亞裔美國圖像敘事中的刻板印象與身份認同

Abstract

本文藉著分析四本圖像敘事：《美國早期漫畫中的華人》(1995)、《美生中國人》(2006)、《短處》(2007)及《秘密身份：亞裔美國超級英雄選集》(2009)來探討亞裔美國之刻板印象與身份認同。這四本圖像敘事不但反映出紮根在美國文化中的種族主義，也展現此意識形態對於亞裔美國人身份認同與主體性形成的深刻影響。 第一章簡介本文中心題旨、動機及圖像敘事之生成脈絡。文中檢視圖像敘事這一新興文類之重要性和侷限性，並探討此文類如何輔助亞裔美國文學研究。文中對圖像進行深入剖析，點出其特性與敘事運用手法與機制，藉此指出圖像與文字敘事相異之處。 第二章著重於解構種族刻板印象。通過檢視美國十九世紀流行之族裔諷刺畫，此篇提及刻板印象之行徑與戀物癖相似，兩者皆藉由戀物之方式緩和閹割焦慮。在移民頻繁的時代，刻板印象乃美國白人之「戀物」。通過刻板印象之塑造，美國白人得以維護其備受「種族他者」威脅之主體性與主導權。 第三章藉由分析《美生中國人》和《短處》來揭示亞裔美國人如何在種族主義下被建構成「永恆的他者」，同時也檢視此意識形態對於亞裔美國人身份認同與主體性之影響。文中揭示美國主體性之形成與種族主義之密切關係，故導致美國國家想像之排他主義。《美生中國人》及《短處》中則以種族閹割之形式來凸顯亞裔美國人在國家體系中之窘境。 本文以弗洛伊特臨床試驗作結尾，其對戀物癖之剖析不但強調母親陰莖之非存在性，還揭示母親之陰莖實為想像物。如刻板印象、甚至種族之概念乃與「戀物癖」屬同性質；同理，種族論述也應為人造之想像物。此類論述不但將身份以種族的方式本質化，還助長白人對亞裔美國人(與非白人)之象徵暴力，剝奪後者之身份認同與主體性。故此，亞裔美國圖像敘事提倡以異質性之架構審視身份與主體性之建構，呵責種族主義之身份二分法。

This thesis is an explication of Asian American stereotypes and identity formation. Focusing on four graphic narratives—The Coming Man: 19th Century American Perceptions of the Chinese (1995), American Born Chinese (2006), Shortcomings (2007), and Secret Identities: the Asian American Superhero Anthology (2009)—my thesis intends to destabilize racism and the stereotypical representations of Asian American. By studying the graphic representation and experience of Asian Americans in these graphic narratives, I argue that racism is at the core of the American culture, poignantly impacting the identity formation of the Asian American subjects. Chapter One is an introduction which reviews the significance of graphic narratives to justify how graphic narratives—as an emerging genre—contribute to the field of Asian American studies. In addition, the first chapter also provides the definition of “Asian American graphic narratives” as well as the perimeters and limitations of my thesis to justify my choice of texts. Chapter One then proceed to discuss the difference between the Saussurian “system of language” and “system of image,” the characteristics of the image and how meaning is generated and contained in visual narratives. Chapter Two aims to deconstruct ethnic stereotypes. By examining some of the earliest ethnic caricatures from the nineteenth-century American periodicals and newspapers, I argue that stereotypes are the fetishistic objects constructed to ensure the more general defense of a threatened Anglo-Saxon subjectivity in a time when immigration was profuse and to justify the white’s dominance over the ethnic others. Chapter Three examines how racism construes Asian people as the perpetual figure of xenos whilst exploring the impact of racism on the subjectivity and identity of the Asian American subject. Racism not only plays an important role in delineating the national space of the United States but it also enforces limitation and restriction on Asian Americans, thereby symbolically excluding them from the national imagination—as exemplified in American Born Chinese and Shortcomings. The final chapter concludes this thesis with a discussion of Sigmund Freud’s clinical picture of the fetish. By emphasizing that the mother’s absent penis is merely a constructed object, I argue that stereotyping, racialized discourse, as well as the concept of race are manmade artifacts invented to reduce identity within the relation field of ethnic distinctions—white/non-white—and to impose symbolic violence on the ethnic others. It is only by situating them in multiple subject positions of a heterogeneous framework can Asian Americans reclaim their subjectivity and identity.