Full Description
From hungry ghosts, vampiric babies, and shapeshifting fox spirits to the avenging White Lady of urban legend, for generations, Asian women's roles have been shaped and defined through myth and story. In Unquiet Spirits, Asian writers of horror reflect on the impact of superstition, spirits, and the supernatural in this unique collection of 21 personal essays exploring themes of otherness, identity, expectation, duty, and loss, and leading, ultimately, to understanding and empowerment.
Contents
Nadia Bulkin: Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia.Comparing male versus female "berserker" states in Indonesia.Grace Chan: Holy Revelations.Juxtaposition of Christian spirituality and Asian expectations in the Asian-Australian immigrant experience. Eliza Chan: Lucky Numbers, Or Why 28 > 58East versus west numerology and the converging influences of superstition. doungjai gam: tethered chokeholdsThe naphiron (tree with women-fruit to be consumed) and conflicting Thai American expectations of filial duty.Tori Eldridge: The Agency of Modern Kunoichi: The Women of Ninja Stealth and PerseveranceEmpowerment and agency of the Kunochi warrior woman: historical and modern perspectives. Geneve Flynn: Some Things Are Dangerous, But Can Be Lived With: The Ghost Baby of Malaysian MythologyA personal experience of the kwee kia ghost baby as a symbol of generational grief.Vanessa Fogg: Hungry Ghosts in AmericaExpectation, education, and self-actualisation observed through the lens of Asian hungry ghost mythology.Kiyomi Appleton Gaines: Plant a Cherry Tree over my GraveJapanese mountain witches and notions of motherhood and monstrous. Ai Jiang: The Unvoiced, The Unheard, The Unknown, The UnquietExploring Asian traditional expectations of womanhood and identity. K.P. Kulski: 100 LiversIdentity and loss as seen through the shapeshifting kumiho (Korean Fox spirit)Gabriela Lee: SightingsPredation and consumption of Asian women as evidenced in current events and the White Lady of Balete Drive (Philippines).JAW McCarthy: Thai Spirits & Longing to BelongKrasue, pret, and phi pop, and lived experience of identity and otherness at the intersection cultureRena Mason: Lady Nak of Phra Khanong: A Life Inspired by the Female Duality ArchetypeThai ghosts, phi, Mae Nak (the lady of Pra Khanong), loss, expectation, and filial guilt. Lee Murray: Displaced Spirits: Ghosts of the DiasporaDisplacement, generational loss, and persecution as hungry ghost spirits. Celine Murray: Fox DaughterThrough the huli jing (Chinese fox spirit) a young woman reconciles identity, otherness, and belonging. Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito: Belonging to FearHorror and myth as an integral part of the Asian immigrant experience.Angela Yuriko Smith: Tearing Ourselves Apart: The NukekubiDisplacement, sacrifice, and authenticity as experienced through the disembodied head of the nukekubiChristina Sng: The Demon-Haunted GirlThe Pontianak as a symbol of vengeance for centuries of abuse and predation of Asian women. Yvette Tan: Fallen Leaves, New SoilBlending of Christian and Chinoy cultural values as observed in a Filipino upbringingBenebell Wen: Ghost Month in TaiwanA family suffering generations of longing and loss is rescued from the clutches of hungry ghost demons. Yi Izzy Yu: The SubstituteMarriage and our authentic selves as viewed through the tisigui (substitute-seeking ghost). A personal journey.
