Document Type
Article
Abstract
Cristina García’s third novel, Monkey Hunting (2003), is a sweeping multigenerational family saga that surveys the history of Asian and African diasporas in the Americas and the impact of coerced, racialized labor and migrations. The scrumptious medley of foods in Monkey Hunting portrays its characters’ delight and dissatisfaction in their displacements. Food’s primary function remains as a vital source of nourishment, providing essential sustenance to the body. Food provides pleasure through sensory experiences that delight the palate and evoke emotions and memories associated with home and family. In many religions and spiritual systems, food takes a vital place in rituals as a vehicle of communication. Practitioners of Afro-Cuban Santería/Regla de Ocha cook ancestral recipes and share foods with the living and deceased family members and the deities around the communal table. García weaves an intricate family history from the travails of the first generation, who experienced coercion and violence from enslavement and indentured labor, through the fourth-generation descendants across the seas. From a close reading of the novel, this article examines key moments that present food as a critical element that underscores the Chinese and African entanglements and tensions.
Recommended Citation
Prudente, Chloe Hu
(2025)
"Between Thirst and Hunger: Food and Afro- Chinese Entanglements in Monkey Hunting,"
PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association: Vol. 28, Article 8.
Available at:
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/palara/vol28/iss1/8
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Africana Studies Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons