Transpacific Cartographies examines how contemporary Chinese diasporic narratives address the existential loss of home for immigrant communities at a time of global precarity and amid rising Sino-U.S. tensions. Focusing on cultural productions of the Chinese diaspora from the 1990s to the present, Melody Yunzi Li, PhD ’18, argues that the characters in these stories create multilayered maps that transcend the territorial boundaries that make finding a home in a foreign land a seemingly impossible task. In doing so, these “maps” outline a transpacific landscape that reflects the psycho-geography of homemaking for diasporic communities. Intersecting with and bridging Sinophone studies, Chinese American studies, and diaspora studies and drawing on theories of literary cartography, Transpacific Cartographies demonstrates how these “maps” offer their readers different paths for finding a sense of home no matter where they are.
About the author
Melody Yunz Li is an assistant professor in Chinese studies at the University of Houston, Texas. She is the co-editor of Affective Geographies and Narratives of Chinese Diaspora.