Abstract
This thesis analyzes identity politics in two prose writings by Shirley Geok-lin Lim: Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian–American’s Memoir of Homelands (1996) and Joss and Gold (2000). Being a British-educated Chinese Malaysian/Asian American poet and writer, Lim’s own formation of diasporic identity already furnishes an excellent example of cultural displacements since she focuses on her Chinese Malaysian identity and the sufferings of her ethnic community in the aforementioned two works and other academic writings. Thus, unlike other scholarly works discussing issues of home-making and Asian American identity in Lim’s works, this thesis first explicates the theme of home and exile from a diasporic theoretical framework and its relevance to the understanding of identity politics. Secondly, with an emphasis on the Malaysian May 13 Riots in 1969, it also explores issues about cultural displacement and cultural assimilation. It also examines the complicated history of Malaysian, its result of ethnic diversity, and Malay-dominant ideology as well as its effects on the language and cultural policies of Malaysia.