Christine Nagao English Research Rookies

Hi Everyone! My name is Christina Nagao, and Im a graduate student in the English program. I passed the last of my qualifying exams last quarter, so I'm finally A.B. D. (all but dissertation)! My field is Asian American literature and late 20th Century American Ethnic Literature, and my dissertation is a comparison of Asian American, Chicana, and Latina literatures. I am interested in how American Ethnic writers present the relationship between the U.S. and another country. Most often, this relationship is discussed as immigration to the U.S., but I'm looking at novels in which the protagonist travels away from the U.S. to another country. As I do so, I plan to query why these American Ethnic writers feel a need to use another country as the primary setting for their fiction. That is, I plan to examine alternative modes of coalition building and collectivity that are possible under this transnational model, but not under a strictly nation-state-based model. My overall framework and the structure that drives my research is my interest in the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class issues.

I am originally from LA, but went to UC Berkeley as an undergrad. My family and friends are here in LA, but I have to admit - hardly a day goes by that I don't miss the Bay Area! I also like to procrastinate by cooking, baking, and watching my cats play, so if you have an interest in any of these activities, or if you also feel nostalgia for the Bay Area, or, of course, if you want to talk about American Ethnic literature, please stop by to say hi!