Incompatible Sufferings: Performing Victimhood in Asian American Drama

The idea and culture of social violence, nurtured in America s con-sciousness since its establishment as a nation, have caused individual emotions of suffering and collective damage both economically and politically. The victims of America s domestic and foreign policy anticipate impressions of, and sympathy for, victims, regardless of the realities of their crises. The value and index of victimhood are in turn manifested by the rhetoric of victimhood, which generates a debate on how to assume victim status as such. This book examines the narrative of victimhood common to some of the dramatic, cultural performances of Asian Americans, seeking a wide range of contexts psychological, socio-political, legal, cultural, and literary for violence and abuse in conflict situations. An attempt to identify Asian Americans as the victim of the American nation-state does not interpret a community solely in terms of emotional loss and suffering, but rather discovers narratives of victimization in that community. The analysis speaks for Asian Americans and, hopefully, speaks to audiences who wish to recognize victim s proper names at the moment of their negation.