人生如戏,戏如人生:论亚裔美国文化身份的“表演性”

Asian American Cultural Identity Formation: Criteria of Performativity

亚裔美国文学奠基人之一赵健秀上世纪九十年代初呼吁人们必须区分"真实"和"虚假"的亚/华裔美国作家,而在现实生活中,亚/华裔美国文化身份的形成却离不开"表演性"。这种表演不是"冒名",而是"扮演",虽削弱但并不废止文化身份本身。它既是美国白人主流文化主宰下"东方主义"的必然产物,又是亚裔美国文化身份及主体性建构的必经之路。

Despite Asian American literature founder Frank Chin’s urgent call for distinguishing between“real”and“fake”Asian American writers in the early1990s,actually Asian Americans must rely on“performance”in the construction of their cultural identities.Such a performance does not constitute“imposture,”but amounts to“impersonation,”which undermines,yet does not actual cultural identity itself.A natural byproduct of Orientalism under the rein of white racial dominance in America,it represents the only means through which Asian American cultural identity and subjectivity can come into existence and maintain its rationale.