This interdisciplinary collection of critical essays examines Asian American fictional and autobiographical narratives, film, and photography, focusing on the mobile geographies of Asia and America as sites of migration. The cover, featuring the registry room door of Ellis Island, symbolizes one of many entry points for Asian immigrants. The essays provide fresh perspectives on literary and visual texts that express the Asian migrant experience. Drawing from trauma theory, visual studies, postcolonial theory, (post)ethnic studies, space and border studies, gender studies, and memory discourse, the volume explores the connections between migrant narratives and those of receiving cultures. It introduces the notion that migration can involve encounters between present travelers and figures from the past. The LIT book series Contributions to Asian American Literary Studies serves as an international platform for discussing Asian American literary studies. The creation of Asian American cultural studies necessitates new reading strategies that promote reorientation and redefine meaning. Contextualizing the Asian American experience in literature requires a broad theoretical framework for analyzing specific texts. Series editors Rocío G. Davis and Sämi Ludwig advocate for readings that highlight the richness, complexity, and diversity of Asian American literary production through various critical and theoretical lenses.
