ABSTRACT
As the foregoing essays demonstrate, the breadth of engagement with cultural formations within Asian Australian studies is wide and complex. Far from presenting a definitive collection of Asian Australian scholarship, however, this volume hopes to generate further debate and inquiry about the notion of this relatively new field of research. What are the boundaries of Asian Australian studies, and where are the limits to be drawn for such interdisciplinary work? How does it enter into dialogue with Australian and Asian studies, as well as other diasporic Asian contexts? Considering the emerging field of Asian Australian studies is always already questioning its composition and positioning within external frames of reference such as Australian studies, Asian studies or, more specifically, diasporic Asian studies, there is no end-point such as the contentious comfort of ‘claiming the nation’ for this ongoing critical project. Infused in the field is an awareness of the limitations of a culturally nationalist approach.
