Ethnic language is not only the carrier of ethnic culture and history but also an important symbol of ethnic and individual identity. Under the influence of the American government's policy on ethnic languages, most contemporary American ethnic writers have lost their ability to listen, speak, read, and write ethnic languages. How to reproduce the core elements and formal features of ethnic languages in their texts has become a vital task for contemporary American ethnic writers.
This book takes the narrative language of contemporary American ethnic autobiography as the research object, takes the origin of contemporary American ethnic autobiography as the starting point for discussion, and focuses on its three prominent features: speakly text, bilingual strategy, and the coexistence of images and texts. The book explores the individual characteristics presented in the autobiographical writings of contemporary American ethnic writers who come from similar historical backgrounds and live in the same era. The tension between the ethnic stereotypes constructed by the mainstream culture and the individual characteristics of ethnic individuals constitutes the prominent conflict in the contemporary American ethnic autobiography. Correspondingly, the most notable feature of contemporary American ethnic autobiography is its departure from the conventions of autobiographical writing by applying distinctive writing skills and narrative styles to create a multidimensional self that is different from the ethnic stereotypes in his/her autobiography.