Masticating multiculturalismculinary discourses in the works of asian-australian authors

Abstract

From a gastrocritical approach, this thesis examines food in the literary production of the Asian diaspora in Australia. Through an analysis of the culinary discourses of AsianAustralian authors, it explores the gastronomic and celebratory dimensions of state multiculturalism as well as the critical reactions towards its official articulations, particularly in relation to the common trope of the consumption of the Asian other. The first chapter begins with a brief introduction to Food Studies, highlighting the role of food symbolism in our understanding of the world and of national borders in connection to the use of conceptual metaphors and figurative language in general. The impact of this culinary and linguistic interconnectedness leads the overview of Australia’s gastronational imaginings: from its colonial origins to contemporary multicultural times. The second chapter focuses on Hsu-Ming Teo’s Behind the Moon (2005) and Simone Lazaroo’s Sustenance (2010) and their critical depiction of the commodified Asian other consumed in national identity processes and for the escapist enjoyment of the Australian tourist in Asia. In addition to challenging neo-orientalist beliefs, both novels provide hope by emphasizing human similarities that suggest the possibility of intercultural understanding. The third chapter focuses on the Young Adult genre and analyzes Alice Pung’s novel Laurinda (2014) and Benjamin Law’s television series The Family Law (SBS, 2017–9), texts that resist the notion that Australia has achieved a post-racial reality and that, at the same time, normalize the Australian experience of Asian Australians. The final chapter examines Julie Koh’s collection of satirical stories Portable Curiosities (2016) and Shaun Tan’s picture books The Lost Thing (2000), The Arrival (2006), Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008) and Tales from the Inner City (2018). The works of these authors criticize the dominant ideologies of global capitalism and neocolonialism and assert the vital role of imagination and humanity as a remedy for social problems such as racism that are hidden behind the apparent harmony of state multiculturalism. Food becomes a floating and ambivalent signifier that allows these authors to participate in various discussions on superficial or imperfect multicultural models and official policies, in addition to various forms of explicit or casual racism. The ubiquitous presence of food in these discussions is not accidental, since the food chain is at the center of the conceptualization of the world, playing an essential role in the dehumanization processes present in racial aggressions. The thesis demonstrates that food is used to embody the abstractions that underlie racial inequalities and conflicts, but also to viscerally question the dominant order in the hope of gaining common ground for the development of understanding and solidarity between human beings.