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The “Sent-Down Body” Remembers: Contemporary Chinese Immigrant Women’s Visual and Literary Narratives

Isbister, Dong
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259594428

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Women's Studies.
In this dissertation, I use contemporary Chinese immigrant women’s visual and literary narratives to examine gender, race, ethnicity, migration, immigration, and sexual experiences in various power discourses from a transnational perspective. In particular, I focus on the relationship between body memories and history, culture, migration and immigration portrayed in these works. I develop and define “the sent-down body,” a term that describes educated Chinese urban youths (also called sent-down youths in many studies) working in the countryside during the Chinese Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The “sent-down body” in this context and in my analysis is the politicized and sexualized migrant body. The term also describes previous sent-down youths’ immigration experiences in the United States, because many of them became immigrants in the post-Cultural Revolution era and are usually described as “overseas sent-down youths” (yangchadui). Therefore, the “sent-down body” is also the immigrant body, and it is sexualized and racialized. Moreover, the “sent-down body” is gendered, but I study the female “sent-down body” and its represented experiences in specific political, historical, cultural, and sexual contexts. By using “the sent-down body” as an organizing concept in my dissertation, I introduce a new category of analysis in studies of Chinese immigrants’ history and culture. I use the term “the sent-down body” to explore a new terrain to study representations of historical, cultural, and political experiences in the context of body memories and coerced or voluntary human movement in physical or symbolic locations. The focus on Chinese immigrant women’s cultural production also helps enrich studies of new Chinese immigrants’ experiences by treating them as part of Asian American immigrants’ experiences.
Linda Mizejewski, PhD (Committee Chair)
Sally Kitch, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Rebecca Wanzo, PhD (Committee Member)
Judy Wu, PhD (Committee Member)
260 p.
Womens Studies
body memory; Chinese immigrant women; sexuality; racialized female body; Chinese American literature and art; transnational feminism; Chinese diasporas; Chinese political and cultural history

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Isbister, D. (2009). The “Sent-Down Body” Remembers: Contemporary Chinese Immigrant Women’s Visual and Literary Narratives [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259594428

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Isbister, Dong. The “Sent-Down Body” Remembers: Contemporary Chinese Immigrant Women’s Visual and Literary Narratives. 2009. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259594428.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Isbister, Dong. "The “Sent-Down Body” Remembers: Contemporary Chinese Immigrant Women’s Visual and Literary Narratives." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259594428

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1259594428
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.