The Construction of Identity and Individual History in Diasporic Filipino Women Writers’ English Language Novels

Authors

  • Ranwarat Kobsirithiwara Kasetsart university

Keywords:

Diasporic writers, Filipino literature, Female writers, English literature, Identity construction

Abstract

This article examines literary works written in English by three diasporic Filipino female writers: Melinda Bobis's Fish-Hair Woman (2012), Marivi Soliven’s The Mango Bride (2013) and Gina Apostol's Gun Dealer's Daughter (2013). These novels represent Filipino women working in foreign countries, their roles in the family and in Filipino history, documenting the construction of identity and the creation of personal history outside of the motherland. This article explores how female English-speaking Filipino writers represent Filipino identities and displacement to international readers.

Author Biography

Ranwarat Kobsirithiwara, Kasetsart university

Department of Literature, Faculty of Humanities,

References

ภาษาไทย

Chutima Pragatwutisarn ชุติมา ประกาศวุฒิสาร. (2011). Kor rang sang rueang: Rueanglao attalak lae chumchon nai wannakam satri chaikorp ก่อร่าง สร้างเรื่อง: เรื่องเล่า อัตลักษณ์ และชุมชน ในวรรณกรรมสตรีชายขอบ [Narrating home and identity of marginalized women literature]. Kopfai.

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ภาษาต่างประเทศ

Apostol, G. (2013). Gun dealer’s daughter. W.W. Norton & Company.

Asia Society. (2013). Meet the Author: Marivi Soliven. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://asiasociety.org/philippines/meet-author-marivi-soliven

Bobis, M. (2012). Fish-Hair woman. Spinifex Press.

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Lewis, K. (1999). [Review of Her Wild American Self, by M. E. Galang]. MELUS, 24(4), 199–201. https://doi.org/10.2307/468188

Madsen, D. L. (Ed.). (2003). Beyond the borders: American literature and post-colonial theory. Pluto Press.

Manlapza, E. Z. (2000). Literature in English by Filipino women. Feminist Studies, 26(1), 187-200. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178598

Milne, L. 2018. Disloyal to civilization: Metafiction as protest in Gina Apostol’s Gun Dealers’ Daughter. MELUS, 43(4), 104-126.

Naidas, S. M. (2019). A Postcolonial Reading of Merlinda Bobis’ Fish Hair Woman. Human Behavior, Development and Society, 20(1), 69-79.

Soliven, M. (2013). The Mango Bride. Penguin group.

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Published

2022-06-28

How to Cite

Kobsirithiwara, R. . (2022). The Construction of Identity and Individual History in Diasporic Filipino Women Writers’ English Language Novels. Journal of Letters, 51(1), 45–59. Retrieved from https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jletters/article/view/260564

Issue

Section

Research Articles