UC Riverside

My thesis examines the use of music and theater as methods of corporeal decolonization through an analysis of two theatrical productions that address Japanese American internment – Edward Sakamoto’s play Pilgrimage and Jay Kuo, Lorenzo Thione, and Marc Acito’s musical Allegiance. My thesis builds upon Catherine Ceniza Choy’s concept of corporeal colonization and Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns’ application of the concept to include dance and music to position plays like Pilgrimage and Allegiance (with almost exclusively Asian American casts) as a means of corporeal decolonization in an industry that is heavily dominated by Caucasians. I also build upon Aimé Césaire’s concept of colonialism as dehumanization, as well as Robert G. Lee’s concepts of “foreign” and “alien” with regard to Asian American popular culture.