Festival, Volume 1

Since the 1950s, the ravages of United States wars have brought in Filipino, Vietnamese, and Central American peoples, and, most recently, "voluntary" migrations for economic and professional reasons have allowed entry to South Asian, Caribbean, and African peoples. First-, second-, and third-generation "minorities" must still struggle on the borderlands of literal and metaphoric exile, of the myth and reality of a return "home," of fluctuating identities as immigrant-expatriate-citizen — from Ellis Island to J. F. Kennedy airport, as well as other ports of entry, not to mention "illegal" border crossings. Within these ethnically diverse groups, the exclusion in this chapter of non-English-language writers among recent immigrants into the United States and a focus on the novel form with its high profile and public promotion circumscribe this study even as it speaks volumes for the hegemony of academic and publishing institutions. One must acknowledge that the oral transmission of cultural memory through song, dance, festival, that is, through nonprint media, is extremely significant — often these forms are more resonant in preserving ethnicity and in giving participants a sense of belonging ...»