"Pairing image and text, Troubling Borders showcases creative writing and visual artworks by sixty-one women of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, and Filipino ancestry. The collection features compelling storytelling that troubles the borders of categorization and reflects the multilayered experience of Southeast Asian women. The diverse voices featured here have been shaped by colonization, wars, globalization, and militarization. For some of these women on the margins of the margin, crafting and showing their work is a bold act in itself. Their provocative and accessible creations tell unique stories, provide a sharp contrast to familiar stereotypes-Southeast Asian women as exotic sex symbols, dragon ladies, prostitutes, and 'bar girls'--And serve as entry points for broader discussions on questions of history, memory, and identity"--Publisher's website.;Preface / Shirley Geok-lin Lim -- Introduction / Mariam B. Lam, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, and Kathy L. Nguyen -- Wombs and Wounds : Family Relations in the Diaspora. Open / Karen Llagas -- Terrain 15 and Terrain 17 / Vi Ly -- Manananggal / Karen Llagas -- Postpartum #5 / Vi Ly -- Rubber bands / Phayvanh Luekhamhan -- Mending / Ann Phong -- Mother Shell / Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen -- Flesh of my flesh / Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen -- Togetherness / Linda Saphan -- 30 / Anh-hoa Thi Nguyen -- Visitation / Diep Tran -- Tra Cang Monastery / Julie Thi Underhill -- Schools / Diep Tran -- Tet 1976 / Diep Tran -- Way of life / Kao Lee Thao -- Profile of the Life Tree / Anh-Thu Ngo -- Grandma / Julie Thi Underhill -- The lotus gift / Heang Ly -- Broken / Amy Lee Sanford -- Letter after Thanksgiving / Tran Mong Tu -- Widow / Kou Vang -- April, 1993 / Phayvanh Luekhamhan -- Yukai / Kao Lee Thao -- Foreman v. Moorer / Phayvanh Luekhamhan -- Suspended / Amy Lee Sanford -- Mother love / Phet Mahathongdy -- Spool / Anne Le -- Self and aunts / Phuong M. Do -- My mother's hands bleed / Christilily Chiv -- Letter from Laos / Kou Vang -- Correspondence from Laos / May Lee-Yang -- Still from Epilogue : the palpable invisibility of life / Tran T. Kim-Trang -- Coming to Voice: Language, Writing, Literacy. Untitled VI (such as you are, so is the world) / Marine Ky -- Jai Arun Ravine -- Ted's garment / Marine Ky -- From a lighthouse keeper / Karen Llagas -- S-21 no flying away 1 / Linda Saphan -- Polyglot incantation / Barbara Jane Reyes -- S-21 no flying away 2 / Linda Saphan -- S-21 no flying away 3 / Linda Saphan -- Identities / Tran Tue Quan -- Self and uncles / Phuong M. Do -- The sun in Flannery O'Connor's The violent bear it away / Souvankham Thammavongsa -- Keep it together #5 / Reanna Estrada -- This is the direction / Souvankham Thammavongsa -- Homes and Homelands -- Impossible delineation (from the series Blank attempt) / Gina Osterloh -- Archipelago dust / Karen Llagas -- Anonymous front (from the series Copy flat) / Gina Osterloh -- In the heart of the country / Anne Le -- Blind rash (from the series Rash room) / Gina Osterloh -- The fish houses at Go Vap / Anne Le -- Go Vap / Tiffany Chung -- National Highway 1 (Vietnam, December 1966) / Vo Hong Chuong-Dai -- Description #3 (Three clocks) / Hong-An Truong -- The corner of Nguyen Binh Khiem and Tue Tinh (Ha Noi, 2005) / Vo Hong Chuong-Dai -- Forgotten / Kou Vang -- Across the ocean and beyond the mind / Vo Hong Chuong-Dai -- Palimpsest for generation 1.5 (performance) / Anida Yoeu Ali -- I think of this every time I think of mountains / Phayvanh Luekhamhan -- Homeless / Azizah Ahmad -- Looking back, I accepted your invitation (from the series Somewhere tropical) -- Song for a lost home / Anh Thang Dao -- The pigeon scandal / Anh Thang Dao -- Point of departure (nurse with cap) / Jenifer K. Wofford -- Curtain nurse I / Jenifer K. Wofford -- Loving Sex/Sexing Love -- Cardiac / Angela Narciso Torres -- Dark green / Debbie Nguyen -- The story of pomegranate told in three pieces / Connie Pham -- Plum / Debbie Nguyen -- First and last times / Lian Guow -- Three pearls facing unfaithfulness / Kao-Ly Yang -- Wood / Debbie Nguyen -- Kisses of heat / Chau Nguyen -- Still from Kore / Tran T. Kim-Trang -- On the tango and Buenos Aires / Mong-Lan -- Militarized Lives -- Virgin land, virgin body / Yer Yang -- Still from Wheel in the sky / Hong-An Truong -- Excerpt from the Reeducation of Cherry Truong / Aimee Phan -- Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (performance) / Anida Yoeu Ali -- The rumor of necessity / Pimone Triplett -- Florida 1979 (Love you, miss you a lot) / Hong-An Truong -- NutDriver / Gayle Romasanta -- Florida 1978 (Goes to heaven) / Hong-An Truong -- Excerpt from The inheritors / Kathy L. Nguyen -- Call it Talisman (if you must) / Barbara Jane Reyes -- Asians in America -- This is not me / Lin + Lam -- A letter to Asian America / Azizah Ahmad -- God bless America / Melba L. Abela -- San Francisco / Azizah Ahmad -- Chinatown / Anne Le -- Progress report / Julie Thi Underhill -- The flea market / Linda Tran -- Box of Water 2 / Ann Phong -- San Francisco ab(ove) normal, 1967-2007 / Melba L. Abela -- #6-Other female / Marsha C. Galicia-Monroe -- Boats / Ann Phong -- Race, Roots, Religion -- Sea ghost / Nalyne Lunati -- In the city, a new congregation finds her / Barbara Jane Reyes -- Description #4 (Three figurines) / Hong-An Truong -- The value of a Catholic education / Davorn Sisavath -- Kranok 1 / Nalyne Lunati -- Corner shore / Julie Thi Underhill -- Vihara of the mind / Nalyne Lunati -- General Tri-corn (6) / Reanne Estrada -- Motherland / Pimone Triplett -- Industry of yoga series / Eliza O. Barrios -- Boobie cakes / Grace Talusan -- Pending / Eliza O. Barrios -- Travel Narratives and Narratives That Travel -- Amey on bike / Linda Saphan -- Suitcases / Chi Vu -- Fear of ambivalence / Julie Thi Underhill -- The sounds of leaving / Mai Der Vang -- Salt lake / Rachel Guy Collier -- Tenuous (tentatively titled) / Reanne Estrada -- Leaving home / Pang Houa Moua Toy -- Palimpsest for Generation 1.5 (installation view) / Anida Youe Ali -- From within, a view / Mai Der Vang -- Speech Acts: Labor, Activism, Resistance -- Always a bridesmaid, never a bride (flowers) / Mail Order Brides/M.O.B. -- Quarterlife crisis : a quiet activism / Connie Pham -- Moments of silence (in memory of Joseph Ileto, Fong Lee, and Chon Buri Xiong) / Emily P. Lawsin -- Incognito 31 / Linda Saphan -- Where I am from (freewrite remix) / Emily P. Lawsin -- International worker / Melba L. Abela -- Here we go / Tiffany Chung -- I demand respect / Grace Kong -- Bubble Shooter and friends / Tiffany Chung -- Miss Boss / Grace Kong -- Education reform / Mail Order Brides/M.O.B. -- Imelda / Karen Llagas -- Stills from Unidentified Viet Name No. 18 / Lin + Lam -- Give me your best performance piece / Leakhena Leng -- Stills from Unidentified Viet Name No. 18 / Lin + Lam -- Breathing fire performance piece / Leakhena Leng -- Through the looking glass / Mail Order Bridges/M.O.B. -- Epilogue -- About the contributors and editors.