Quiet Asian Girls: Mutism Aesthetics in Asian American Literature

This talk examines the radical potential of quiet as aesthetic and material practice in relation to gendered forms of Asian American embodiment. Weaving together personal narrative alongside readings of authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Annelise Chen, and Simon Han, Geng explores notions of reclaiming quiet, of leaning into pauses, and of collective meditation to ask what it would mean to embrace being a quiet Asian girl.