Abstract
Like those who form the literary tradition of Filipino American literature-from the pioneering generation including Carlos Bulosan, Bienvenido Santos, N.V.M. Gonzalez and José Garcia Villa to the writers emerging since the 70 s such as Epifanio San Juan, Linda Ty-Casper, Ninotchka Rosea, and Michelle Skinner, Hagedorn directs her concerns towards the history, memories, people, and society of the Philippines in her third novel Dream Jungle. What's of particular interest in Dream Jungle's exploration of the national mydios is the gesture of cultural cosmopolitanism that poses the question of belonging in the context of global connection. And the major concern of its narrative tracing of the historical sedimentation is hinged on the pressing issue of negotiation with American hegemony in the increasingly globalized/globalizing world with all its uneven and disparate developments. Here, Hagedorns retrospection on the national path of the Philippines accentuates the irreversible process of formation and transformation of the Filipino community throughout the long history of Spanish colonization and American imperialism. This recognition of what Seyla Benhabib describes as constant contestation among claims of culture informs a cultural politics unbounded by nationalistic claims. This paper traces the problems of colonial memories, cultural identity, and American hegemony as evinced in Hagedorns treatment of die MarcosEra-Philippines in order to examine the cultural politics Hagedorn puts forwards here. We will ask what path of struggle against the uneven development of globalization/American hegemony is opened up in this literary act of "resistance and rebellion" and consider the political efficacy and/or the risk of her politics of culture.