"Chasing Ghosts and Doomed to Wander": Possibilities for Transnational Literacy Practices with Emiko Jean’s Tokyo Ever After

Abstract

As national literary imaginaries become more global, so too do the possibilities for exploring young adult literature in its representation of transnational youth identities, representations reflecting youth often thrown into the tension of navigating multiple homelands. In carrying out a critical content analysis grounded in theories and concepts of transnationalism to Emiko Jean’s Tokyo Ever After (2021), I consider how readers might engage with the text and become aware of, and connected with, the lives of transnational youth through themes such as dichotomous selfhood, with the view that such awareness may encourage transformations of power. I argue for the use of transnational critical literacy of young adult literature as one approach to develop in youth audiences a better understanding of transnationalism and its influence on adolescent identity formation.

Keywords

• transnationalism
• critical literacy
• identity
• asian american ya
• representation