(Re)Defining the Local: Class and Gender Identity in Lois-Ann Yamanaka's "Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers"

Abstract

About a year and a half ago, I enrolled tn my first Asian American Literature course. As a member of the Asian community here in Hawai'i, I was interested in the types of struggles Asian Americans are presently facing. I immersed myself in the social dynamics of race, class and gender which are prqminent issues in such literature and decided to pursue these avenues of interest. Eventually, the concerns and issues existing in Asian American literatures converged with those of the Local literatures of Hawai'i -- partially because there is such a large Asian population residing in the islands.