Abstract

This dissertation seeks to recover a notion of agency for those who are caught in the interstices of transnational relationships, which are generally determined by practices of globalization. I examine notions of travel and home as corollary concepts that have been used metaphorically to describe the nature of the multicultural subject. Travel and home both highlight the sense of displacement caused by global capitalist markets as well as the capacity to remake and envision a new community. In this light, travel and home are understood as interpretive processes that guide social transformation in an increasingly multicultural world.

I first consider philosophical conceptions of the cosmopolitan self proposed by theorists who work on travel and diaspora. I then use this critical examination as a springboard for thinking about transnational identities, emphasizing themes of home and community as fundamental components for developing a conception of a multicultural self These themes also set the stage for a further consideration of multicultural selves in the context of feminist care ethics and a metaphysics of belonging. In a discussion of feminist care ethics, I examine care by highlighting the transnational relationships that connect one's concrete caring practice to a global context. In order to articulate a metaphysics of belonging. I turn to the work of Josiah Royce and his notion of the "betweenness" relation as it emerges in his theories of provincialism, loyalty and community. This relation becomes the framework for a new understanding of multicultural selves in a transnational context.

In extending this analysis to the political context. I consider how a "betweenness" framework emerges through corollary processes of "world-traveling" conceived by María Lugones and "home-making" as theorized by Yen Li Espiritu in establishing transnational feminist communities. I end this dissertation by pointing out new directions in conceiving how a transnational framework might address the political challenges posed by indigenous claims to sovereignty against Asian American practices of settlement. Ultimately, I intend to show how a transnational framework can be a fruitful resource in conceptualizing the multicultural self who can respond to colonialism and oppression in an increasingly globalized world.