BEYOND ETHNICITY, INTO EQUALITY

This paper examines how the concepts of hybridity and transnationalism can be salvaged from a neo-liberal discourse of identity politics and rescued for a critical Cultural Studies project that takes into account historical materialism. Focusing on a ‘place-based notion of identity’ in the context of Hawai‘i’s diverse ethnic population, and with specific reference to the hybrid and transnational formation of a ‘local Chinese consciousness’, the paper argues that understanding the complex local Chinese identity formation in Hawai‘i requires re-conceptualizing hybridity and diasporic consciousness along the lines of Aihwa Ong's notion of ‘embedded citizenship’, Adam McKeon's emphasis on diasporic network relations, and Ien Ang's definition of hybridity as denoting ‘complicated entanglement’ and ‘togetherness-in-difference’. Applying these conceptual distinctions to a careful reading of the celebrated play, ‘A Little Bit Like You’, by local playwright Darrell Lum, the paper shows that beyond the humorous, al...