Circles of Sorrow: Discussion of David Eng’s and Shinhee Han’s “Racial Rage, Racial Guilt: The Uses of Anger in Asian America”

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

ABSTRACT Using David Eng’s and Shinhee Han’s article in this issue as a point of departure, I respond to their discussion of Asian American subjectivity as it is represented in the Netflix series Beef. Focusing on the challenges faced by “hybrid” groups and individuals who find themselves blocked from both the expression of rage and the experience of self-representation, I reflect on the emotional and ontological vicissitudes of a range of “in-betweeners” within violently hierarchical systems, from those of mixed ethnic heritage to the invisibilized children of narcissistically abusive families.