本文透過探究小說及電影文本中對亞裔角色在西方霸權的歷史敘事下，分析種族如何在殖民結構與帝國主義的社會敘事中作為一個似乎被遺忘卻又強加的框架，約束這些亞裔角色在文本中能夠展現的自主性與主體性，進而體現西方社會結構中對特定族群的排他性暴力與制約「種族他者」的異質性。即便這三項文本的時間與故事脈絡有所差異，但他們對於透過身分與種族化的困境，進而指涉在殖民/帝國政權之下，文本中的角色被以不同的形式汙名化與歧視的相似經歷。藉由這樣的呈現，本文不僅試圖再現這些亞裔角色在西方政權下所面臨的種族、身分與邊緣化的困境，更進一步檢視這些角色對以西方為導向的歷史、移民以及種族敘事提出具有挑戰性及顛覆性的論述，作為一種對自己身分的捍衛與反抗。本文透過這三項作品，指出在不同的歷史脈絡下，這些亞裔角色如何透過當代社會結構進而再生產的方式及故事情節中隱含的意喻，反思社會結構透過自由主義政治本身對於某特定族群的牽制。在檢視文本中殖民與帝國主義政治對歷史事件、亞裔族群、移民問題、以及社會傳統和階序中不同面向的呈現，本文追溯並探討在過去的歷史脈絡裡，霸
權勢力如何在二戰或殖民時期化約特定族群，進而侷限他們在這些歷史敘事上的自我呈現以及對自己身分價值的捍衛，掩飾其社會結構中的排他性暴力。透過此研究進程，本文希望透過這三項文本中的亞裔角色對身分的詮釋以及具挑戰性與顛覆性的身分敘事，在那些早已被定奪的歷史敘事脈絡裡，如何主體化那些被視為「種族他者」的族群，進而反思這些以西方殖民與帝國為主的歷史脈絡及重新認同自己的身分價值。
關鍵詞：種族、身分、自主性、主體性、亞裔族群、日裔美人拘禁、親密性、排他性暴力、同化、異族、殖民政治、帝國主義。

Taking the two novels and one film as the primary texts to look into their interpretations of Asian subjects’ identity problems, this thesis examines how the question of race is normalized as a frame to mark certain people and group as “racial others” under colonial/imperial governance to limit their expression of selves and retain the exclusionary violence toward them. Despite the fact
that the genre and the timeline of the stories are different in the three texts, they share the similar concerns to speak for the marginal and racialized subjects that discloses how racialized identities are
devalued and foreclosed from the social mechanisms under the predominant colonial/imperial governance. By such representation, these texts do not merely articulate the protagonists’ relatively difficult conditions in their search for identity; rather, they narrate the challenging and subversive forces to examine how race may hinder the navigation of their autonomy, self-expression, and
individuality in the liberal governance. This thesis examines how these protagonists understand their manipulated conditions through politics as the means to navigate and negotiate their identities in the determined historical narratives of colonialism and imperialism. By investigating the colonial/imperial representations of certain historical events, Asian subjects, migration, and social conventions and stratification, this thesis traces the past history of Asian immigrants under the colonial/imperial governance to see what the interlocking factors and entailed myths establish the Western-oriented social institutions and de-contextualize the value, devotion, individuality, and expression of ethnic populations. In doing so, this thesis hopes to interpret how those racialized Asian subjects in the hegemonic context can narrate their stories as self-oriented and subjectivize themselves to challenge and rethink the defined historical narrative.
Keywords: Race, identity, autonomy, individuality, Asian subjects, Japanese American internment, intimacy, exclusionary violence, assimilation, ethnicity, colonial governance, imperialism.

Table of Contents
English Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. I
中文摘要 .......................................................................................................................................................... II
致謝詞 ............................................................................................................................................................. III
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ V
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1:
The Authoritative Ideals of Race and Assimilation during WWII in Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor
Was Divine ......................................................................................................................................................... 22
Chapter 2:
Migration, Queerness, and Intimacy: The Complexities in Monique Truong’s The Book of Salt ........ 65
Chapter3:
The Domestication of the Serpents through Shifting Identities in Hark Tsui’s Film—Green Snake
(1993) ................................................................................................................................................................ 81
Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................... 105

Works Cited
The Primary Texts
Green Snake (青蛇). Dir. Tsui, Hark. Gala Film Distribution, 1993. Web. June 28, 2018.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrdmgYUrL8 >
Otsuka, Julie. When the Emperor was Divine. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. Print.
Truong, Monique T. D. The Book of Salt. London: Vintage Publishing, 2004. Print.

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