluralize the Bakhtinian notion by talking about the overlapping and criss-crossing dialogues of heterogeneous voices that go into the formation of cultural identities. My pluralistic view emphasizes that cultural identity is bound up with differences and opposes those homogeneous models that try to impose a unique articulation of collective identity on the members of a group. Although I will …


Like Sustenance For The Masses: Genre Resistance, Cultural Identity, And The Achievement Of Like Water For Chocolate, Ellen Puccinelli Jan 1996

Like Sustenance For The Masses: Genre Resistance, Cultural Identity, And The Achievement Of Like Water For Chocolate, Ellen Puccinelli

Ethnic Studies Review

Laura Esquivel's 1989 Mexican novel Like Water for Chocolate, neither translated into English nor published in the United States until 1992, was both an American bestseller and the basis for an acclaimed motion picture. Interestingly, though, Esquivel's work also seems to be receiving glimmers of the type of critical attention generally reserved for less "popular" works. Two particular critical studies composed in English, one by Kathleen Glenn and the other by Cecelia Lawless, have been devoted entirely to Chocolate, and both of the scholar/authors grace the faculties of reputable American institutions of higher learning.^1 As a student whose academic experience …