{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0822328232?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0822328232","authors":["Karen Shimakawa"],"book_id":"9780822328230","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/national-abjection-9780822328230","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780822328230.jpg?v=785fd2a729861f11","description":"National Abjection explores the vexed relationship between \"Asian Americanness\" and \"Americanness” through a focus on drama and performance art. Karen Shimakawa argues that the forms of Asian Americanness that appear in U.S. culture are a function of national abjection—a process that demands that Americanness be defined by the exclusion of Asian Americans, who are either cast as symbolic foreigners incapable of integration or Americanization or distorted into an “honorary” whiteness. She examines how Asian Americans become culturally visible on and off stage, revealing the ways Asian American theater companies and artists respond to the cultural implications of this abjection. Shimakawa looks at the origins of Asian American theater, particularly through the memories of some of its pioneers. Her examination of the emergence of Asian American theater companies illuminates their strategies for countering the stereotypes of Asian Americans and the lack of visibility of Asian American performers within the theater world. She shows how some plays—Wakako Yamauchi’s 12-1-A , Frank Chin’s Chickencoop Chinaman , and The Year of the Dragon —have both directly and indirectly addressed the displacement of Asian Americans. She analyzes works attempting to negate the process of abjection—such as the 1988 Broadway production of M. Butterfly as well as Miss Saigon , a mainstream production that enacted the process of cultural displacement both onstage and off. Finally, Shimakawa considers Asian Americanness in the context of globalization by meditating on the work of Ping Chong, particularly his East-West Quartet .","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780822328230","publication_date":"20021205","publisher":"Duke University Press","slug":"national-abjection","subtitle":"The Asian American Body Onstage","title":"National Abjection"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":0.7998,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"PER011020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Theater History & Criticism","score":0.707,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Race & Culture in Literature","score":0.6971,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":0.7998,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"PER011020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Theater History & Criticism","score":0.707,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Race & Culture in Literature","score":0.6971,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT013000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Drama Criticism","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC043000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Studies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":0.7998,"slug":"asian-american-lit-crit"},{"label":"Theater History & Criticism","score":0.707,"slug":"theater-history-criticism"},{"label":"Race & Culture in Literature","score":0.6971,"slug":"race-culture-in-literature"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in Asian American theater and performance art","Readers exploring Asian American identity in U.S. culture"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Juliana Chang"],"book_id":"9780816674442","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780816674442.jpg?v=ed8962734d793c11","score":0.7202,"title":"Inhuman Citizenship","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780816674442"},{"authors":["Stephen Hong Sohn"],"book_id":"9781503605923","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781503605923.jpg?v=2aae066aab04ce73","score":0.695,"title":"Inscrutable Belongings","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781503605923"},{"authors":["Lisa Lowe"],"book_id":"9780822318644","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780822318644.jpg?v=44dae365a84acfac","score":0.6915,"title":"Immigrant Acts","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780822318644"},{"authors":["Yunte Huang"],"book_id":"9780674026377","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674026377.jpg?v=a716c5061cba2668","score":0.6663,"title":"Transpacific Imaginations","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674026377"},{"authors":["Jinqi Ling"],"book_id":"9781350336018","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781350336018.jpg?v=767c5abfde26fa36","score":0.6526,"title":"Asian American Literature","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781350336018"},{"authors":["Brynn Saito","Brandon Shimoda"],"book_id":"9798888903711","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9798888903711.jpg?v=9e50b6a999db9b2b","score":0.6409,"title":"The Gate of Memory","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9798888903711"},{"authors":["Cathy Park Hong"],"book_id":"9781984820389","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781984820389.jpg?v=7915e1d661ba56e6","score":0.6383,"title":"Minor Feelings","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781984820389"},{"authors":["Greg Robinson"],"book_id":"9780295751894","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780295751894.jpg?v=44d761c65cc57a83","score":0.634,"title":"The Unknown Great","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780295751894"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Themes: Asian American theater, National identity and exclusion, Cultural displacement.","Reading lane: Asian American Lit Crit and Theater History & Criticism.","Publisher: Duke University Press."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in Asian American theater and performance art","Readers exploring Asian American identity in U.S. culture"],"themes":["Asian American theater","National identity and exclusion","Cultural displacement"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":2,"goodreads_ratings_count":26,"goodreads_reviews_count":2,"quality_score":0.8396}}