"You Are (From) Here, but You are Also Not": Identity, Mourning, and Presence As Différance in Randy Ribay's Patron Saints of Nothing

Date of Award

1-1-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts major in Literary and Cultural Studies

First Advisor

Jocelyn S. Martin, PhD

Abstract

The young adult literary novel entitled Patron Saints of Nothing written by Randy Ribay, a Filipino-American author, tackles a timely sociopolitical issue that is happening in the Philippines: Duterte’s war on drugs. The novel tells the narrative of Jay whose cousin, Jun, is killed and becomes one of the many victims of extrajudicial killings. Jay decides to go back to his home country to secretly investigate on the incident, as the family shows indifference towards the loss of Jun. This thesis aims to analyze cultural identity, mourning, and presence through the depiction of Jay’s Filipino-American identity, Jun’s death and disappearance, and the writing in and of the novel. These points for analysis are unpacked through Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance as the overarching theory, to be supported by the studies of Stuart Hall about cultural identity and Jacques Derrida on mourning and presence. Likewise, the analysis intends to tackle extrajudicial killings as the central subject in understanding the notions presented in this study. Finally, this paper hopes to contribute to: (1) the development of young adult literature studies by means of engaging young adult readers to sociopolitical topics like extrajudicial killings; (2) scholarly works, particularly for literary and cultural studies, that intend to discuss extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, and; (3) further studies which also aim to read a text in the lens of différance and the corresponding notions of cultural identity, mourning, and presence.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS