Asian American Identities and Practices

Folkloric Expressions in Everyday Life

Jonathan H. X. Lee, Kathleen Nadeau

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2014
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780739147344
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Asian American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Asian American Identities and Practices: Folkloric Expressions in Everyday Life probes the intersection, interplay, and interconnection of Asian and Asian American folklore and folklife in globally fluid and culturally creative landscapes among Asian American communities and subjects. Asian American folklore, as a way of life and practice, has emerged and continues to emerge as Asian Americans lay claim and take root in the American mosaic. As such, the contributors in this volume all show how the Asian American historical experiences and continued international migration inform the production of new folkloric practices, subjectivities, and ideologies, which in turn strengthen specific Asian American ways of life while normalizing folklore that are squarely produced in Asian America. This collectionillustrates that Asian American folklore and folklife is interwoven with social relationships, the creation of various types of ethnic, cultural, and national identities, and adaptive strategies within the particular historical periods, communities, and shifting boundaries and demographics of Asian America. The global context of Asian American folklore and folklife, especially in the racially charged post-9/11 context, bespeaks how Asians, past and present, maneuver the cultural spaces of their host society and old traditions to create new sites and new opportunities for cultural folkloric production and expression in everyday life.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Folklore and Asian American Humor
• Chapter Two: Folklore and the Visual Culture of Burmese America
• Chapter Three: The “Movement” as Folklore
• Chapter Four: Once Upon a Time inChinese America
• Chapter Five: Things Matter
• Chapter Six: Finding the Missing Pieces
• Chapter Seven: Filipino Folklore, Space, and Performance
• Chapter Eight: Forging Transnational Folklore
• Chapter Nine: Japanese American Appropriation of Folkloric Symbols through Origami and Hip Hop
• Chapter Ten: Igorot American Folk Dance
• Chapter Eleven: Guangong
• Chapter Twelve: Folklore as a Sacred Heritage
• Chapter Thirteen: Of Flying Brooms and Sorcerers
• Chapter Fourteen: Korean Folklore in the Lives of Korean American Christian Women
• Chapter Fifteen: Late-life, Mortuary, andMemorial Rituals in theJapanese American Community
• Index
• About the Contributors