Investigating the Relationship Between History, Literature, and Film in Portraying the Development of Chinese American Diasporic Communities in California
Supervised By: Dr. Nicholas Bartlett, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Barnard College
Project Background
Through reading historical accounts of early Chinese immigration to America, an idea of the immigrant experience can be painted. While the history itself shows the adversity faced by many new Chinese-Americans, it does not include the human perspective that is essential in studying migration. During my previous research endeavors, I found that I was getting lost in a sea of dates, facts, and generalizations about the immigration experience, and I lacked an understanding of how individuals experience the diaspora. By analyzing literature and films, I hope to bridge this gap in understanding and present a more varied and complete picture of the history of Chinese-American communities in the United States and their development.
Methodology
As a part of my research, I will examine historical accounts of the Chinese immigration experience to establish the status quo understanding of how diasporic communities were developed in California, including factors such as labor opportunities, exclusionary acts, and continued cultural investment. To expand--and also complicate--this point of view, I will look closely at three to four films, including documentaries, films made during the early twentieth century, as well as modern films to connect history and the present. I will look at a similar number of literary works, ranging from fiction to poetry, to identify the connecting threads between these works of fiction and non-fiction. Overall, this close examination of media will allow for comparison of the impact nonfiction versus fictional works have on developing an image of the Chinese-American diaspora experience.
Objectives
In pursuing my research question, I hope to learn more about both the history and present-day situations of communities that surround me in the US. I think it’s important to gain an understanding of immigration and assimilation in a world where many people from foreign countries are still looked at disdainfully in America. This especially impacts immigrants from China due to a history of political tensions between the two countries, and I believe that bringing light to the history of Chinese presence in the United States would work to remedy these misconceptions. I hope that I can present the ways Chinese-Americans have been treated and perceived throughout time and implore people to understand that those they consider different from them are not in fact nearly as much so.