Date Thesis Awarded

5-2017

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Modern Languages and Literatures

Advisor

Veronika Jeltsch

Committee Members

Bruce B.Campbell

Ronald Schechter

Abstract

Mass migrations around our contemporary world enabled by the rapid technological development has rendered intercultural communication more profound than ever before. Unavoidably the traditional view of personal identity as a stable and determinate category becomes challenged by an emerging intercultural identity. This thesis attempts to investigate the creation of this very type of identity from the perspective of language contacts reflected in the literary works from Yoko Tawada. Tawada herself is a unique figure that stands on the very front line of cultural contacts in today’s world, engaging herself intensively in transferring her own intercultural experiences, emotions, and insights into highly inspiring words of her literary works. In this research five of Tawada’s short texts, including two essays and three poems, will be analyzed and compared with each other to support the argument that the creation of intercultural identity is in fact mediated by language contacts from different levels, thus proves to be unfolded in a sequential order.

Recommended Citation

Du, Shihao, "Erschaffung interkultureller Identität durch Sprachkontakte in den Texten von Yoko Tawada" (2017). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1109.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1109