Poetics of the Asian Diaspora: From Dictée to Today

Abstract:

The concept of diaspora has taken on increasing prominence in literary and cultural studies, often seen as a counterweight to traditionally nationalist conceptions of identity. This talk examines the concept of an “Asian diaspora,” a seemingly contradictory formation that combines a racial category (“Asian”) with the deterritorialized framework of diaspora. The result is a category that has no obvious “homeland” and whose coherence must be sought through connections across borders. I draw on literary examples to explore the forms that an Asian diasporic sensibility might take, from the Korean American writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha to the Chinese Canadian poet Fred Wah. I’ll conclude by asking how the concept of “Asian diaspora” might travel back to Asia itself, including to locations like Singapore.

 
About the Speakers:

Timothy Yu is Martha Meier Renk-Bascom Professor of Poetry and professor of English and Asian American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of Diasporic Poetics: Asian Writing in the United States, Canada, and Australia (Oxford University Press) and of Race and the Avant-Garde: Experimental and Asian American Poetry since 1965 (Stanford University Press), which won the Book Award in Literary Studies from the Association for Asian American Studies. He is also the author of the poetry collection 100 Chinese Silences (Les Figues Press), the Editor’s Selection in the 2014 NOS Book Contest. He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First Century American Poetry and Nests and Strangers: On Asian American Women Poets (Kelsey Street Press), and he also serves as executive editor of the Journal of Contemporary Literature."

 


 

Date/Day: 11 October 2024, Friday

Time: 1pm - 3pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre 8, Gaia

In-person Registration: Click here

Livestreaming on YouTube: Click here