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Sleuth Cities: East L.A., Seoul, and Military Mysteries in Martin Limón’s Slicky Boys and The Wandering Ghost
- Journal of Asian American Studies
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 17, Number 2, June 2014
- pp. 199-228
- 10.1353/jaas.2014.0015
- Article
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In this article I explore cultural representations of Chicano/as in Korea, specifically focusing on Martin Limón’s numerous portrayals of an impoverished East L.A. as a gritty California counterpart to the desperate, at times overtly racist military district of Itaewon, located in Seoul. I also explore the genre of this mystery series as an aperture into racism, gendered exploitation, militarization, and expansion of U.S. frontiers from California across the Pacific to Korea. I argue that Limón'snovel binds together East L.A. and Itaewon as interconnected sites of war, poverty, gender and racial exploitation that inspire a critique of state power.