(W)holistic Feminism: Decolonial Healing in Women of Color Literature Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Yu-Chen Tai Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Guisela Latorre, Advisor Mary Thomas Christine (Cricket) Keating Copyright by Yu-Chen Tai 2016 Abstract This dissertation explores healing subject formation in women of color self-narratives vis-à-vis delineation of a decolonial spatiality of differences at ecological, embodied, and coalitional levels. I examine self-narratives written by feminists of color across racial and cultural divides, focusing on Linda Hogan’s memoir, Gloria Anzaldúa’s autohistoria, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s autobiography. I argue that in order to resist and recover from the colonial violence done to women of color, the authors in the selected writings point to a shared feminist and decolonial approach to healing that involves a continuous praxis of liquefying the space between differences to catalyze decolonial healing. I argue that liquefying the space of differences means disrupting a colonial spatiality that categorizes, compartmentalizes, contains, and dominates differences. While the colonial spatiality demarcates solid borders which prevent differences from getting in touch with each other, a liquefied decolonial spatiality highlights permeable boundaries of differences so that the other can interact with the self and the self with the other in a mutually flourishing fashion. Porosity, multiplicity, and mutual flourishing constitute the three crucial dimensions of decolonial spatiality; these conditions are conducive for subjects to transform the wounded self into the healing self. ii Dedication To my mother iii Acknowledgements M dissertation and myself as a scholar could not blossom without the intellectual, material, and emotional nurture from many sources. The Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality provided me an intellectually challenging and financially secure soil to grow as a scholar. My project would be difficult to materialize without the support from Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Graduate Student Research Grant on Women, Gender and Gender Equity, Elizabeth D. Gee Grant for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Research, and L.A.S.E.R. (Latino & Latin American Space for Enrichment and Research)/Humanities Institute Graduate Fellowship at OSU. A big thank you goes to my committee members who provided me constructive feedback and guidance on how to turn my nascent research ideas in my prospectus into the current full-fledged dissertation. I also thank you for spending your precious time in the already busy schedules writing me recommendation letters for grant and job applications. I could not have wished for a more caring advisor than Dr. Guisela Latorre, who played many roles in my academic journey. As a mentor, you generously invested in me much of your time and energy to guide me intellectually and collaboratively out of the labyrinth of graduate school. I appreciate that you accompanied me at the last stage of completing this dissertation as a writing partner. I thank you for being a friend with whom I could confide my vulnerabilities in life. Thank you Guisela for everything you iv have done for me. I am also grateful to have the unwavering support from Dr. Mary Thomas, especially in the early years of my graduate career. When I first navigated the unfamiliar realm of graduate school in the U.S. as an international student, your trust in me really eased my insecurity and boosted my confidence in myself. I also want to thank Dr. Cricket (Christine) Keating for your encouragement and optimism that always made me hopeful for the future of my intellectual pursuit. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Dr. Lynn Itagaki for introducing me into the Asian American intellectual community at OSU. And without the feedback from the editors of Speaking Face to Face/Hablando Cara a Cara: The Visionary Philosophy of María Lugones, chapter 3 of this dissertation could not be as polished as it is now. Dr. Jennifer McWeeny, Dr. Shireen Roshanravan, and Dr. Pedro DiPietro, thank you for your revision comments on the first draft of my work. My gratitude also goes to my WGSS colleagues. Deema, without your introducing Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands to me, I would probably still be left as an orphan without finding my intellectual maternal genealogy. I also thank you for your comradeship that lasts longer than our graduate careers. Dong, thanks for being a close friend and mentor who worries, laughs, and dreams together with me. I am thankful for having Ally as a friend who nurtured me with bountiful food and who told me that there would always be a home where I can return in the U.S. I am also grateful to spending time with Hyejin and Sarang. All the Korean food you cooked for me and the joys I received from playing with Sarang comforted my increasing anxiety in the last year of writing my dissertation. And Erin, thank you for bouncing back research ideas with me in the last semester of my graduate career. Working with you in the office was relaxing and v intellectually stimulating. Lauren, thank you for supporting me in my low time and celebrating with me whenever my milestones were achieved. My intellectual life could not prosper without having a functional and balanced personal life. I want to thank my Taiwanese friends in Columbus, OH: Tina, Hao-Ting, Devin, Linda, Ka-Un, Yi-Li, and Tzu-Hsuan. Thank you for hosting social events regularly to help me relax and for providing a safety net when I needed assistance. I particularly want to express my gratitude to Tina and Hao-Ting. Tina, you cured my homesickness with your hand-made Taiwanese food from time to time. I am thankful that you and Hao-Ting kept me accompanied and comforted me whenever I encountered difficulties in life. I also thank my best friends Carol and Amigo in Taiwan. Chatting with you regularly kept me in touch with Taiwan and less lonely in the foreign land. My deep gratitude goes toward my family. Mom, thank you for always respecting my decision and sharing my joys and struggles in life. I’m grateful that you let me fly away to pursue my dream rather than kept me tied near you. I know you felt very lonely in the past seven years when I was away from home. But without your unwavering support and sacrifice, I could not become who I am now. My achievement is always yours, too. Dad, thank you for teaching me life lessons and encouraging me to change perspectives on life. Sister, thank you for assuming the responsibility of taking care of Mom when I could not be on her side. Lastly but not least, I want to express my appreciation to my partner Chia-Chuan. Your patience and trust in me kept our long- distanced relationship alive and healthy. I thank you for everything you have done for me in the past eleven years. vi Vita June 2008 .......................................................B.As. Drama and Theatre/Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan) June 2008 .......................................................Women’s and Gender Studies Program Certificate, National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan) June 2011 .......................................................M.A. Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University 2010 to present ..............................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University Publications Tai, (Brena) Yu-Chen. “(Re)Making Neoliberal Ideal Girl Subjects through Round-the- World Travel.” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Forthcoming. Tai, (Brena) Yu-Chen. “The Ripple Imagery as a Decolonial Self: Exploring Multiplicity in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictée.” Speaking Face-to-Face/Hablando Cara-a-Cara: The Visionary Philosophy of María Lugones. Ed. Jennifer McWeeny, Pedro Di Pieto, and Shireen Roshanravan. Accepted by editors. Fields of Study Major Field: Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Specializations: Chicana Feminism, Women of Color Feminism, Women of Color Literature vii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. viii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Self/Other: The Straightjacket of the “Us versus Them” Mentality ................................ 4 Unnaturalizing the Divide: Interconnectivity Across differences ................................. 12 Bridging the Divide: Politics of Memory, Love Politics, and Healing Wholeness ....... 17 Decolonial Translation