"Sum o me accents"
Description
This thesis examines the conceptualization of diaspora developed throughout Cathy Park Hong's book of poetry Dance Dance Revolution. Hong's model, dubbed a "diaspora of convergence," rethinks and reverses the common imagery associated with diaspora which depicts migrating peoples as scattering seeds. Through diasporic convergence, Hong turns her readers' attention instead to the culmination of historical events, languages, and cultures which make up diasporic subjectivities. Chapter One posits that Hong centers the importance of coalition in diaspora and thus critiques masculinist scattering-based narratives. She presents diasporic convergence through feminist coalition as a method of unity but not an imperative to resist the state's oppressive expectations of normativitiy. Chapter Two examines convergences in the form of hybridization and creolization which, while often conceived of as inherently liberatory forces, are presented throughout Dance Dance Revolution as commodities and instruments of self-preservation. Hong thus points to the fact that diasporic convergence is not always conducive to creativity and resistance. Chapter Three argues that Hong develops setting as an allegory for globalization, and, in doing so, also traces the converging processes by which globalization harnesses and reinforces national divisions to oppress laborers and benefit the wealthy. She thus critiques both the conditions and common metaphors of globalization through attention to processes of mixing which are central to diasporic convergence. This thesis ultimately argues that Dance Dance Revolution promotes an understanding of diaspora which is more nuanced than common depictions of diasporic subjects as both scattered and inherently revolutionary.