kasia
03-27-2005, 11:54 PM
Karen Shimakawa is an ASA professor at the University of California, Davis. When I was there, she taught Intro to ASA, Legal History of APAs and a drama class. i first learned about critical race theory, yick wo v. hopkins, people v. hall, domestic violence in apa communities - just about everything - through her, and i can't imagine what i would have ended up doing if i didn't take her class and subsequently involved myself in the apa community. I can't find a picture of her; she's fairly young - maybe in her 30's? below is a brief synopsis of one of her books. (although she is a lawyer, she also directs apa plays/films). for those of you uc davis students, professor shimakawa truly rocks. you should take one of her classes (if she's still there).
National Abjection: The Asian American Body on Stage (2002)
by Karen Shimakawa
Duke University Press
National Abjection explores the vexed relationship between "Asian Americanness" and "Americanness" through a focus on drama and performance art. Karen Shimakawa argues that the forms of Asian Americanness that appear in U.S. culture are a function of national abjection—a process that demands that Americanness be defined by the exclusion of Asian Americans, who are either cast as symbolic foreigners incapable of integration or Americanization or distorted into an "honorary" whiteness. She examines how Asian Americans become culturally visible on and off stage, revealing the ways Asian American theater companies and artists respond to or oppose the cultural implications of this abjection.
Shimakawa looks at the origins of Asian American theater, particularly through the memories of some of its pioneers. Her examination of the emergence of Asian American theater companies illuminates their various strategies for countering the stereotypes of Asian Americans and the lack of visibility of Asian American performers within the theater world. She shows how some plays—Wakako Yamauchi’s 12-1-A, Frank Chin’s Chickencoop Chinaman, and The Year of the Dragon—have directly and indirectly addressed the displacement of Asian Americans. She analyzes works attempting to negate the process of abjection—such as the 1988 Broadway production of M. Butterfly as well as Miss Saigon, a mainstream production that enacted the process of cultural displacement both onstage and off. Finally, Shimakawa considers Asian Americaness in the context of globalization by meditating on the work of Ping Chong, particularly his East-West Quartet.
any professors you'd like to recognize?
National Abjection: The Asian American Body on Stage (2002)
by Karen Shimakawa
Duke University Press
National Abjection explores the vexed relationship between "Asian Americanness" and "Americanness" through a focus on drama and performance art. Karen Shimakawa argues that the forms of Asian Americanness that appear in U.S. culture are a function of national abjection—a process that demands that Americanness be defined by the exclusion of Asian Americans, who are either cast as symbolic foreigners incapable of integration or Americanization or distorted into an "honorary" whiteness. She examines how Asian Americans become culturally visible on and off stage, revealing the ways Asian American theater companies and artists respond to or oppose the cultural implications of this abjection.
Shimakawa looks at the origins of Asian American theater, particularly through the memories of some of its pioneers. Her examination of the emergence of Asian American theater companies illuminates their various strategies for countering the stereotypes of Asian Americans and the lack of visibility of Asian American performers within the theater world. She shows how some plays—Wakako Yamauchi’s 12-1-A, Frank Chin’s Chickencoop Chinaman, and The Year of the Dragon—have directly and indirectly addressed the displacement of Asian Americans. She analyzes works attempting to negate the process of abjection—such as the 1988 Broadway production of M. Butterfly as well as Miss Saigon, a mainstream production that enacted the process of cultural displacement both onstage and off. Finally, Shimakawa considers Asian Americaness in the context of globalization by meditating on the work of Ping Chong, particularly his East-West Quartet.
any professors you'd like to recognize?