Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize Winner forThe Sympathizer, have joined the canon of American instead of Southeast Asian writers. While the attempt to claim Ratner and Nguyen as Asian/Southeast Asian American writers stemmed from good intention and respect, such hegemony alienates the writers ...
All my life, the first question people ask me concerning my ethnicity is, “Are you Chinese?” No offense to my Chinese friends and associates, but the question provokes an intense reaction. So when well-intentioned people wish me a Happy Chinese New Year, I have to control the urge to ...