Journal of Literary Writing and Evaluation
JLWE, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026, pp.10-19.
Print ISSN: 3078-8129; Online ISSN: 3104-5073
Journal homepage: https://www.lwejournal.com
DOI: Https://doi.org/10.64058/jlwe260102rtdfw
何嘉莉（He Jiali），陈 晞（Chen Xi）
摘要：美国华裔作家谭恩美（Amy Tan）的《接骨师之女》（The Bonesetter’s Daughter，2001）以食物书写为核心叙事线索，通过多重食物意象构建起华裔离散群体族裔身份建构的完整脉络。以物叙事为理论框架，本文深入剖析白粥承载的族裔性排斥、腌萝卜蕴含的身份觉醒、茶叶蛋与菜谱承载的文化传承，揭示主人公露丝在跨文化语境中的身份困境与突围路径。食物不仅是满足生理需求的物质载体，更成为串联代际记忆、调和文化冲突、承载历史创伤的核心媒介。主人公露丝在味的回返中达成和谐的跨文化族裔身份构建，谭恩美借此打破早期华裔文学的异国风情叙事桎梏。这一身份建构路径，为理解全球化语境下离散群体身份的多元性、流动性与建构性提供了独特的文学范本，丰富了华裔文学食物叙事的研究维度。
关键词：谭恩美；《接骨师之女》；食物书写；族裔身份；物叙事
作者简介：何嘉莉，湖南大学外国语学院研究生，主要研究方向为英美文学。电邮：2513041369@qq.com。陈晞（通讯作者），湖南大学外国语学院教授、博士导师，主要研究方向为英美文学、比较文学、文学伦理学批评。电邮：traceycx@126.com。
Title: Return of Taste in Diaspora: Food Writing and Ethnic Identity in The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Abstract: The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001), written by Chinese-American author Amy Tan, takes food writing as its core narrative thread and constructs a complete vein of ethnic identity construction for the Chinese diasporic community through multiple food images. Using the theoretical lens of Thing Theory, this study provides an in-depth analysis of how congee embodies ethnic exclusion, pickled radish signifies identity awakening, and tea eggs and recipes carry cultural transmission, thereby revealing the protagonist Ruth’s identity struggles and pathways toward agency in a cross-cultural context. Food serves not merely as a material object for satisfying physiological needs but also as a central medium for connecting intergenerational memory, mediating cultural conflicts, and bearing historical trauma. Through the return of taste, Ruth achieves a harmonious construction of a cross-cultural ethnic identity, enabling Tan to break away from the exoticized narrative constraints typical of earlier Chinese American literature. This path of identity construction offers a unique literary model for understanding the multiplicity, fluidity, and constructedness of diasporic identity within a globalized context, thereby enriching the research dimensions of food narrative in Chinese American literature.
Keywords: Amy Tan; The Bonesetter’s Daughter; Food writing; Ethnic identity; Thing Theory
Author Biographies: He Jiali, Master’s Candidate at Hunan University. Research Areas: British and American Literature. E-mail: 2513041369@qq.com. Chen Xi (Corresponding author), Professor and Ph.D. Supervisor at the School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University. Research Areas: British and American Literature, Comparative Literature, Literary Ethical Criticism. E-mail: traceycx@126.com.
Received: 06 Feb 2026 / Revised: 21 Apr 2026 / Accepted: 21 Apr 2026 / Published online: 30 Apr 2026 / Print published: 30 May 2026.
