From Hong Kong to Here: Minor Feelings and the Diasporic Dislocation of Asian American Identity

This honors thesis, From Hong Kong to Here: Minor Feelings and the Diasporic Dislocation of Asian American Identity, explores the emotional, cultural, and psychological complexities of Asian American identity through the lens of Cathy Park Hong’s concept of “minor feelings.” Using a hybrid methodology that combines semi-structured interviews, close textual analysis, and original narrative filmmaking, the project examines how racialized emotions, such as shame, alienation, and internalized guilt, emerge from cultural dislocation, intergenerational tension, and the pressures of assimilation and the American Dream. Anchored in Hong’s Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning (2020), the thesis situates Asian American identity as a site of unresolved mourning and racial melancholia (Eng & Han, 2000), shaped by histories of immigration, language loss, and cultural silence around mental health. The creative centerpiece of this thesis is a short film, Minor Feelings, written and directed by the author, which follows Isabella, a Chinese American college student navigating grief, identity, and belonging after the death of her grandfather. Informed by interviews with Asian American students of diverse backgrounds, the film dramatizes the affective tensions at the heart of diasporic life. This thesis argues that minor feelings are not pathological but political, serving as an embodied response to the persistent contradictions of racial visibility and cultural erasure. Through interdisciplinary analysis and visual storytelling, the project affirms the legitimacy of these emotions and underscores the transformative potential of reclaiming narrative space for Asian American voices.