This passage is adapted from material published in 1998.
In the book China Men (1980), Maxine Hong Kingston tells of Chinese Americans establishing identities in the
United States. She acknowledges the importance of ethnicity (the national origins of one’s ancestors or one’s
self), yet also the importance of geographical location aside from one’s “homeland” and interactions with other
cultures in identity formation. These latter ideas suggest similarity between Kingston and “border identity”
theorists. These theorists challenge the arbitrariness of ethnic identities based on national boundaries, claiming
that individual identity is influenced by the various cultures with which one interacts, especially in a mobile
global society. Moreover, such theorists argue that identity requires redefinition either in terms of multiple
nationalities or in terms of geographic units different from nations, such as cities. Yet, redefining what it means
to be an “American” without abandoning the term itself, Kingston distances herself from some border theorists.
While recognizing multiple identities, she also counters border theorists’ emphasis on mobility and
disconnection from specific countries by emphasizing the importance of a sense of belonging for people
occupying a land with others. Even so, to belong to America in Kingston’s world is not to have a set identity, but
rather to have the opportunity to reconstruct identity through group interactions.
According to the passage, Kingston and the border identity theorists would be most likely to disagree over
which of the following?
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