Citrus noir: Strange Fruit in Karen Tei Yamashita's Tropic of Orange. Issue 1 (31st March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Palmer, Ryan
• Is Part Of: Studia neophilologica. Volume 88:Issue 1(2016)supplement
• Page Start: 96
• Page End: 106
• Publication Date: 2016-03-31
• Subjects: Ecocriticism -- environmental justice -- neoliberalism -- NAFTA -- economic history -- environmental history -- transnational studies -- film noir -- Zapatistas -- EZLN.; Germanic philology -- Periodicals; Romance philology -- Periodicals; Philologie germanique -- Périodiques; Philologie romane -- Périodiques; 400
• DOI: 10.1080/00393274.2015.1100456
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0039-3274

Abstract

Abstract : This paper reads Karen Tei Yamashita's novel Tropic of orange as an interrogation of neoliberalism, accomplished through its critique of the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the marginalised homeless in Los Angeles and its disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples in Mexico. It examines the issues of environmental justice presented in the novel and links these to California's citrus industry and its history of labour relations, engaging with the ways in which Yamashita draws on the aesthetics of film noir in order to frame these problematics.