Images of intersectionality: Analysing the impact of culture on mental health in Rosena Fung’s Living with Viola

Hsieh, N. N. (2023) Images of intersectionality: Analysing the impact of culture on mental health in Rosena Fung’s Living with Viola. Crip Kid Lit: Critical Approaches to Disability in Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Media, Cambridge, UK, 19-20 April 2024. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Disability does not exist in a vacuum; thus, the intersection of culture and disability can have an enormous impact, both positive and negative, on mental health stability and disorders. In East Asian cultures, studies show that values such as status and ‘saving face’ can create an environment of emotional repression, leading to a failure to recognise and treat mental health disorders and disabilities (Au, 2023). Abe-Kim et al.'s (2007) study demonstrated that only 8.6% of 2,095 Asian Americans had ever sought any kind of help for their mental health; in addition, Asian Canadians, particularly Chinese Canadians, are the least likely group to seek out and use mental health services (Tiwari and Wang, 2008). These low numbers have devastating consequences, especially for adolescents and young adults; the US-based National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported that in 2019, suicide was the leading cause of death for Asians/Pacific Islanders between the ages of 15-24 (Heron, 2021). Children’s and Young Adult literature have a unique ability to speak to this suppression, particularly in intercultural spaces where children and adolescents are growing up in-between cultures. For example, the graphic novel Living with Viola by Rosena Fung (2021) is a child-friendly, multimodal text that brings readers into the mind of Olivia, a Chinese Canadian girl living with Anxiety and Panic Disorder. The graphic novel medium enables a fuller and more representative experience of Olivia’s invisible disability, personifying Olivia’s anxiety as ‘Viola,’ a shadowy doppelganger who constantly berates her. It also depicts the interactions between ‘Viola’ and aspects of Olivia’s Chinese heritage, creating a nuanced portrayal of intersectionality and how Olivia’s heritage both contributes to and alleviates her anxiety. Ultimately, the novel crafts a powerful counterstory where a young girl opens up to her Chinese parents and asks for help, and they affirm her with encouragement and openness instead of shame.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Unpublished
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hsieh, Natalie Naihuei
• Authors: Hsieh, N. N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences

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