Synopses & Reviews
In An Ethics of Betrayal, Crystal Parikh investigates the theme and tropes of betrayal and treason in Asian American and Chicano/Latino literary and cultural narratives. In considering betrayal from an ethical perspective, one grounded in the theories of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, Parikh argues that the minority subject is obligated in a primary, preontological, and irrecusable relation of responsibility to the Other. Episodes of betrayal and treason allegorize the position of this subject, beholden to the many others who embody the alterity of existence and whose demands upon the subject result in transgressions of intimacy and loyalty. In this first major comparative study of narratives by and about Asian Americans and Latinos, Parikh considers writings by Frank Chin, Gish Jen, Chang-rae Lee, Eric Liu, Amrico Parades, and Richard Rodriguez, as well as narratives about the persecution of Wen Ho Lee and the rescue and return of Elian Gonz\~lez. By addressing the conflicts at the heart of filiality, the public dimensions of language in the constitution of minority community,and the mercenary mobilizations of model minoritystatus, An Ethics of Betrayal seriously engages the challenges of conducting ethnic and critical race studies based on the uncompromising and unromantic ideas of justice, reciprocity, and ethical society.
Review
"Explores themes of betrayal and treason in Asian-American and Chicano and Latin literature, including works by Frank Chin and Amrico Parades."--The Chronicle of Higher Education
Review
Explores themes of betrayal and treason in Asian-American and Chicano and Latin literature, including works by Frank Chin and Amrico Parades.
An exciting departure from identity discourse, THE ETHICS OF BETRAYAL reframes those projects through continental philosophy and ethics, and argues that despite the celebration of difference, racialized minorities remain the subjects and objects of betrayal. Further, Parikh provokes thinking across theoretical and racialized borders, and gestures toward a literary ethics to enrich the reading of texts.-Gary Y. Okihiro
A deeply philosophical, yet historically timely and keenly political intervention into the figure of the traitor broadly conceived.ÿ Parikh mines the significance of betrayal for those constructed as alien to the nation not only in its literal manifestations but within complexly theorized notions of ethnic infidelity.ÿ Her readings of assimilation in the context of neoconservatism and of the spy's intelligence work as an allegory of the intellectual work of Ethnic Studies are particularly brilliant.ÿ Demonstrating an acute pedagogy of suspicion, this book will be particularly generative for anyone theorizing race in our post-9/11 landscape.-Leslie Bow
About the Author
CRYSTAL PARIKH is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis and the Department of English at New York University.