
Biography
Ph.D.
Tufts University
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
My
intellectual interest is the contact zone, where conflicts
occur and solutions are sought, where hybridity is nurtured
or resisted, where identity is challenged and performed.
I focus on intercultural exchanges along the Pacific Rim,
especially interactions between Asians and Asian Americans
and negotiations between Asian and non-Asian cultures.
My
recent book Operatic
China: Staging Chinese Identity Across the Pacific
is an investigation of Chinese opera and identity performance
in such geographical and ideological contact zones. Chinese
opera is a symbol of eternal Chineseness for theatrical
and paratheatrical performances by Chinese and non-Chinese
in various geopolitical sites (nineteenth-century Chinatown
of the Gold Mountain, late-Qing political reforms and actors’
rebellions, today’s Chinese Americans’ amateur
opera performance in California, Asian American theatre
and global film market). With intercultural and interdisciplinary
approach, this study explores new significations of Chinese
opera for the global audience in the new millennium.
I
have actively participated in the international discourse
on performance and have published and presented works on
traditional Chinese theatre, Asian American theatre, Chinese
immigrant theatre and intercultural theatre, both in English
and in Chinese. As a negotiator between
cultures and languages, I also constantly engage in translation
and interpretation projects related to Chinese opera on
a transnational scale.
I
challenge students to open their minds, to think critically
and globally. I am devoted to a
multicultural curriculum in theatre studies that reflects
the global needs of the twenty-first century. Multicultural
Spring,
a program I launched in spring, 2007, is my effort to integrate
multicultural performance into our regular curriculum. I
also serve on the advisory board of Asian
American Theatre Company (AATC, San Francisco).
Find out more about Daphne:
::
Biography
:: Publication
:: Current Research Projects
:: Talks and Conference Papers
:: Courses
:: Honors and Awards
:: Multicultural Spring
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