Troubling Borders

Juxtaposing short stories, poetry, painting, and photographs, Troubling Borders showcases the creative work of women of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, and Filipino ancestry. This thematically arranged collection interrupts borders of categorization and gender, in what preface author Shirley Geok-Lin Lim describes as a “leap over the barbed fences that have kept these women apart in these, our United States of America.”

The sixty-two contributors have been shaped by colonization, wars, globalization, and militarization. For some of these women on the margins of the margin, crafting and showing their work is a bold act in itself. Their provocative and accessible creations tell unique stories, provide sharp contrasts to familiar stereotypes—Southeast Asian women as exotic sex symbols, dragon ladies, prostitutes, or “bar girls”—and serve as entry points for broader discussions about questions of history, memory, and identity.

Isabelle Thuy Pelaud is professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University. Lan Duong is associate professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Southern California. Mariam B. Lam is associate professor of comparative literature and Southeast Asian studies, and associate vice chancellor and chief diversity officer at the University of California, Riverside. Kathy L. Nguyen is a writer and editor in San Francisco.

Preface by Shirley Geok-lin Lim

Acknowledgments

Introduction by Mariam B. Lam, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, and Kathy L. Nguyen

Part One | Wombs and Wounds: Family Relations in the Diaspora

Karen Llagas, Open

Vi Ly, Terrain 15 and Terrain 17

Karen Llagas, Manananggal

Vi Ly, Postpartum #5

Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Rubber Bands

Ann Phong, Mending

Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Mother Shell

Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Flesh of My Flesh

Linda Saphan, Togetherness

Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, 30

Diep Tran, Visitation

Julie Thi Underhill, Tra Cang Monastery

Diep Tran, Schools

Diep Tran, Tet 1976

Kao Lee Thao, Way of Life

Anh-Thu Ngo, Profile of the Life Tree

Julie Thi Underhill, Grandma

Heang Ly, The Lotus Gift

Amy Lee Sanford, Broken

Tran Mong Tu, Letter after Thanksgiving

Kou Vang, Widow

Phayvanh Luekhamhan, April, 1993

Kao Lee Thao, Yukai

Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Foreman v. Moorer

Amy Lee Sanford, Suspended

Phet Mahathongdy, Mother Love

Anne Le, Spool

Phuong M. Do, Self and Aunts

Christilily Chiv, My Mother’s Hands Bleed

Kou Vang, Letter from Laos

May Lee-Yang, Correspondence from Laos

Tran T. Kim-Trang, Still from Epilogue: The Palpable Invisibility of Life

Part Two | Coming to Voice: Language, Writing, Literacy

Marine Ky, Untitled VI (such as you are, so is the world)

Jai Arun Ravine, and then entwine lesson plans, poems, knots

Marine Ky, Ted’s Garment

Karen Llagas, From a Lighthouse Keeper

Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 1

Barbara Jane Reyes, polyglot incantation

Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 2

Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 3

Tran Tue Quan, Cuoc noi chien cua nhung identities

Tran Tue Quan, The civil war of identities

Phuong M. Do, Self and Uncles

Souvankham Thammavongsa, The Sun in Flannery O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away

Reanne Estrada, Keep It Together #5

Souvankham Thammavongsa, This Is the Direction

Part Three | Homes and Homelands

Gina Osterloh, Impossible Delineation (from the series Blank Attempt)

Karen Llagas, Archipelago Dust

Gina Osterloh, Anonymous Front (from the series Copy Flat)

Anne Le, In the Heart of the Country

Gina Osterloh, Blind Rash (from the series Rash Room)

Anne Le, The Fish Houses at Go Vap

Tiffany Chung, Go Vap

Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, National Highway 1 (Vietnam, December 1996)

Hong-An Truong, Description #3 (Three Clocks)

Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, The Corner of Nguyen Bỉnh Khiem and Tue Tĩnh (Ha Noi, 2005)

Kou Vang, Forgotten

Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, Across the ocean and beyond the mind

Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance)

Phayvanh Luekhamhan, I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains

Azizah Ahmad, Homeless

Gina Osterloh, Looking Back, I Accepted Your Invitation (from the series Somewhere Tropical)

Anh Thang Dao, Song for a Lost Home

Anh Thang Dao, The Pigeon Scandal

Jenifer K. Wofford, Point of Departure (Nurse with Cap)

Jenifer K. Wofford, Curtain Nurse I

Part Four | Loving Sex/Sexing Love

Angela Narciso Torres, Cardiac

Debbie Nguyen, Dark Green

Connie Pham, The Story of Pomegranate Told in Three Pieces

Debbie Nguyen, Plum

Lian Guow, First and Last Times

Kao-Ly Yang, Three Pearls Facing Unfaithfulness

Debbie Nguyen, Wood

Chau Nguyen, Kisses of Heat

Tran T. Kim-Trang, Still from Kore

Mong-Lan, On the Tango and Buenos Aires

Part Five | Militarized Lives

Yer Yang, Virgin Land, Virgin Body

Hong-An Truong, Still from Wheel in the Sky

Aimee Phan, Excerpt from The Reeducation of Cherry Truong

Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance)

Pimone Triplett, The Rumor of Necessity

Hong-An Truong, Florida 1979 (Love You, Miss You a Lot)

Gayle Romasanta, NutDriver

Hong-An Truong, Florida 1978 (Goes to Heaven)

Kathy L. Nguyen, Excerpt from The Inheritors

Barbara Jane Reyes, Call It Talisman (If You Must)

Part Six | Asians in America

Lin + Lam, This Is Not Me

Azizah Ahmad, A Letter to Asian America

Melba L. Abela, God Bless America

Azizah Ahmad, San Francisco

Anne Le, Chinatown

Julie Thi Underhill, Progress Report

Linda Tran, The Flea Market

Ann Phong, Box of Water 2

Melba L. Abela, San Francisco Ab(ove) Normal, 1967–2007

Marsha C. Galicia-Monroe, #6–Other Female

Ann Phong, Boats

Part Seven | Race, Roots, Religion

Nalyne Lunati, Sea Ghost

Barbara Jane Reyes, In the City, a New Congregation Finds Her

Hong-An Truong, Description #4 (Three Figurines)

Davorn Sisavath, The Value of a Catholic Education

Nalyne Lunati, Kranok 1

Julie Thi Underhill, Corner Shore

Nalyne Lunati, Vihara of the Mind

Reanne Estrada, General Tri-Corn (6)

Pimone Triplett, Motherland

Eliza O. Barrios, Industry of Yoga series

Grace Talusan, Boobie Cakes

Eliza O. Barrios, Pending

Part Eight | Travel Narratives and Narratives That Travel

Linda Saphan, Amey on Bike

Chi Vu, Suitcases

Julie Thi Underhill, Fear of Ambivalence

Mai Der Vang, The Sounds of Leaving

Rachel Quý Collier, Salt Lake

Reanne Estrada, Tenuous (tentatively titled)

Pang Houa Moua Toy, Leaving Home

Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (installation view)

Mai Der Vang, From Within, a View

Part Nine | Speech Acts: Labor, Activism, Resistance

Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride (Flowers)

Connie Pham, Quarterlife Crisis: A Quiet Activism

Emily P. Lawsin, No Moments of Silence (In Memory of Joseph Ileto, Fong Lee, and Chon Buri Xiong)

Linda Saphan, Incognito 31

Emily P. Lawsin, Where I Am From (Freewrite Remix)

Melba L. Abela, International Worker

Tiffany Chung, Here We Go

Grace Kong, I Demand Respect

Tiffany Chung, Bubble Shooter and Friends

Grace Kong, Miss Boss

Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Education Reform

Karen Llagas, Imelda

Lin + Lam, Stills from Unidentified Viet Nam No. 18

Leakhena Leng, Give Me Your Best Performance Piece

Lin + Lam, Stills from Unidentified Viet Nam No. 18

Leakhena Leng, Breathing Fire Performance Piece

Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Through the Looking Glass

Epilogue

About the Contributors and Editors