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A provocative, well-researched study of the psychosocial and aesthetic representation of the Asian American as the 'abject' in the formation of the American nation. Karen Shimakawa writes elegantly and intelligently, with a lucid grasp of the complex psychoanalytic dynamic of abjection and an ability to lithely translate it into national, social, and racial terms. Her argument persuades the reader that the Asian American body is uniquely the specific index of a national ontology that fortifies the nation and its boundaries through the constitution of the Asian American as the abject to be refused, punished, and marginalized. -Lisa Lowe, author of Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics Eloquent and insightful, National Abjection skillfully caputres the complicated 'dance' of Asian American cultural and political performance. Karen Shimakawa's reading of racial abjection makes an original and profound commentary on how theater embodies and engenders national fantasies, desires, and realities. This book should be read not only by scholars; in an ideal world, it should be distributed at all productions of Miss Saigon. -Josephine Lee, author of Performing Asian America: Race and Ethnicity on the Contemporary Stage

""I have anticipated the publication of Karen Shimakawa's book for quite some time now... [S]he offers a fresh perspective under the compelling rubric of abjection, presenting the most effective examination of this well-covered terrain to date... Shimakawa's application of abjection to Asian American dramaturgy and performance is a valuable contribution to the growing discourse in Asian American cultural studies. Her book functions effectively as a coherent narrative and as a group of essays with diverse subject matter. Such a feat is difficult to accomplish.""--Claire Conceison, Asian Theatre Journal ""Considering the relatively uncharted terrain of Asian American theater and performance ... National Abjection is a welcome addition to this growing body of criticism.""--Mark Chiang, American Literature ""National Abjection is an important contribution to the fields of performance studies and Asian American studies, while also of interest to scholars examining transnationalism, globalization, critical race theory, and the body.""--Dan Bacalzo, Journal of Asian Studies Listed in Theatre Journal, Asian Week, Critical Inquiry, CHE and boundary 2.

I have anticipated the publication of Karen Shimakawa's book for quite some time now... [S]he offers a fresh perspective under the compelling rubric of abjection, presenting the most effective examination of this well-covered terrain to date... Shimakawa's application of abjection to Asian American dramaturgy and performance is a valuable contribution to the growing discourse in Asian American cultural studies. Her book functions effectively as a coherent narrative and as a group of essays with diverse subject matter. Such a feat is difficult to accomplish. --Claire Conceison, Asian Theatre Journal Considering the relatively uncharted terrain of Asian American theater and performance ... National Abjection is a welcome addition to this growing body of criticism. --Mark Chiang, American Literature National Abjection is an important contribution to the fields of performance studies and Asian American studies, while also of interest to scholars examining transnationalism, globalization, critical race theory, and the body. --Dan Bacalzo, Journal of Asian Studies Listed in Theatre Journal, Asian Week, Critical Inquiry, CHE and boundary 2.

Author Information

Karen Shimakawa is Assistant Professor in the Department of English and the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California, Davis. She is coeditor of Orientations: Mapping Studies in the Asian Diaspora, published by Duke University Press.

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