Eighteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

In September 2017, the dance company Lenora Lee Dance presented the immersive multimedia dance performance “Within These Walls” at the immigration station on Angel Island, San Francisco, infamous for detaining and interrogating millions of Chinese immigrants during the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). “Within These Walls,” as a site-specific performance, examines this period of U.S. history. Because nearly half of this dance took place outside in front of the immigration station building, the landscape of racially diverse contemporary San Francisco became part of the set, which allowed the performance to present race as the intersection point of past and present given that the performance presents the stories of “Paper Sons and Daughters” from China, who endured discrimination because of their race. In presenting these stories against the chosen backdrop, “Within These Walls” invites further discussions of race as a factor in immigration. Angel Island was the border between the illegal Chinese immigrants and the U.S., and those from countries other than China who are also categorized as illegal immigrants nowadays share similar struggles that those Chinese immigrants endured in the past. Thus, “Within These Walls” underscores the continuing existence of the boundaries between marginalized groups and the center of society, boundaries that both derive from and perpetuate social injustice, exclusion, hostility, and displacement.