China Men: Lecture II

I. Review
A. For Kingston "American" is
not a fixed term.  Instead,
its meaning is open to
re-definition and change as
the country undergoes a
perpetual process of remaking.

B. Nonetheless, "American" cannot
mean anything.  What it means
to be an American depends on:

1. The laws created to govern
and order society; the
political and civil rights
guaranteed by those laws.

2. How the various groups
making up "We, the people"
interact and relate to
one another.

II. Language and otherness

        A. Otherness (276, 12, 273)

        B. English (45)

        C. Self-alienation

                 1. "Sojourners" (44-45)

                 2. "Americans" (53)

        D. Double-consciousness

III. Silencing

        A. Untold history (145)

        B. "The rule of silence" (100)
                 (110, 115, 117-118, 90)

IV. Appropriation of language

        A. "The power of naming" (242)

                 1. Edison/ Eh-Da-Son (71)

                 2. Lo Bun Sun:
                          Robinson Crusoe

                 3. "chinamen" (111, 88): China Men

        B. Positive double consciousness

        C. Title page

V. The Brother

        A. Similarities to his father

                 1. Teacher of reading and
                 writing (37, 289)

                 2. Military draft (269)

        B. "Not be driven out" (283)

        C. "Super-American" (299)

        D. "He had not 'returned'" (301, 294)

VI. "On Listening"