Sensory Multiculturalism in American Son: Exploring Racial Affects under a Capitalist Context

Asian American novels have gained a great attention in American literature recently. The themes include immigration experience, social oppression, identity crisis and marginalization struggles in American society. American Son, written by Brian Roley, skillfully portrays the image of the Filipino immigrant family. Like many Asian immigrants, they pursue the “American Dream,” hoping for a better life in America but the reality proves far from their imagination. The sensory details in the novel provide more evidence to represent Tomas’s violence, Gabe’s ambivalence and Ika’s anxiety, which also show how capitalist shape their racial affects. This article aims to reinterpret the novel through sensory multiculturalism perspective, emphasizing racial affects and individual sensory experiences in constructing their racial identity.