This special issue of the Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, co-edited by Kim Beauchesne, Koichi Hagimoto, and Ineke Phaf-Rheinberger, provides a wide array of perspectives on the varied representations of Asia in Latin American literature and culture from the colonial times until today, with an emphasis on the multifaceted connections between both regions.
Its relevance lies in a broad approach that not only covers different time periods but also distinct geographical zones, from the Caribbean to Brazil. Such a scope allows for the detailed examination of a variety of issues, such as the construction of Nikkei identities and the role of Chinese immigrants in Panamanian culture, as well as genres (travel literature, poetry, and photography, among others).
Within this striking diversity, the notion that implicitly brings together the selected essays is that of “connected histories” coined by Sanjay Subrahmanyam (1997) and developed by Serge Gruzinski (2004; 2012) in order to reconsider transnational links that have been concealed by academic compartmentalization.
