ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a discursive foundation from which the construction of Chinese American masculinities can be critiqued. More importantly, it attempts to borrow sociological models of masculinities in order to create an analytical framework that complicates the privileging of one form of masculinity over others. Sociologists have argued that there are multiple forms of masculinities that are historically and socially constructed. The chapter examines the imbrication of historical contexts and selected representations of Chinese masculinities with the understanding that male identities are social constructs and they change according to historical transitions. It offers informed close readings and critical analyses based upon Sau-Ling Wong’s notion of textual coalition. The chapter employs a more modest critical approach that is multidisciplinary in order to articulate a partial archeology of Chinese masculinities in America.
