Description

Book Synopsis
Showcases creative writing and visual artworks by sixty-one women of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, and Filipino ancestry. This book features storytelling that troubles the borders of categorization and reflects the multilayered experience of Southeast Asian women.

Trade Review

"The combination of image with texts complementing and conversing with each other provides a textured, layered engagement with the subject matter."

* Art Radar Asia *

"[A] collection that is at once scholarly yet accessible, purposely fragmented yet also deliberately interconnected, and always centering women in ways that surprise, challenge, and even provoke."

* International Examiner *

"[The] stories told dispel stereotypes and take on the complex challenges of colonialism, militarization, love, resistance, family, migration, and more. They reveal the intersectional and multilayered experiences of Southeast Asian women in the diaspora."

* NBC News *

"Inspiring . . . uses a collage of art forms to portray varied, and usually under-represented, female identities . . . [and] shows how marginalized women have become empowered through their fervent and thought-provoking artwork and writings."

* Journal of Postcolonial Writing *

Table of Contents

Preface by Shirley Geok-lin Lim
Acknowledgments

Introduction by Mariam B. Lam, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, and Kathy L. Nguyen

Part One | Wombs and Wounds: Family Relations in the Diaspora

Karen Llagas, Open
Vi Ly, Terrain 15 and Terrain 17
Karen Llagas, Manananggal
Vi Ly, Postpartum #5
Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Rubber Bands
Ann Phong, Mending
Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Mother Shell
Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Flesh of My Flesh
Linda Saphan, Togetherness
Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, 30
Diep Tran, Visitation
Julie Thi Underhill, Tra Cang Monastery
Diep Tran, Schools
Diep Tran, Tet 1976
Kao Lee Thao, Way of Life
Anh-Thu Ngo, Profile of the Life Tree
Julie Thi Underhill, Grandma
Heang Ly, The Lotus Gift
Amy Lee Sanford, Broken
Tran Mong Tu, Letter after Thanksgiving
Kou Vang, Widow
Phayvanh Luekhamhan, April, 1993
Kao Lee Thao, Yukai
Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Foreman v. Moorer
Amy Lee Sanford, Suspended
Phet Mahathongdy, Mother Love
Anne Le, Spool
Phuong M. Do, Self and Aunts
Christilily Chiv, My Mother’s Hands Bleed
Kou Vang, Letter from Laos
May Lee-Yang, Correspondence from Laos
Tran T. Kim-Trang, Still from Epilogue: The Palpable Invisibility of Life

Part Two | Coming to Voice: Language, Writing, Literacy

Marine Ky, Untitled VI (such as you are, so is the world)
Jai Arun Ravine, and then entwine lesson plans, poems, knots
Marine Ky, Ted’s Garment
Karen Llagas, From a Lighthouse Keeper
Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 1
Barbara Jane Reyes, polyglot incantation
Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 2
Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 3
Tran Tue Quan, Cuoc noi chien cua nhung identities
Tran Tue Quan, The civil war of identities
Phuong M. Do, Self and Uncles
Souvankham Thammavongsa, The Sun in Flannery O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away
Reanne Estrada, Keep It Together #5
Souvankham Thammavongsa, This Is the Direction

Part Three | Homes and Homelands

Gina Osterloh, Impossible Delineation (from the series Blank Attempt)
Karen Llagas, Archipelago Dust
Gina Osterloh, Anonymous Front (from the series Copy Flat)
Anne Le, In the Heart of the Country
Gina Osterloh, Blind Rash (from the series Rash Room)
Anne Le, The Fish Houses at Go Vap
Tiffany Chung, Go Vap
Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, National Highway 1 (Vietnam, December 1996)
Hong-An Truong, Description #3 (Three Clocks)
Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, The Corner of Nguyen Bỉnh Khiem and Tue Tĩnh (Ha Noi, 2005)
Kou Vang, Forgotten
Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, Across the ocean and beyond the mind
Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance)
Phayvanh Luekhamhan, I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains
Azizah Ahmad, Homeless
Gina Osterloh, Looking Back, I Accepted Your Invitation (from the series Somewhere Tropical)
Anh Thang Dao, Song for a Lost Home
Anh Thang Dao, The Pigeon Scandal
Jenifer K. Wofford, Point of Departure (Nurse with Cap)
Jenifer K. Wofford, Curtain Nurse I

Part Four | Loving Sex/Sexing Love

Angela Narciso Torres, Cardiac
Debbie Nguyen, Dark Green
Connie Pham, The Story of Pomegranate Told in Three Pieces
Debbie Nguyen, Plum
Lian Guow, First and Last Times
Kao-Ly Yang, Three Pearls Facing Unfaithfulness
Debbie Nguyen, Wood
Chau Nguyen, Kisses of Heat
Tran T. Kim-Trang, Still from Kore
Mong-Lan, On the Tango and Buenos Aires

Part Five | Militarized Lives

Yer Yang, Virgin Land, Virgin Body
Hong-An Truong, Still from Wheel in the Sky
Aimee Phan, Excerpt from The Reeducation of Cherry Truong
Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance)
Pimone Triplett, The Rumor of Necessity
Hong-An Truong, Florida 1979 (Love You, Miss You a Lot)
Gayle Romasanta, NutDriver
Hong-An Truong, Florida 1978 (Goes to Heaven)
Kathy L. Nguyen, Excerpt from The Inheritors
Barbara Jane Reyes, Call It Talisman (If You Must)

Part Six | Asians in America

Lin + Lam, This Is Not Me
Azizah Ahmad, A Letter to Asian America
Melba L. Abela, God Bless America
Azizah Ahmad, San Francisco
Anne Le, Chinatown
Julie Thi Underhill, Progress Report
Linda Tran, The Flea Market
Ann Phong, Box of Water 2
Melba L. Abela, San Francisco Ab(ove) Normal, 1967–2007
Marsha C. Galicia-Monroe, #6–Other Female
Ann Phong, Boats

Part Seven | Race, Roots, Religion

Nalyne Lunati, Sea Ghost
Barbara Jane Reyes, In the City, a New Congregation Finds Her
Hong-An Truong, Description #4 (Three Figurines)
Davorn Sisavath, The Value of a Catholic Education
Nalyne Lunati, Kranok 1
Julie Thi Underhill, Corner Shore
Nalyne Lunati, Vihara of the Mind
Reanne Estrada, General Tri-Corn (6)
Pimone Triplett, Motherland
Eliza O. Barrios, Industry of Yoga series
Grace Talusan, Boobie Cakes
Eliza O. Barrios, Pending

Part Eight | Travel Narratives and Narratives That Travel

Linda Saphan, Amey on Bike
Chi Vu, Suitcases
Julie Thi Underhill, Fear of Ambivalence
Mai Der Vang, The Sounds of Leaving
Rachel Quý Collier, Salt Lake
Reanne Estrada, Tenuous (tentatively titled)
Pang Houa Moua Toy, Leaving Home
Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (installation view)
Mai Der Vang, From Within, a View

Part Nine | Speech Acts: Labor, Activism, Resistance

Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride (Flowers)
Connie Pham, Quarterlife Crisis: A Quiet Activism
Emily P. Lawsin, No Moments of Silence (In Memory of Joseph Ileto, Fong Lee, and Chon Buri Xiong)
Linda Saphan, Incognito 31
Emily P. Lawsin, Where I Am From (Freewrite Remix)
Melba L. Abela, International Worker
Tiffany Chung, Here We Go
Grace Kong, I Demand Respect
Tiffany Chung, Bubble Shooter and Friends
Grace Kong, Miss Boss
Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Education Reform
Karen Llagas, Imelda
Lin + Lam, Stills from Unidentified Viet Nam No. 18
Leakhena Leng, Give Me Your Best Performance Piece
Lin + Lam, Stills from Unidentified Viet Nam No. 18
Leakhena Leng, Breathing Fire Performance Piece
Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Through the Looking Glass

Epilogue
About the Contributors and Editors

Troubling Borders

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 30 Jun 2026.

    A Hardback by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, Mariam B. Lam


      View other formats and editions of Troubling Borders by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud

      Publisher: University of Washington Press
      Publication Date: 01/01/2014
      ISBN13: 9780295993195, 978-0295993195
      ISBN10: 0295993197
      Also in:
      Gender studies, gender groups

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Showcases creative writing and visual artworks by sixty-one women of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, and Filipino ancestry. This book features storytelling that troubles the borders of categorization and reflects the multilayered experience of Southeast Asian women.

      Trade Review

      "The combination of image with texts complementing and conversing with each other provides a textured, layered engagement with the subject matter."

      * Art Radar Asia *

      "[A] collection that is at once scholarly yet accessible, purposely fragmented yet also deliberately interconnected, and always centering women in ways that surprise, challenge, and even provoke."

      * International Examiner *

      "[The] stories told dispel stereotypes and take on the complex challenges of colonialism, militarization, love, resistance, family, migration, and more. They reveal the intersectional and multilayered experiences of Southeast Asian women in the diaspora."

      * NBC News *

      "Inspiring . . . uses a collage of art forms to portray varied, and usually under-represented, female identities . . . [and] shows how marginalized women have become empowered through their fervent and thought-provoking artwork and writings."

      * Journal of Postcolonial Writing *

      Table of Contents

      Preface by Shirley Geok-lin Lim
      Acknowledgments

      Introduction by Mariam B. Lam, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, and Kathy L. Nguyen

      Part One | Wombs and Wounds: Family Relations in the Diaspora

      Karen Llagas, Open
      Vi Ly, Terrain 15 and Terrain 17
      Karen Llagas, Manananggal
      Vi Ly, Postpartum #5
      Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Rubber Bands
      Ann Phong, Mending
      Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Mother Shell
      Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Flesh of My Flesh
      Linda Saphan, Togetherness
      Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, 30
      Diep Tran, Visitation
      Julie Thi Underhill, Tra Cang Monastery
      Diep Tran, Schools
      Diep Tran, Tet 1976
      Kao Lee Thao, Way of Life
      Anh-Thu Ngo, Profile of the Life Tree
      Julie Thi Underhill, Grandma
      Heang Ly, The Lotus Gift
      Amy Lee Sanford, Broken
      Tran Mong Tu, Letter after Thanksgiving
      Kou Vang, Widow
      Phayvanh Luekhamhan, April, 1993
      Kao Lee Thao, Yukai
      Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Foreman v. Moorer
      Amy Lee Sanford, Suspended
      Phet Mahathongdy, Mother Love
      Anne Le, Spool
      Phuong M. Do, Self and Aunts
      Christilily Chiv, My Mother’s Hands Bleed
      Kou Vang, Letter from Laos
      May Lee-Yang, Correspondence from Laos
      Tran T. Kim-Trang, Still from Epilogue: The Palpable Invisibility of Life

      Part Two | Coming to Voice: Language, Writing, Literacy

      Marine Ky, Untitled VI (such as you are, so is the world)
      Jai Arun Ravine, and then entwine lesson plans, poems, knots
      Marine Ky, Ted’s Garment
      Karen Llagas, From a Lighthouse Keeper
      Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 1
      Barbara Jane Reyes, polyglot incantation
      Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 2
      Linda Saphan, S-21 No Flying Away 3
      Tran Tue Quan, Cuoc noi chien cua nhung identities
      Tran Tue Quan, The civil war of identities
      Phuong M. Do, Self and Uncles
      Souvankham Thammavongsa, The Sun in Flannery O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away
      Reanne Estrada, Keep It Together #5
      Souvankham Thammavongsa, This Is the Direction

      Part Three | Homes and Homelands

      Gina Osterloh, Impossible Delineation (from the series Blank Attempt)
      Karen Llagas, Archipelago Dust
      Gina Osterloh, Anonymous Front (from the series Copy Flat)
      Anne Le, In the Heart of the Country
      Gina Osterloh, Blind Rash (from the series Rash Room)
      Anne Le, The Fish Houses at Go Vap
      Tiffany Chung, Go Vap
      Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, National Highway 1 (Vietnam, December 1996)
      Hong-An Truong, Description #3 (Three Clocks)
      Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, The Corner of Nguyen Bỉnh Khiem and Tue Tĩnh (Ha Noi, 2005)
      Kou Vang, Forgotten
      Vo Hong Chyong-Dai, Across the ocean and beyond the mind
      Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance)
      Phayvanh Luekhamhan, I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains
      Azizah Ahmad, Homeless
      Gina Osterloh, Looking Back, I Accepted Your Invitation (from the series Somewhere Tropical)
      Anh Thang Dao, Song for a Lost Home
      Anh Thang Dao, The Pigeon Scandal
      Jenifer K. Wofford, Point of Departure (Nurse with Cap)
      Jenifer K. Wofford, Curtain Nurse I

      Part Four | Loving Sex/Sexing Love

      Angela Narciso Torres, Cardiac
      Debbie Nguyen, Dark Green
      Connie Pham, The Story of Pomegranate Told in Three Pieces
      Debbie Nguyen, Plum
      Lian Guow, First and Last Times
      Kao-Ly Yang, Three Pearls Facing Unfaithfulness
      Debbie Nguyen, Wood
      Chau Nguyen, Kisses of Heat
      Tran T. Kim-Trang, Still from Kore
      Mong-Lan, On the Tango and Buenos Aires

      Part Five | Militarized Lives

      Yer Yang, Virgin Land, Virgin Body
      Hong-An Truong, Still from Wheel in the Sky
      Aimee Phan, Excerpt from The Reeducation of Cherry Truong
      Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance)
      Pimone Triplett, The Rumor of Necessity
      Hong-An Truong, Florida 1979 (Love You, Miss You a Lot)
      Gayle Romasanta, NutDriver
      Hong-An Truong, Florida 1978 (Goes to Heaven)
      Kathy L. Nguyen, Excerpt from The Inheritors
      Barbara Jane Reyes, Call It Talisman (If You Must)

      Part Six | Asians in America

      Lin + Lam, This Is Not Me
      Azizah Ahmad, A Letter to Asian America
      Melba L. Abela, God Bless America
      Azizah Ahmad, San Francisco
      Anne Le, Chinatown
      Julie Thi Underhill, Progress Report
      Linda Tran, The Flea Market
      Ann Phong, Box of Water 2
      Melba L. Abela, San Francisco Ab(ove) Normal, 1967–2007
      Marsha C. Galicia-Monroe, #6–Other Female
      Ann Phong, Boats

      Part Seven | Race, Roots, Religion

      Nalyne Lunati, Sea Ghost
      Barbara Jane Reyes, In the City, a New Congregation Finds Her
      Hong-An Truong, Description #4 (Three Figurines)
      Davorn Sisavath, The Value of a Catholic Education
      Nalyne Lunati, Kranok 1
      Julie Thi Underhill, Corner Shore
      Nalyne Lunati, Vihara of the Mind
      Reanne Estrada, General Tri-Corn (6)
      Pimone Triplett, Motherland
      Eliza O. Barrios, Industry of Yoga series
      Grace Talusan, Boobie Cakes
      Eliza O. Barrios, Pending

      Part Eight | Travel Narratives and Narratives That Travel

      Linda Saphan, Amey on Bike
      Chi Vu, Suitcases
      Julie Thi Underhill, Fear of Ambivalence
      Mai Der Vang, The Sounds of Leaving
      Rachel Quý Collier, Salt Lake
      Reanne Estrada, Tenuous (tentatively titled)
      Pang Houa Moua Toy, Leaving Home
      Anida Yoeu Ali, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (installation view)
      Mai Der Vang, From Within, a View

      Part Nine | Speech Acts: Labor, Activism, Resistance

      Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride (Flowers)
      Connie Pham, Quarterlife Crisis: A Quiet Activism
      Emily P. Lawsin, No Moments of Silence (In Memory of Joseph Ileto, Fong Lee, and Chon Buri Xiong)
      Linda Saphan, Incognito 31
      Emily P. Lawsin, Where I Am From (Freewrite Remix)
      Melba L. Abela, International Worker
      Tiffany Chung, Here We Go
      Grace Kong, I Demand Respect
      Tiffany Chung, Bubble Shooter and Friends
      Grace Kong, Miss Boss
      Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Education Reform
      Karen Llagas, Imelda
      Lin + Lam, Stills from Unidentified Viet Nam No. 18
      Leakhena Leng, Give Me Your Best Performance Piece
      Lin + Lam, Stills from Unidentified Viet Nam No. 18
      Leakhena Leng, Breathing Fire Performance Piece
      Mail Order Brides / M.O.B., Through the Looking Glass

      Epilogue
      About the Contributors and Editors

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