Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese aptly touches on the dual identity crisis of being an American and (or) an Asian through the story of an American-born Chinese named Jin Wang. Jin is a teenage boy who grapples with his bicultural identity and suffers from double consciousness in the American school environment. Even though American Born Chinese serves as an invaluable resource for examining themes such as acceptance, assimilation, diversity, and identity, it should be critically pointed out that the story in American Born Chinese unfolds only from the perspective of a heterosexual, male character. Yang’s story is replete with white, patriarchal values and expectations, such as physical dominance and aggression, toughness, competition, athleticism, heterosexuality, economic achievement, and sexual prowess, and naturalizes the hierarchy between white male masculinity and Asian American male masculinity. That is, Yang’s graphic novel uncritically conforms to and reinforces hegemonic Western versions of masculinity and manhood as the ideal. Thus, in reading American Born Chinese, we should reconsider the very definition of what it means to be “male,” as well as what it means to be “Chinese American” in the U. S.
","abstract_html":"<p>Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese aptly touches on the dual identity crisis of being an American and (or) an Asian through the story of an American-born Chinese named Jin Wang. Jin is a teenage boy who grapples with his bicultural identity and suffers from double consciousness in the American school environment. Even though American Born Chinese serves as an invaluable resource for examining themes such as acceptance, assimilation, diversity, and identity, it should be critically pointed out that the story in American Born Chinese unfolds only from the perspective of a heterosexual, male character. Yang’s story is replete with white, patriarchal values and expectations, such as physical dominance and aggression, toughness, competition, athleticism, heterosexuality, economic achievement, and sexual prowess, and naturalizes the hierarchy between white male masculinity and Asian American male masculinity. That is, Yang’s graphic novel uncritically conforms to and reinforces hegemonic Western versions of masculinity and manhood as the ideal. Thus, in reading American Born Chinese, we should reconsider the very definition of what it means to be “male,” as well as what it means to be “Chinese American” in the U. S.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Yoo, Hyun-Joo"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Campus Only Thesis","degree_discipline":"English Language and Literature","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ian Wojcik-Andrews, PhD.","Annette Wannamaker, PhD."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:33Z","subjects":["American Born Chinese","double consciousness","Gene Luen Yang","identity crisis","masculinity","English Language and Literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/947","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ian Wojcik-Andrews, PhD.","Annette Wannamaker, PhD."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Yoo, Hyun-Joo"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-02-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English Language and Literature"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Campus Only Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["American Born Chinese","double consciousness","Gene Luen Yang","identity crisis","masculinity","English Language and Literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/947"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese aptly touches on the dual identity crisis of being an American and (or) an Asian through the story of an American-born Chinese named Jin Wang. Jin is a teenage boy who grapples with his bicultural identity and suffers from double consciousness in the American school environment. Even though American Born Chinese serves as an invaluable resource for examining themes such as acceptance, assimilation, diversity, and identity, it should be critically pointed out that the story in American Born Chinese unfolds only from the perspective of a heterosexual, male character. Yang’s story is replete with white, patriarchal values and expectations, such as physical dominance and aggression, toughness, competition, athleticism, heterosexuality, economic achievement, and sexual prowess, and naturalizes the hierarchy between white male masculinity and Asian American male masculinity. That is, Yang’s graphic novel uncritically conforms to and reinforces hegemonic Western versions of masculinity and manhood as the ideal. Thus, in reading American Born Chinese, we should reconsider the very definition of what it means to be “male,” as well as what it means to be “Chinese American” in the U. S.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reclaiming racial/ethnic identity vs. reconstructing Asian American masculinity in Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ian Wojcik-Andrews, PhD.","Annette Wannamaker, PhD."],"dc:creator":["Yoo, Hyun-Joo"],"dc:date.available":["2019-02-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese aptly touches on the dual identity crisis of being an American and (or) an Asian through the story of an American-born Chinese named Jin Wang. Jin is a teenage boy who grapples with his bicultural identity and suffers from double consciousness in the American school environment. Even though American Born Chinese serves as an invaluable resource for examining themes such as acceptance, assimilation, diversity, and identity, it should be critically pointed out that the story in American Born Chinese unfolds only from the perspective of a heterosexual, male character. Yang’s story is replete with white, patriarchal values and expectations, such as physical dominance and aggression, toughness, competition, athleticism, heterosexuality, economic achievement, and sexual prowess, and naturalizes the hierarchy between white male masculinity and Asian American male masculinity. That is, Yang’s graphic novel uncritically conforms to and reinforces hegemonic Western versions of masculinity and manhood as the ideal. Thus, in reading American Born Chinese, we should reconsider the very definition of what it means to be “male,” as well as what it means to be “Chinese American” in the U. S.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/947"],"dc:subject":["American Born Chinese","double consciousness","Gene Luen Yang","identity crisis","masculinity","English Language and Literature"],"dc:title":["Reclaiming racial/ethnic identity vs. reconstructing Asian American masculinity in Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English Language and Literature"],"thesis:degree_level":["Campus Only Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:33Z"}