A DIASPORIC OVERCOAT?

Abstract

Starting as an analysis of the relation between (self)‐naming and (dis)‐affection in Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake, this paper suggests that the problems described and their critical reception can be seen to reflect more substantial problems permeating contemporary discussions around so‐called immigrant or diasporic literature and culture, and wider debates around multiculturalism and identity politics. It argues that discussions of diasporic literature are limited by the use of diaspora as an exclusive explanatory framework, neglecting the manifold, relational, and potentially conflicting dimensions of difference in cultural groups, as well as intercultural and transcultural differences and processes of differentiation. If used thus, the concept of diaspora does not suffice to explain and theorize some key aspects of what has come to be called diasporic literature.