ABSTRACT

During the summer of 2004, I went to Dublin with a work permit on a work abroad programme. For the two months I stayed in Dublin, I worked two jobs. My first job was an unpaid internship at a museum. My supervisor often introduced me as ‘a young colleague with promise to change the world’. She frequently asked me what it meant for me to travel as an Asian American in Ireland, recommended postmodern literature and introduced various exhibitions around Dublin regarding space and identity. On Mondays, she was full of questions about my weekend activities, how my perspective informed me of what I saw, how I interpreted museum sites, historic walks, trips to the countryside, and whether I saw my experiences with a critical eye. She was attentive to my subject position and interested in my opinions with regard to the view as an American and my ‘Asian perspective’. Her curiosity felt empowering.