“The Othering of Women” in Karen Tei Yamashita’s Circle K Cycles and Jenny Zhang’s Sour Heart: Hybridity Issues and Gender Representation

• Ano de defesa: 2022
• Autor(a) principal: Cícero Carvalho Catão
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasil; FALE - FACULDADE DE LETRAS; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Literários; UFMG
• Palavras-chave em Português: Asian Americans; hybridity; stereotypes; gender representation; othering of women; Yamashita, Karen Tei, 1951- – Circle K Cycles – Crítica e interpretação; Zhang, Jenny, 1983- – Sour Heart – Crítica e interpretação; Ficção americana – História e crítica; Mulheres na literatura; Diáspora japonesa; Diáspora chinesa; Literatura americana – Escritoras estrangeiras
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/49615

The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to analyze Yamashita’s Circle K Cycles and Zhang’s Sour Heart and examine the literary representations of hybridity and diasporic characters, particularly women, in their stories, as well as the way those representations influence the sense of identity/belongingness of such characters, by emphasizing or refuting stereotypes concerning Asian American women and Asian American narratives. Theoretical perspectives on the concept of hybridity are presented as well as theoretical framework regarding diasporic subjects and gender, specifically Susan Stanford Friedman’s concept of “the othering of women”, followed by an analysis on how gender and hybridity are portrayed in Circle K Cycles and Sour Heart. I conclude with a comment on the importance of literature in shedding light on the issues of Asian American diasporic women.