Identity, translation and embodiment in migrant and minority women's writings in Japan, English Canada and Quebec.
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文摘
The present dissertation examines the identity formation and the roles of translation, embodiment and migrancy in women's writings in Japan and North America---more specifically in English Canada, Quebec---in the 1980s and 1990s.;Chapter One examines the works of the Japanese writers Tsushima Yuko and Tawada Yoko. Tsushima and Tawada's writings on migrancy translate Japanese folklore and Ainu (aboriginal people living in northern Japan, Hokkaido) legends into a contemporary context. In the process, they give new meanings to oral traditions and classical literature, transcending the limits of time and space and questioning the meaning of the "third space" where they live and which they describe in their migrant texts. By so doing, they reveal the construction of their identities as women and as migrants.;Chapter Two examines the role of ethnicity in the formation of hyphenated identities in the works of Nikkei authors in North America and of Zainichi authors in Japan. Hiromi Goto, a Nikkei (Japanese Canadian) author in Canada and Yi Yang-ji, a Zainichi (resident Korean in Japan) author describe the formation of ethnic identity through a specific culinary culture and through the memory of the body and the senses. Though the process of identity formation is detached from the original homeland of the protagonists, ethnic culture plays a central role. In the work of these writers, ethnicity becomes a vehicle for transforming the host culture, in contrast to culinary culture and embodied memories whose impact remains confined and personal.;Chapter Three traces the impact of the feminist movement and of bilingualism on the work of contemporary migrant women writers in Quebec.;The early works of Ying Chen, a Chinese migrant in Quebec, avail themselves of feminist discourses to critique women's position in China. Her "otherness" as a migrant also serves as a platform for articulating a strong critique of Quebec culture. Regine Robin, who is Jewish and learned French in France, came to Quebec in 1977. She is a sociologist and a(n) (im)migrant writer. Throughout her literary and critical works, she suggests an idea of "Hors-lieu," which characterizes the status of (im)migrants in Quebec and which situates them neither inside nor outside of Quebec culture.;These characteristics of migrant Quebecois women writers' works address the need to question a certain isolationism or self-sufficiency in contemporary Quebecois culture. Furthermore, in their recent works, these writers no longer address the question of migrant identity and minority politics, but rather write as Quebecois who take an active part in their adopted culture. Thus, Ying and Robin seem to question the value of ethnic identification, suggesting new and productive directions for Quebecois culture.;The participation of women and minorities in culture has historically been neglected. Since the advent of second wave feminisms and of civil and minority rights movements---particularly since the 1980s and 1990s---women and minorities have been both visible and vocal, claiming for themselves a speaking position at the very centre of mainstream culture. My analysis posits that the work of these migrant and minority women writers allows readers to question their own identities in a postmodern and multicultural society.