Asian North American Research Articles

The Politics of the Visible in Asian North American Narratives by Eleanor Ty

The Politics of the Visible in Asian North American Narratives by Eleanor Ty

Phylogeography of the Arctic‐Alpine Saxifraga oppositifolia (Saxifragaceae) and some related taxa based on cpDNA and ITS sequence variation

Saxifraga oppositifolia (Saxifragaceae) is an important model system for the evolution of Arctic-Alpine plant species. Sequences of the psbA-trnH intergenic spacer of chloroplast DNA and of the internal transcribed spacer region, ITS1-5.8S-ITS2, of the nuclear ribosomal DNA were used to investigate the intraspecific evolution and phylogeography of this species. Samples from nearly the species' entire circumpolar distribution were included in the analysis as well as samples from the closely related taxa S. smalliana from Alaska and S. blepharophylla and S. biflora from the Alps (S. aizoides served as outgroup). These latter taxa showed a low number of parsimony informative characters, in both cpDNA and ITS sequences, which separated them from S. oppositifolia. Two main cpDNA haplotypes were detected within S. oppositifolia, one with a Eurasian distribution and one with an East Asian-North American distribution. This confirmed the existence of two cpDNA lineages with different geographical distributions in this species, which had previously been reported based on a RFLP analysis. The ITS phylogeny was not useful with respect to the intraspecific evolution and phylogeography of S. oppositifolia, because it showed a largely unresolved topology with low statistical support. The cpDNA sequence analysis, however, also suggested a putative long-distance dispersal event. All investigated taxa had cpDNA haplotypes that were congruent with their geographical origin rather than their phylogeny. This could point to putative lineage sorting in S. oppositifolia and related taxa.

A peroxidase gene family and gene trees in Heterobasidion and related genera

Four putative peroxidase-encoding gene fragments, named mnp1a, mnp1b, mnp2 and mnp3, were amplified with degenerative primers from the white-rot basidiomycete genus Heterobasidion. The fragments were cloned and sequenced. Similar fragments were produced and analyzed from the related genera Amylostereum, Bondarzewia and Echinodontium. Each amplified fragment contains three identically positioned introns. According to the predicted amino acid sequence, these fragments are most similar to two Mn peroxidase-encoding genes (MPGI and mnp2) and gene pgv of Trametes versicolor. Conserved residues thought to be essential for peroxidase function were identified. All four MnP gene loci of Heterobasidion were detected only in H. parviporum. Variation occurred in the predicted amino-acid sequences (131–132 amino acids) of all four fragments originating from the 47 Heterobasidion isolates tested. Amino acid variation in fragments of mnp2 and mnp3 separated European Heterobasidion parviporum (“S-type”) and H. abietinum (“F-type”), known to have identical rDNA sequences. Asian and western North American isolates from fir, spruce and other hosts had the peroxidase amino acid sequences of European H. parviporum. American and European H. annosum (“P-type”) isolates had different amino acid sequences and might be cryptic species.

Rethinking the Hyphen: Asian North American and European Ethnic Texts as Global Narratives

Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the development of Asian American Studies as a discipline and the Asian American movement as a panethnic coali­tion in the US (Espiritu 10), it has become common to refer to non-white writers in America, more recently in Canada and in Europe, as African American, Asian Canadian, or black British writers. This hyphenated status has been seen as a marker of one’s belonging to two worlds, of one’s hybrid identity, and also criti­cized as a sign of non-belonging to the mainstream culture (see J. Ling; Bhabha 112; Miki).1 The best-known essay on the topic of Asian American identity is Lisa Lowe’s “Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity”which celebrates the heteroge­nous character of Asian America.

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Grifola frondosa (maitake) reveals a species partition separating eastern North American and Asian isolates

A phylogenetic analysis was performed on 51 isolates of the commercially valuable basidiomycete, Grifola frondosa (maitake), using sequences from the Internal Transcribed Spacers and 5.8S region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and a portion of the β-tubulin gene. The β-tubulin gene provided more than twice as many variable characters as the ITS/5.8S regions. The isolates analyzed comprised 21 from eastern North America, 27 from Asia, one from Europe, and two of unknown geographic origin, one of which was the major US commercial production strain in use. Grifola sordulenta was used as an outgroup. Combined and separate analysis of both genes showed a partition separating Asian versus eastern North American isolates. Bootstrap analysis showed strong support for these clades in the β-tubulin data alone and in the combined data. The major commercial isolate of unknown geographic origin is apparently of Asian descent based on its grouping within the Asian clade. The single European isolate analyzed was distinct from both the eastern North American and Asian clades. These results indicate strong support for a species partition separating eastern North American and Asian isolates of G. frondosa, despite previous studies indicating no morphological distinction between them.

HPLC WITH EVAPORATIVE LIGHT SCATTERING DETECTION AS A TOOL TO DISTINGUISH ASIAN GINSENG (PANAX GINSENG) AND NORTH AMERICAN GINSENG (PANAX QUINQUEFOLIUS)

A high performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD) method was developed to identify Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) and North American ginseng (P. quinquefolius L.), and their products. The method is based on the baseline chromatographic separation of ginsenoside Rf and 24(R)-pseudoginsenoside F11, two potential chemical markers present in the methanolic extracts of ginseng roots and their products, and their on-line detection using an evaporative light scattering detector. As a result, ginsenoside Rf could be detected only in Asian ginseng and 24(R)-pseudoginsenoside F11 could only be detected in North American ginseng in the current study. The method developed is very simple and highly sensitive down to the nanogram level.

Revisioning Christ

Traditional Western Christology, focussed on the maleness of Christ, has skewed and limited Christian understandings of God away from female images of the divine and towards masculine language and imagery. The creation of a male norm within the Western Christian tradition has marginalized women of all colours and cultures. Asian North American women have struggled not only to make new sense of 'God-language', but also to harmonize traditional Christian claims with the world-view and culture of the East. Since Christian feminists have attempted to recover a more positive God-language by use of the concept of Sophia Wisdom, this article suggests that an effective strategy would be for Asian women to inculturate the language of Sophia into Eastern philosophical categories. This could be achieved by way of harmonization with the Buddhist concept of wisdom, prajna.

Regionalism, Multilateralism, and the Politics of Global Trade

Preface / Rt. Hon. Joe Clark Acknowledgments Acronyms Introduction: Changing Perspectives on Regionalism and Multilateralism / Donald Barry and Ronald C. Keith Part 1: Regionalism, Globalism, and the State 1. A Matter of Synergy: The Role of Regional Agreements in the Multilateral Trading Order / Michael Hart 2. Regionalism and the Evolving Global Trade System / Gilbert R. Winham 3. Globalization, Regionalism, and the Analysis of Domestic Public Policy / William D. Coleman and Anthony Perl Part 2: Dynamics of Regional Integration 4. The European Union as a Regional System / Charles C. Pentland 5. The Dynamics of Integration in the Americas: A Look at the Political Economy of NAFTA Expansion / Robert K. McCleery 6. APEC's Evolving Trade Structure / Steve Chan Part 3: Interregional Relations 7. The European Union and the United States: A New Balance of Influence in the Global Political Economy / Carolyn Rhodes 8. North American-Asian Relations, Asian Regionalism, and the Future of Asia Pacific Regionalism / Charles E. Morrison 9. ASEM: Toward the Institutionalization of the East Asia-Europe Relationship? / Richard Higgott Part 4: Whither Canada? 10. Thinking Globally, Acting Regionally: Assessing Canada's Response to Regionalism / Tom Keating 11. The Pursuit of Economic Architecture by Diplomatic Means: The Case of Canada in Europe / Denis Stairs 12. Playing by the Rules? Canada's APEC Policy / Ronald C. Keith and Patricia L. Maclachlan Part 5: Summing Up 13. A World of Regions, or a Single Trade Order? / Charles F. Doran Contributors Index

Of Bones and Suicide: Sky Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe and Fae Myenne Ng's Bone

Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, arguably the foundational text of contemporary Asian North American women's writing, opens dramatically with a story " '[y]ou must not tell anyone' " (3). The taboo subject Maxine' s mother narrates is the story of Maxine' s paternal aunt' s humiliation of the family in China through her sexual transgression--her rape by or adultery with an undisclosed man not her husband--and [End Page 300] her resultant suicide by drowning in the family well. Whether her aunt's most grievous error was her forced or willing subversion of the patriarchal laws that attempt to govern a woman's body by giving her body to a man not her husband; or whether it was the No Name Woman's "spite suicide, drowning herself in the [family] drinking water" (19), is not made clear by Brave Orchid, Maxine's mother. What resonates clearly from her story, however, is that sex and suicide are, for traditional Cantonese, unspeakable taboos, ones to which Maxine's mother resorts as a dire warning to her daughter, who has just begun to menstruate. 1 Maxine tries to disrupt these taboos as she seeks in her Chinese American narrative "to name the unspeakable" (6), to give voice to that which the family has specifically silenced.

Phylogenetic Relationships of Xenodontine Snakes Inferred from 12S and 16S Ribosomal RNA Sequences

The phylogenetic relationships of xenodontine snakes are inferred from sequence analyses of portions of two mitochondrial genes (12S and 16S ribosomal RNA) in 85 species. Although support values for most of the basal nodes are low, the general pattern of cladogenesis observed is congruent with many independent molecular, morphological, and geographical data. The monophyly of xenodontines and the basal position of North American xenodontines in comparison with Neotropical xenodontines are favored, suggesting an Asian–North American origin of xenodontines. West Indian xenodontines (including endemic genera and members of the genus Alsophis) appear to form a monophyletic group belonging to the South American clade. Their mid-Cenozoic origin by dispersal using ocean currents is supported. Within South American mainland xenodontines, the tribes Hydropsini, Pseudoboini, and Xenodontini are monophyletic. Finally, our results suggest that some morphological and ecological traits concerning maxillary dentition, macrohabitat use, and foraging strategy have appeared multiple times during the evolution of xenodontine snakes.

The nature of support from adult sansei (third generation) children to older nisei (second generation) parents in Japanese Canadian families.

Given the growing ethnocultural diversity of Canada's aging population and the increased research focus on the role of the family in the social support of older persons, it is important to explore the ways in which adult ethnic minority children provide assistance to older parents within the context of the family. The current study contributes to research on intergenerational support systems in later life in Japanese Canadian families by examining the factors, particularly the cultural value of oya koh koh (filial obligation), affecting the nature of support from adult children to older parents. Using data gathered from interviews with 100 older nisei (second generation) parents and 100 adult sansei (third generation) children in British Columbia, the study focuses on the frequency, quality and provision of three types of support: emotional, service, and financial. Results of logistic regression analyses indicate that oya koh koh has a significant effect on children's provision of emotional support, but no effect on financial or service support. Parent's health and socioeconomic status are found to have significant effects on children's provision of financial and service support. Child's availability is also a major determinant of financial support. Further, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses results suggest that oya koh koh has a significant effect on the quality of emotional support provided by children to their parents. Findings are discussed in terms of the North American Asian "ideal" family myth and directions for future research.

Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton: A Literary Biography

This first full-length biography of the first published Asian North American fiction writer portrays both the woman and her times. The eldest daughter of a Chinese mother and British father, Edith Maude Eaton was born in England in 1865. Her family moved to Quebec, where she was removed from school at age ten to help support her parents and twelve siblings. In the 1880s and 1890s she worked as a stenographer, journalist, and fiction writer in Montreal, often writing under the name Sui Sin Far (Water Lily). She lived briefly in Jamaica and then, from 1898 to 1912, in the United States. Her one book, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, has been out of print since 1914. Today Sui Sin Far is being rediscovered as part of American literature and history. She presented portraits of turn-of-the-century Chinatowns, not in the mode of the "yellow peril" literature in vogue at the time but with an insider's sympathy. She gave voice to Chinese American women and children, and she responded to the social divisions and discrimination that confronted her by experimenting with trickster characters and tools of irony, sharing the coping mechanisms used by other writers who struggled to overcome the marginalization to which their race, class, or gender consigned them in that era. "Superbly researched, thoughtfully reasoned, and beautifully written. . . . Will be the foundation for all future work on Sui Sin Far." -- Elizabeth Ammons, author of Conflicting Stories: American Women Writers at the Turn into the Twentieth Century

Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton: a literary biography

This first full-length biography of the first published Asian North American fiction writer portrays both the woman and her times. The eldest daughter of a Chinese mother and British father, Edith Maude Eaton was born in England in 1865. Her family moved to Quebec, where she was removed from school at age ten to help support her parents and twelve siblings. In the 1880s and 1890s she worked as a stenographer, journalist, and fiction writer in Montreal, often writing under the name Sui Sin Far (Water Lily). She lived briefly in Jamaica and then, from 1898 to 1912, in the United States. Her one book, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, has been out of print since 1914. Today Sui Sin Far is being rediscovered as part of American literature and history. She presented portraits of turn-of-the-century Chinatowns, not in the mode of the yellow peril literature in vogue at the time but with an insider's sympathy. She gave voice to Chinese American women and children, and she responded to the social divisions and discrimination that confronted her by experimenting with trickster characters and tools of irony, sharing the coping mechanisms used by other writers who struggled to overcome the marginalization to which their race, class, or gender consigned them in that era. Superbly researched, thoughtfully reasoned, and beautifully written. . . . Will be the foundation for all future work on Sui Sin Far. -- Elizabeth Ammons, author of Conflicting Stories: American Women Writers at the Turn into the Twentieth Century

Mrs. Spring Fragrance and other writings

This volume reprints stories from Mrs. Spring Fragrance, along with other previously uncollected stories and journalistic essays by the first published Asian North American fiction writer. During an era of extreme Sinophobia, the Eurasian Sin Far (1865-1914) courageously chose to write of the Chinese in North America as humorous, tragic, charming, and loving--in short, as human. stories sympathetically portray a group caught between worlds, inheritors of traditional Chinese values who find themselves thrust into boomingly mercantile and extremely race-conscious cities, such as San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Montreal, at the turn of the last century. Offering an introduction that situates Sin Far in her historical and literary contexts, Amy Ling and Annette White-Parks select from Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1914) two dozen of the finest stories, including In the Land of the Free, Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese, Her Chinese Husband, and Wisdom of the New, as well as (from the Tales for Chinese Children section) Story of a Little Chinese Seabird and What about the Cat? The second portion contains previously uncollected writings, including journalism and fiction that appeared in the Montreal Daily Witness, Los Angeles Express, New York Independent, The Westerner, and New England Magazine. The final piece, Sui Sin Far, the Half Chinese Writer, Tells of Career, was printed in the Boston Globe in 1912, two years before her death. Amy Ling, professor of English and director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the author of Between Worlds: Women Writers of Chinese Ancestry. Annette White-Parks, an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, is the author of Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton: A Literary Biography.

North American-East Asian Similarities in the Genus Ptychomitrium (Bryopsida)

A common species in eastern Asia, Ptychomitrium polyphylloides (C. Miill.) Jaeg. is synonymous with P. gardneri Lesq. from western North America. Ptychomitrium leibergii Best, from North America, is synonymous with P. sinense (Mitt.) Jaeg., which is widespread in eastern Asia. Both P. sinense and P. gardneri have disjunct East Asian-North American distributions. These two species are nearly sympatric in eastern Asia, but one occurs in dry forests of western North America while the other is confined to dry areas of south-central North America. During a revisionary study of Chinese Ptychomi- trium, we discovered that two common species of the genus in East Asia-P. sinense (Mitt.) Jaeg. and P. polyphylloides (C. Miill.) Jaeg.-are identical to P. leibergii Best and P. gardneri Lesq., respectively, both described from western North America. Pty- chomitrium leibergii, described by Best in 1906, is synonymous with P. sinense (based on Glyphomi- trium sinense Mitten 1865), while P. polyphylloides (based on Brachysteleum polyphylloides C. Miill.) is synonymous with P. gardneri, described by Les- quereux. These synonyms have important nomen- clatural consequences and also markedly expand the distributional range of these two species.

A phylogenetic analysis of the Lumbriculidae (Annelida, Oligochaeta)

Though the Lumbriculidae is a monotypic taxon including Kurenkovia, there is no support from cladistic analyses for the Kurenkovidae. The unusual nature of the vasa deferentia, which run between the epithelial and muscular layers of the body wall as in some Haplotaxidae and Glossoscolecidae, may affect that decision. The Dorydrilidae is a sister-group to the Lumbriculidae. Lamprodrilus and the Lake Baikal endemic genera are now seen as advanced forms which may have given rise to some Asian and Pacific rim North American taxa. Several of the genera best represented in Europe have the plesiomorphic pattern of the reproductive system, with gonads in GI–GIII but atria limited to GII, so that two pairs of vasa deferentia are associated with them. This pattern is shared with the Branchiobdellida, and whereas median fusion of the atria has happened independently in the two taxa, these two taxa may arise from a common ancestor despite the degree of specialization to an epizooic habit in the branchiobdellidans. Most subgeneric taxa entered into the analyses are grouped at least close to their congeners, with the exception of Neoscolex, which may be more closely related to the pair of Kincaidiana species than to Styloscolex. Rhynchelmis may have an origin distinct from that of Lamprodrilus, Kincaidiana, and Neoscolex, as the loss of the anterior testes may be convergent and not monophyletic as suggested here.

Crossing Borders

Since working on my first play, Yellow Fever, in 1982, I have been deeply involved in Asian North American theatre. I use that label because most of my development and productions have been in the United States, and I have found such a similarity in the character and problems of Asian-Canadian and Asian-American theatre, that I have come to see both as part of a single theatrical phenomenon/movement. This movement is composed of playwrights, directors, actors et al. who are Asian North Americans and address themselves to the particular realities of that life experience. I use the term Asian to cover a broad territory, including Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Korean, all of whom have to deal with the problem of being “visible minorities” in a predominantly Western European/North American culture. To a certain degree the problems are similar to those confronting Black and Native professionals, though neither of these has to deal with the foreign culture label. In this article I will chart the development of Yellow Fever and use my experience with that play to reflect on the state of the Asian North American Theatre Movement.

Asian small‐clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea) urolithiasis prevalence in North America

AbstractThe prevalence of urolithiasis in the North American Asian small‐clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea) population was determined through a retrospective survey. A questionnaire regarding diet and radiographic or necropsy evidence of urolithiasis was sent to the 16 North American institutions or individuals listed in the Asian Small‐Clawed Otter North American Regional Studbook. Completed forms were returned by 75% of questionnaire recipients.Individual surveys or necropsy reports were received for 79.8% of the living or dead animals listed as comprising the North American population. Renal calculi were detected in 66.1%, and cystic calculi in 23.2%, of the captive adult population that had been radiographed or necropsied. All otters with cystic calculi also had renal calculi. Bilateral renal calculi occurred in 83.8% of affected otters. Both males (61.2%) and females (72%) were frequently affected. The prevalence of urolithiasis in wild‐born otters was 76.7%, and in adult (≥1 year) captive‐born otters it was 53.8%. The higher prevalence in wild‐born otters may be a reflection of the older mean age at which they were first evaluated. In the overwhelming majority of otters with renal calculi, the calculi were multiple and diffusely distributed throughout the renal parenchyma. Renal and cystic calculi analyzed were primarily composed of calcium oxalate or urates. Glucosuria was infrequently reported. Necropsies of dependent neonates (≤ 2 months old) that died revealed cystic calculi in one animal.Renal disease was the cause of, or a contributing factor in, the deaths of all older animals whose necropsy reports were reviewed. The captive diet may be a contributing factor to urolith formation and progression.

Eastern Asian-Eastern North American Floristic Relations: The Plant Community Level

Most comparisons of the temperate floras of eastern North America and eastern Asia have addressed the systematic or floristic level. Data on vegetation pattern and structure, when present, have been broadly descriptive, with little detail on gradient relations or intercommunity pattern. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the largest eastern temperate preserve of floristic diversity in the United States, lies near the center of development of the North American deciduous forest. The flora of this park was used to model the gradient distributions and ecological characteristics of species with east Asian near-relatives. The disjunct taxa (162 species or 13 percent of the flora) were a highly nonrandom assortment of the native flora (total = 1,21 1 species) as a whole: they were more likely to be primitive in phylogenetic standing, perennial, and woody. They were also non-randomly distributed among habitats, being more likely to be found on exclusively terrestrial, forested, and mesic sites. Taxa belonging to genera absent from eastern Asia (232 species or 19 percent of the flora) were an equally interesting non-random sample of the native flora: they were more likely to be herbaceous and advanced in phylogenetic standing. Absent taxa, however, essentially represented a random sample of the flora as a whole in terms of degree of habitat openness and substrate type. When gradient distributions were corrected for overall species richness distributions, absent taxa showed their peak importance on xeric sites. Taxa in wide-ranging north temperate genera (817 species or 67 percent of the flora) generally constituted a random sample of the flora as a whole; they showed peak importance at higher elevations. These data are used to make inferences about the distribution of species richness in the Smokies landscape. Evidence that the eastern Asian temperate deciduous forests were the most diverse temperate forests on earth is also reviewed. Alternative hypotheses concerning the nature of this heightened diversity are discussed. Investigations of the floristic relationship between temperate eastern Asia and eastern North America generally have treated such relationships at the geographical, systematic, or evolutionary level. There are, however, important ecological correlates to this relationship that have gone, for the most part, untested. This investigation uses a well-known eastern North American landscape, the Great Smoky Mountains, to examine ecological correlates of the floristic relationship. Although others have qualitatively described many of these patterns (cf. Hu, 1936; Cain, 1943; Li, 1952; Wang, 1961), quantitative studies have been lacking. An objective of this research, then, was to develop explicit tests for the distribution of ecological properties in the flora as a function of phytogeography. The landscape distribution of the Great Smoky Mountains flora was used to develop and discuss community level hypotheses on the eastern AsianNorth American floristic relationship. NORTH TEMPERATE DISJUNCTION