"Journeys to the West": Chinese and Latinas/os in the Contemporary U.S. Intercultural Literary Imaginary

Since the 19th century, if not before, Latino and Chinese immigrants have gravitated increasingly to the United States of America, where they have contributed greatly to the economy, labor market, and sociocultural,... [ view full abstract ]

Since the 19th century, if not before, Latino and Chinese immigrants have gravitated increasingly to the United States of America, where they have contributed greatly to the economy, labor market, and sociocultural, multiracial, and inter-ethnic makeup of the country. Their histories of migration, exclusion, and now transnationalization have been entwined, as historian Ronald Takaki suggests in his book, "Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans." However, it is only until recently that U.S.-based critical race scholars and historians like Jason Oliver Chang, Grace Delgado, Kathleen M. López, Julia María Schiavone Camacho, Lok Siu, and others have examined the Chinese in Latino American contexts. Drawing from this literature and building upon the foundational work on inter-ethnic Latino crossings by Nicolas De Genova and Ana Y. Ramos Zayas (2003), this paper discusses the construction of a new intercultural literary imaginary, or rather Chinese/Latino crossings, in the works of U.S. Latina literary writers such as Isabel Allende and Cristina García. It examines, in particular, how Allende, García, and other Latina/o writers refashion the Chinese classical novel "Journey to the West," published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty in China, into a multiracial narrative for a transnational readership.