“What part of our “hyphenated identity” are we going to assume; why pick a particular aspect of this identity as opposed to the other?”

Francis Toselli’s questions present highly relevant points of navigation regarding living in hyphenated space. Many of the life narrative blogs this week engage in this cultural negotiation, focusing on the themes of the hyphen and hybridity. This is explored not only in the context of Fred Wah’s experiences in Diamond Grill, but also through the form of his biotext and through our classmates own experiences of mixed-identity.

Wah’s navigation of living on the hyphen is not only the content of Diamond Grill, but also in the form in which the biotext is written. In the way that form is largely disjointed, rhythmic, and non-chronological, this speaks to the disjointed and confused identity that Wah grapples with through this hyphenated space. Both Stephanie Wood and Jennifer Palfery allude to this unconventional structure as a way of perhaps accepting and resisting hybridization. Stephanie’s work  “Show, Don’t Tell in Life Narratives” suggests that Diamond Grill “encourages engagement and confusion in the reader simultaneously”, just as the hyphen is a space of engagement and confusion. In Jennifer “The Hybridity of Sound Prose”, she also suggests how Wah’s writing style creates a “sound prose” that defies traditional structure. She says, “just as Wah focuses on cultural and racial hybridity in Diamond Grill, he ultimately translates these notions into the structure of his bio-textual prose through musical and literary hybridization”. Wah’s hyphenated or hybridized space is manifested in both content and form throughout the biotext.

The notion of the hyphen has also been extended to personal experiences of many individuals who can relate with Wah’s hybridized identity. Both Jane Shi and Sunny Chen‘s posts connect with Wah’s struggle to be neither fully Chinese or fully Canadian. For Sunny, she alludes to her sense of Chinese culture through food just as Wah does, stating how her grandmother’s cooking “shucks off my acculturated mask” . Furthermore, Jane’s post reveals how she, too, has a “jarring relationship with Chinese-ness, belonging, place, and nationality”, revealing her connection to how Wah both resists and reclaims the hyphenated space.

On the other hand, Ed Koo’s post reveals perhaps a greater connection with Fred Wah Sr., who is able to move seamlessly between two cultural realms. Ed’s post “Standing in My Doorways” suggests that his Canadian and Korean cultural identities are both complete and liberating, rather than limiting. Unlike Wah, Ed’s hybridized cultural identity does not exclude him from being either Canadian or Korean, but instead includes him in both cultural realms.

By placing the hyphen in the broader context of form and others experiences, this demonstrates how malleable and vast this in-between space is. As I see many of my classmates negotiating this in-between space, it is interesting to ponder whether this in between identity is what unites us as Canadians? Ashoke Dasgupta’s work “Hyphenated Canadians” indicates that with many Canadians clinging onto our “earlier ethnic underpinnings”, it allows us to affiliate in some ways with many different groups, which may be to our advantage. This complex display of mixed cultures and ethnicities is a mechanism to unite us and ignite greater cultural interaction.

As Fred Wah states “The hyphen always seems to demand negotiation.” Perhaps we are better off negotiating on the hyphen.

Works Cited

Chen, Sunny. “Throughout High School, My Grandmother Packed Warm Chinese Food in Thermos for my Lunch.” The Word Processor. UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 26 Sept, 2014.

Dasgupta, Ashoke. “Hyphenated Canadians.” New Canadian. 27 Sept, 2014. http://www.newcanadian.com/images/summer05/pdf/10-13.pdf

Koo, Ed. “Standing In My Doorways.” Ed Koo’s Amazing Blog. UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 27 Sept, 2014.

Palfery, Jennifer. “The Hybridity of Sound Prose.” Contemporary Literature (English 474). UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 26 Sept, 2014.

Shi, Jane. “Reclaiming the Hyphen, Resisting Hyphenation.” Jane Shi’s 474F Blog. UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 26 Sept, 2014.

So, Leona. “To Be Chinese-Canadian.” Speak. UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 27 Sept, 2014.

Toselli, Francis. “Hyphenated Identities: Past and Present.” WisdombyFrancis. UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 27 Sept, 2014.

Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2006. Print.

Wood, Stephanie. “Show, Don’t Tell in Life Narratives.” Autobiography as Social Action. UBC Blogs. 25 Sept, 2014. Web. 26 Sept, 2014.