CULTURAL MEDIATIONS IN MAXINE HONG KINGSTON’S 'TRIPMASTER MONKEY' (Pages 273-283) by Ms. N. Balambigai in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

This research article focuses upon the cultural conflicts and its eventual identity crisis that confront the lives of Chinese American diasporas, chiefly due to the hegemonic racism of the dominant mainstream whites. This is analysed through the immigrant - born Chinese American writer Maxine Hong Kingston's Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book. While discussing the polarized cultures of the homeland China and the host land America, through the protagonist, a beatnik artist Wittman Ah Singh, the paper examines the various factors that make the Chinese diasporas remain as 'cultural mosaics' preventing them from merging into the 'melting pot culture'. The protagonist in his endeavour in defining his identity as an American, tries to subvert the dominant whites' perceptions of looking upon him and his ethnic clan as stereotypes, exotic and inscrutable and claims that by all means he is an American and his province is America. He is successful in bringing out the cultural translations with his big-bang show of a theatrical performance, which brought together Chinese and Americans, whites and non-whites paving way for a cultural integration. Keywords: diasporas, hegemony, exotic, inscrutable, subvert, integration.