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Rooted-transnationalism and the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms

Rooted-transnationalism and the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of... This paper uses a close reading combined with Koichi Iwabuchi’s nascent concept rooted-transnationalism to illustrate the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms. By examining the representational function of food, we can understand how Goto chooses to arbitrate the belonging of the Canadian Nikkei characters in her novel. The three generations in the matrilineal Tonkatsu family begin the novel with varying (almost stereotyped) cultural identities, but by understanding how their identity is represented through food as the novel progresses we can see these identities worked into a nuanced dialogue with the modern diaspora condition. We learn that explanations of diaspora identity in literature using transnationalism as a framework can be enhanced by considering cultural identity in terms of its rootedness, particularly how it interacts with sociocultural factors at varying spatial levels. Understanding the representational function of food in a rooted-transnational context shows how food problematises the belonging of Nikkei yet can also provide emancipation from the challenge of diasporic cultural identity. Through this analysis of Goto’s novel, we can gain a deeper appreciation of the complexity of modern Nikkei diaspora cultural identities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Japan Taylor & Francis

Rooted-transnationalism and the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms

De Souza, Lyle
Contemporary Japan , Volume 29 (2): 16 – Jul 3, 2017
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Rooted-transnationalism and the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms

Abstract

This paper uses a close reading combined with Koichi Iwabuchi’s nascent concept rooted-transnationalism to illustrate the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms. By examining the representational function of food, we can understand how Goto chooses to arbitrate the belonging of the Canadian Nikkei characters in her novel. The three generations in the matrilineal Tonkatsu family begin the novel with varying (almost stereotyped) cultural identities,...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2017 German Institute for Japanese Studies
ISSN
1869-2737
eISSN
1869-2729
DOI
10.1080/18692729.2017.1351023
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This paper uses a close reading combined with Koichi Iwabuchi’s nascent concept rooted-transnationalism to illustrate the representational function of food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms. By examining the representational function of food, we can understand how Goto chooses to arbitrate the belonging of the Canadian Nikkei characters in her novel. The three generations in the matrilineal Tonkatsu family begin the novel with varying (almost stereotyped) cultural identities, but by understanding how their identity is represented through food as the novel progresses we can see these identities worked into a nuanced dialogue with the modern diaspora condition. We learn that explanations of diaspora identity in literature using transnationalism as a framework can be enhanced by considering cultural identity in terms of its rootedness, particularly how it interacts with sociocultural factors at varying spatial levels. Understanding the representational function of food in a rooted-transnational context shows how food problematises the belonging of Nikkei yet can also provide emancipation from the challenge of diasporic cultural identity. Through this analysis of Goto’s novel, we can gain a deeper appreciation of the complexity of modern Nikkei diaspora cultural identities.

Journal

Contemporary Japan – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jul 3, 2017

Keywords: Rooted-transnationalism; food; representation; Nikkei; Canada; Chorus of Mushrooms

References

  • Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms and the politics of writing diaspora
  • Japanese generations in Hiromi Goto’s novel Chorus of Mushrooms
  • ‘To attend the sound of stone’: The sensibility of silence in Obasan
  • Asian Kanadian, eh?
  • Introduction: Multicultural translations of food, bodies, language
  • Cultural identity and diaspora
  • Racist ideologies and the media. media studies
  • Eating and reading Hiromi Goto
  • Becoming a model minority: The depiction of Japanese Canadians in the Globe and Mail, 1946–2000
  • Asian migration and rooted-transnationalism: When and how transnational connections matter?
  • Eating, abjection, and transformation in the work of Hiromi Goto
  • Foreign recipes: Mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, The Joy Luck Club and A Chorus of Mushrooms
  • Can Asian Adian? Reading the scenes of ‘Asian Canadian’
  • You are where you eat: Ethnicity, food and cross-cultural spaces
  • Rethinking globalization: Glocalization/grobalization and something/nothing