Transnational American Spaces

Tina Powell · Patricia Sagasti Suppes

Jun. 2022 · Vernon Press

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As people migrate, they face the need to create a stable space within a disconcertingly unfamiliar environment. This experience of creating new spaces opens opportunities for positive transcultural connections; however, these opportunities can also serve as the disciplining of the migrant body. This text focuses on the movement of bodies in transnational communities and the formation of domestic and communal spaces that provide respite from migratory paths, negotiate transnational relationships, or establish a new home. In doing so, we explore literary texts that question, challenge, and deepen our understanding of the experience of migration through the use of space and place.

The texts in question examine three levels of transnational spaces: intimate spaces such as family, personal growth, or sexuality; inherited spaces reflected in generational conflicts, religious identity, and inherited histories; and national spaces that look at issues of broader national identities. The texts we examine engage with transnational communities within the United States, and the ways in which narratives reimagine new space to negotiate change and create new norms. These narratives can sometimes bridge both cultures or can sometimes result in a violent sense of displacement. Each chapter problematizes a different aspect of transcultural adaptation, and the geographic ties of each community focus reflect the multicultural reality of the U.S., with connections to Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.

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Dr. Tina Powell, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of English at Concord University. Her scholarly interests focus on the intersection of U.S. immigration policies, U.S. international policy, and postwar American literature. She is currently working on a monograph that uses cartography to discuss transnational and third space migratory pathways and has published several articles in the field of Critical Refugee Studies.

Dr. Patricia Sagasti Suppes, Ph.D. spent the first years of her career as a faculty member in Spanish, and is currently Director of Global Education at Hartwick College. Her research focuses on feminist works by contemporary Latin American and Spanish writers and on the representation of feminine violence in modern literature. Most recently, she published in 'Agencia, historia y empoderamiento femenino', a special publication by the Association of Gender and Sexuality Studies.