The Concepts of Borderlands for American Ethnic Minority Writings and Formation of Literary Genres

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520296
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: University of the Ryukyus
• Principal Investigator: Kina Ikue 琉球大学, 国際沖縄研究所, 教授 (20284945)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 境域 / アメリカ文学 / マイノリティ文学 / エスニック文学 / 多文化主義 / ジャンル / トランスナショナル / borderlands

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Based on the question of how so-called "ethnic literature" or "minority literature" as literary genres have contributed both to elaborating and simplifying understanding of American literature, this study explores the effect of the critical concept of "border" and "borderlands" to envision further alternatives to our comprehension of American literature as multicultural literature. The concept of "borderlands" works effectively not only to redefine the differences among those writers who were previously considered to belong to the same ethnic categories, but also to rediscover the ubiquitous quality of "borderlands" across different cultures and languages as it is found in other literatures than American literature, such as Okinawan literature. In conclusion, the concept of "borderlands" is indispensable to understand the literary expressions that emerges in the space between cultures, nation-states, languages, and sexualities.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学