Approaches to Teaching the Works of Karen Tei Yamashita

by Ruth Y. Hsu (Editor), Pamela Thoma (Editor)

Overview

Structurally innovative and culturally expansive, the works of Karen Tei Yamashita invite readers to rethink conventional paradigms of genres and national traditions. Her novels, plays, and other texts refashion forms like the immigrant tale, the postmodern novel, magical realism, apocalyptic literature, and the picaresque and suggest new transnational, hemispheric, and global frameworks for interpreting Asian American literature.

Addressing courses in American studies, contemporary fiction, environmental humanities, and literary theory, the essays in this volume are written by undergraduate and graduate instructors from across the United States and around the globe. Part 1, "Materials," outlines Yamashita's novels and other texts, key works of criticism and theory, and resources for Asian American and Asian Brazilian literature and culture. Part 2, "Approaches," provides options for exploring Yamashita's works through teaching historical debates, outlining principles of environmental justice, mapping geographic boundaries to highlight power dynamics, and drawing personal connections to the texts. Additionally, an essay by Yamashita describes her own approaches to teaching creative writing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603295420
Publisher:	Modern Language Association
Publication date:	10/01/2021
Series:	Approaches to Teaching World Literature , #168
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part 1 Materials

A Writer in Motion Ruth Y. Hsu Pamela Thoma 3

Novels: Critical Dialogue and Long-Form Fiction Pamela Thoma 7

Plays, Memoir, Essays, Interviews, Short Stories, Translations, and Papers Ruth Y. Hsu 20

Selected Bibliography Ruth Y. Hsu 31

Contexts Ruth Y. Hsu Pamela Thoma 36

Essential Reference Materials Ruth Y. Hsu Pamela Thoma 43

Invisible Ganesh Karen Tei Yamashita 49

Part 2 Approaches

Introduction: Pedagogical Opportunities and Challenges Ruth Y. Hsu Pamela Thoma 59

Histories and Interventions

"1971: Aiiieeeee! Hotel" and Asian American Literary History Caroline Kyungah Hong 65

Palimpsestuous Historiographies of Asian American Activism in I Hotel Silvia Schultermandl 71

Many Endings, Many Beginnings: Alternative Histories of I Hotel Jolie A. Sheffer 76

Encountering Others within Ourselves: Circle K Cycles and Ethnic Identity in Okinawa Ikue Kina 82

Letters to Memory in Hawaii: Place, History, and National Identity Ruth Y. Hsu 87

A Glimpse of the Global Sixties: Teaching I Hotel in China Wen Jin 93

Belonging and Nonbelonging

Yamashita's Novels and Contemporary Interethnic American Fiction Caroline Rody 98

Intersectionality, Comparative Racialization, and the Racial Pyramid in Tropic of Orange Lynn Mie Itagaki 104

Through the Arc of the Theater: Yamashita Does Asian American Drama Josephine Lee 110

Teaching Yamashita's Works outside the Ethnic Studies Classroom Noelle Brada-Williams 116

The Critical Regionalism of Tropic of Orange Jamie Crosswhite 122

Brazil-Maru and Ethnic Identities in the Japanese Classroom Ric Makino 128

Hospitality, Borders, and Spatial Politics in I Hotel Ana María Manzanas-Calvo 133

Mapping Alternative Spaces

Tropic of Orange as Palimpsest: A Literary Cartographic Approach Anastasia Lin John Dees 138

Tropic of Orange in a Literary Theory Course Jessica Lewis Luck 146

Rerouting the Road Narrative in Tropic of Orange J. Edward Mallot 152

Troubling Boundaries and Beginnings with "The Orange" Robin E. Field 157

Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, and Other Short Stories in a Brazilian Context Gloria Karam Delbim 162

Brazil-Maru and the Narrative Space of Impersonal Feelings Pamela Thoma 168

Through the Arc of the Rain Forest^ and Planetary Fiction Min Hyoung Song 175

New Transnationalisms and Ecocritical Approaches

The Voice of the Globe: Narrating Globalization in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest Begoña Simal-González 179

Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Environmental Apocalypse, and Post-Soviet Allegory Nataliya Krynytska 186

A Material Ecocritical Approach to Through the Arc of the Rain Forest Xiaojing Zhou 191

Critical Globalization and Political Economy in Tropic of Orange T. Christine Jespersen David J. Plante 197

Tropic of Orange and the Genre of Climate Fiction Claudia Sadowski-Smith Matthew S. Henry 204

Feminist Anticolonial Science (Fiction) Studies in the Rain Forest Aimee Bahng 209

Notes on Contributors 217

Survey Respondents 223

Works Cited 225

Editorial Reviews

This book will be a vital resource for teachers, students, and scholars. . . . After reading it, I am doubly inspired to teach Yamashita’s works.” —Sue-Im Lee, Temple University

“The collection successfully conveys how Yamashita’s writing represents a ‘dynamic force’ for readers. . . . I would certainly recommend it.” —Bella Adams, Liverpool John Moores University

From the Publisher