Framed by a century and a half of racialized Chinese American musical experiences, Claiming Diaspora explores the thriving contemporary musical culture of Asian/Chinese America. Ranging from traditional operas to modern instrumental music, from ethnic media networks to popular music, from Asian
American jazz to the work of recent avant-garde composers, author Su Zheng reveals the rich and diverse musical activities among Chinese Americans and tells of the struggles of Chinese Americans to gain a foothold in the American cultural terrain. She not only tells their stories, but also examines
the dynamics of the diasporic connections of this musical culture, revealing how Chinese American musical activities both reflect and contribute to local, national, and transnational cultural politics, and challenging us to take a fresh look at the increasingly plural and complex nature of American
cultural identity.
Figures
Tables
Musical Examples
Technical Notes
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. The Formation of a Diasporic Musical Culture as a Site of Contradiction
3. New York and the Transpacific Routes: Music in the Racialized History of Chinese American
Experience
4. Music Here and Now: A Diasporic Soundscape in a Global City
5. From Private Realm to Public Display of Multiculturalism: Mapping the Local Geocultural Processes of Music Production, Consumption, and (Re)Presentations
6. "Our Goal Is to Be in Sync with Other Areas
of the World": Transnational Media Culture and Popular Music
7. The Poetics and Politics of Displacement: Portraits of Seven Immigrant Musicians
8. The Ambiguities of Cultural Politics in Asian/Chinese American Music Discourse
Notes
Appendix I. Chinese American Musical Groups in the
New York/New Jersey/Greater New York Metropolitan Area
Appendix II. Sheung Chi Ng's Taishan Muyu Song Repertories
Appendix III. Complete Chinese Texts of Poems and Lyrics Cited
Glossary
Bibliography
Discography
Filmography
Index
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Su Zheng is Associate Professor and Chair of Music, as well as Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, at Wesleyan University. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China.
