2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange
Looking for a chapter event?
Past SPE Annual Conferences
exhibitions
2026 SPE Annual Conference Schedule
print this pageFolded Histories - A Study of the Fortune Cookie Mythos
Ruiqi Xu
Thursday, March 19 - 2:30PM to 3:00PM
Macon
I was born in China and lived there until I was 18, 9 years ago. The first time I saw a fortune cookie was soon after arriving in the United States. I had no idea what it was or why it always appeared at the end of meals in Chinese restaurants. I kept the small paper from that first fortune cookie: "You will conquer obstacles to achieve success." For several years, without thinking about it, I accumulated many similar papers and unopened fortune cookies. Eventually, I realized fortune cookies had quietly become part of my life, constantly reminding me of my cultural position—as someone born in China but spending my adult life in America, always caught somewhere in between. Like fortune cookies, I seem to belong nowhere: perceived as "Chinese," yet no longer genuinely part of Chinese tradition. Fortune cookies aren't simply food; they're a metaphor for my reality—real yet unreal, familiar yet strange, belonging yet detached.
My project uses fortune cookies to explore cultural tension between authenticity and fiction. I researched historical documents and created a fictional newspaper, highlighting the absurdity of the fortune cookie's invented origins and its actual existence. Through staged photographs and self-portraits, I transformed fortune cookie messages into visual symbols, expressing my personal feelings of isolation and cultural fragmentation. These contradictions reflect the emotional reality I continuously face as an immigrant living in America.
While deeply personal, this project addresses broader experiences common among immigrants and other individuals navigating multicultural identities—the persistent labeling and constant negotiation between belonging and alienation. This project encourages people to reconsider cultural assumptions and stereotypes, recognizing that identity is far more complex and subtle than any label might suggest.
speaker
Ruiqi Xu
About
- Board Reports, Letters, and Minutes
- History
- Staff
- Board Members
- Board Committees
- Board Elections
- SPE Code of Conduct
- Caucuses
Join
Members
Annual Conference
- About the Conference
- Overview
- Speakers
- Schedule
- Registration
- Calls for Proposal
- Volunteer
- Sponsors
- Exhibit
- Anti-Harassment Policy
- Hotel & Travel
- Location + Travel
- Hotel
- Schedule of Events
- Schedule
- special events
News & Events
Chapters
Exposure Journal
About this piece
Comments about this piece
Dialogue and critique are important to the SPE mission.
Please join the conversation.