Diasporic Experience Research Articles

Cultural Ambivalence of the Shell-Shocked Characters in the English Patient

In the novel The English Patient, the Sri Lankan-born Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje projects his characters as the diasporic subjects performing their ambivalence regarding identity, culture and nationality. This research article, applying diasporic theories as a critical tool, aims to demonstrate the non-conformist cultural and national stand of the shell-shocked characters at the Italian villa of Girolamo as soon as the devastating Second World War has been over. The novelist Ondaatje and his fictional characters bear the fate of diasporic experience entangled between two cultures. Their divided loyalty demonstrates their fractured subjectivity as an outcome in the colonial and postcolonial setting where they come in contact with the people of the nationality and culture which are different from their own. Cultural mixing is a reality in today's world resulting from the transnational and cross-border migration. Such a mix-up phenomenon is not creating a one-way-traffic-like influence from the West to the Rest but it is other way round, too.

Diaspora as a Repercussion of Colonization in the Kim Scott’s ‘Benang’

Colonization created upheavals around the world. The worlds of Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals which were unaware of the other world that existed were shattered and scattered by the colonial rule. The indigenous people were subjected to cruel treatment at the hands of colonizers. In the Americas the mass killings of the natives took place by intentional spreading of the epidemics. Same incidents took place in Australia. The colonial rule always invented novel ways to destroy the native people, culture and their society. For instance, the policy of Doctrine of lapse which was introduced in India destroyed the local rulers and the princely states. Due to this many princely states in India came under the rule of British. In Australia to eliminate aboriginals the white government came up with the idea of assimilation policy. Assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing aboriginal people onto white society through the process of removing children from their aboriginal families forcefully. The ultimate intent of the policy was the destruction of Aboriginal society. The protagonist of the novel Benang is the victim of this process. He also goes through the diasporic experiences of alienation, isolation and loss of identity. This paper analyses the diaspora as a repercussion of colonization in the novel Benang.

Formation of Identities through Diaspora: A Postcolonial Reading of Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

This research study aims at an exploration of framing identities of Hiroko Tanaka, a Japanese teacher, in the text Burnt Shadow by Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie, as a result of her experience of diaspora. This research study also focuses upon the discussion of how diaspora plays its due role in changing the identity of the main character. Theoretical insights from Stuart Hall's notion of 'De-centralization of identity is taken as a theoretical framework. In modern society, the point has been negotiated that in possessing multiple identities, the identity of the main protagonist, is fluid, non-fixed, and evolving, since identity formation in modern society is a process constantly being refashioned and redesigned in contemporary discourse. To strengthen the main argument, Homi K Bhahbha’s concept of Unhomliness is also taken as a supporting theory. Hence, the text will highlight the struggle of one of Shamsie's characters with her hyphenated identity. This study concludes that diasporic experiences are responsible for Hiroko Tankaka’s non-fixed identity and fixed identity is unavoidable in modern society. This research study is qualitative in design and descriptive in nature, contributing to identity literature within Pakistani literature.

An autoethnographic narrative of the diasporic experience of a Chinese female Ph.D. returnee’s entry into the domestic academic job market during COVID-19: An ecological environment perspective

In this study, Chinese female Ph.D. returnees’ diasporic experience when entering into the domestic academic job market (DAJM) was examined from an ecological environment perspective. This was realized through an autoethnographic narrative of the author’s lived experience of entering the DAJM during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a recollection of the narrative recorded through E-diaries, emails, and visual media, specifically WeChat, from April 2020 to May 2021, the findings revealed that such a diasporic experience comprised diasporic emotion because of expectational pressures in the microsystem, diasporic identity conflict that originated from gender stereotypes in the mesosystem, self-reflexive diasporic consciousness of both disadvantages and advantages related to Guanxi (social networks) in the exosystem, the diasporic feeling of being exiled in the DAJM given the academic culture in relation to degree origin bias and prioritizing publications in the macrosystem, and the self-constructed diasporic mindset that experienced uncertainties and anxieties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in the chronosystem. This study facilitated a sociological exposition and understanding of the complex situation of Ph.D. returnees’ experience of entering the DAJM. It calls for a shifting of blaming the victims risk in relation to hard indicators regarding Ph.D. returnees’ competitiveness and employability in the DAJM. This has implications for both academic and recruiting practices in China. Furthermore, this study offers future overseas doctoral students and Ph.D. returnees a more practical sense of the potential mobility frictions embedded in transnational education mobility in relation to their job-seeking experience in homelands.

MEMORI, TRAUMA, DAN UPAYA REKONSILIASI PERANG TELUK II DALAM NOVEL SĀ’ATU BAGDĀD KARYA SYAHAD AL-RĀWIY

Sā’atu Bagdād (2016) is a novel by Syahad al-Rāwiy which captures the dark events of Gulf War II which involved Iraq, Kuwait, the United States, and the United States coalition countries that began in 1990. This novel is divided into two parts, namely the past relating to the life of the main subject during Gulf War II and the future related to post-war life. The problem in this research is how the author reconstructs the memory and trauma that causes the subject's psychological shock and how the subject makes reconciliation efforts on the memory and trauma that befell him. To study this, the analytical descriptive method and the theory of Halbwachs memory, Caruth's trauma, and working through LaCapra were used. The results of this study indicate that the incident of Gulf War II is a personal traumatic memory that becomes the collective memory of the Iraqi people. Traumatic memories are narrated in the events of bunker protection in 1991, embargo sanctions, and subsequent war. The overlapping event caused the subject to experience back trauma, such as flashbacks, war phobia, and diaspora simulations. As for reducing the memory and trauma that continues to rage, the subject does the working-through in two ways: first, efforts to distance and let go of the past through diasporic experience and synchronizing with the new world, and second, to testify by writing novels and finding the right partner.

Living with difference: Ontological security and identification of second-generation members of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham, ‘Little Lagos’, London

This article presents the impact of digital technologies and small media on the second-generation members of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham (London, United Kingdom). Situated within the larger context of global trends, cultural production and commodification that have become central to contemporary identity articulation, the article argues that cultural production and consumption have become the site of creativity in negotiating multiple attachments for this second-generation offspring of the initial migrants in such a way that living with ‘difference’ has become a part of everyday diasporic experiences. The article shows how second-generation Nigerians in Peckham perform their diasporic identities around the popularity and the inclusion of Afrobeats music, Nollywood films and the representation of ankara clothing styles in the host society and in the global mainstream. It reveals the dialectic interaction between local cultures and global media by showing how digital technologies not only make it possible to connect across space and time but also aid the production of new identities. In contrast to the fear of the older migrants over their perception of non-involvement of young Nigerians in belonging to their homeland, a sense of patriotic pride is demonstrated by their offspring. Insights are drawn from seven-month ethnography of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham, London. The findings suggest that the inclusion of local artefacts from Nigeria in the host society provides a sense of national pride for the born abroad children in their country of heritage.

‘All Tee, No Shade’: A manifesto for a subtle critical practice negotiating queer, East Asian masculinities through T-shirts

‘All Tee, No Shade’ is a practice-led research project that explores the use of the men’s T-shirt to challenge and disrupt hegemonic subjectivities that contribute to the marginalization and discrimination of the queer Asian diaspora. Through an exploration of my pilot project of the same name, produced as part of the arts programme of Virgin Australian Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2020, I propose that norm-critical design methodologies exploring intersectional experiences of fashion and dress can produce material outcomes that challenge the discrimination and oppression associated with compounding conditions of race and sexuality. I use the notion of ‘subtle’ traits as a condition of the East Asian diasporic experience to reveal how race and sexuality might be expressed through fashion production to disrupt conceptions of ‘otherness’. This is achieved with T-shirts that have printed graphic configurations that align with contemporary streetwear but with ‘subtle’ signifiers embedded through the signs and lexicons of Asian and queer communities. Using an autoethnographic approach, the work is informed by my past fashion design industry experience and reflects on racial and queer marginalization and discrimination through styling and fit. The project contributes to broader discourses aimed at decentralizing dominant narratives in fashion practice and responds to a lack of academic research into diasporic Asian experiences of dress and, more specifically, queer diasporic Asian dress.

Artists in Residence

Abstract Mixing criticism and memoir, “Artists in Residence” offers a rumination on improvisation and collaboration in visual art-making and contemporary jazz performance. The author meditates on the 2017 Unite the Right rally and Ryan Kelly's award-winning photographs of the event and considers how artists offer models for resisting anti-Black racism and white supremacy through collaborative practices. The author analyzes the documentary films Looks of a Lot and RFK in the Land of Apartheid and reviews exhibitions by Roy DeCarava and Jason Moran, highlighting the points of intersection between jazz musicianship and visual artistry. Finally, the essay argues that artists like Kara Walker, William Kentridge, and Yusef Komunyakaa create works that express the pleasure and pain of Black Diasporic experience through practices such as blues idiom improvisation and collage. The author presents criticism as a mode of personal writing.

Place, Belonging and History: Reflections on the Ottoman Armenian Past and Heritage

Vahé Tachjian is a historian and the author of numerous books and articles on Armenian survivors of the genocide and the genesis of post-genocide Armenian communities in the Middle East. Based in Berlin, he has since 2010 been the co-director and chief editor of Houshamadyan, a project aiming to revive the material and cultural life of Ottoman Armenians prior to and after the genocide. In this interview, he engages with the notion of homeland and reflects on its importance in his own work and diasporic experience.

Modernist Art in Ethiopia

Modernist Art in Ethiopia

Clandestine crossings: Narrating Zimbabwe’s precarious diaspora in South Africa in Sue Nyathi’s The Gold-Diggers (2018)

ABSTRACT While there is a growing interest in Zimbabwean literature about diasporic experiences in the UK and the USA, scholarship on literary engagements with the Zimbabwean diaspora in South Africa remains sparse. This article analyses clandestine migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa and the formation of a precarious diaspora in the host country as represented in Sue Nyathi’s 2018 novel The Gold-Diggers. In contrast to strategies seen in South-North migration writing, those adopted by Nyathi’s migrants and diasporic subjects to negotiate everyday challenges – such as the need to pass as South African – reflect the close historical and cultural ties that structure African borderlands. Nyathi’s polyvocal text reconfigures diaspora discourse in relation to class and community, drawing attention to migrant vulnerability while illustrating strategies of resistance through identity erasure and homemaking. It carves out a space for precarious, yet not wholly disempowering, intra-African migratory and diasporic experiences often elided in diaspora studies.

A deterritorialized people: Toward constructing a theo‐diasporic space

AbstractThis article argues that doing theology in the context of diaspora is inseparable from people's experiences in their materiality, contemporaneity, and heterogeneity. Diasporic experience, and in this case, the particularity of diasporic Hongkongers, not only helps broaden our horizons, but also provides new understanding of suffering and salvation, and casts light on the journey toward a theo‐diasporic space. In this space, theologians and church leaders are motivated to deepen theological reflection through the diasporic lens and destabilize epistemic structures that gives false hope and certainty. This ever‐expanding space inevitably deterritorializes our theological orientation and meanwhile, invites more vigorous discussion on diasporic subjectivity and its potentiality in the imaginative construction of theology.

Chief Editors' Note

To the community,As mass media showcased the increasing instances of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia towards the Asian diaspora, the chief editors saw that there was a lack of research literature on the Asian American experience, both before and during the onset of the pandemic. By providing a platform that empowers students to share their academic work, the AARJ continues the vision initiated by student activists in the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes by de-centering academic gatekeeping against people of color and reinforcing the importance of Asian American and Asian Diasporic studies as a scholarly field. We are proud to announce the publication of this first issue of the Asian American Research Journal (AARJ) at UC Berkeley. We created this journal because we saw that UC Berkeley lacked a platform for undergraduate and graduate students to publish their research and scholarly work centered on Asian American and Asian Diasporic experiences, identities, and communities. For our initial publication, we chose the theme “Building Our Voices”. We envisioned a space to recognize and showcase student papers commenting, analyzing, and advising on the various contemporary issues facing the Asian American community, as well as how historical legacies of trauma, discrimination, and oppression continue to affect past, present, and future generations. In addressing the need for a platform for student work and voices, we encouraged a broad range of submissions to capture the multifaceted, non-monolithic stories of the Asian American and Asian diaspora. We are beyond thankful to the editors, designers, authors, faculty editors, and community members for bringing this inaugural journal to fruition and are excited for this publication to continue supporting future generations of scholars to come. We especially thank the tireless efforts of our journal-building community: Anya Fang, our logo designer; Jamie Noh, our chief designer; Rachel Lee and the eScholarship team, and of course, our relentlessly uplifting faculty sponsors, Dr. Khatharya Um, Dr. Lok Siu, and Dr. Michael Omi. Please enjoy the first issue of the Asian American Research Journal! In Solidarity,Anh-Tu Lu, Austin Le, Gabrielle Nguyen, Richie ChuChief Editors 2020-2021Asian American Research Journal Co-founders

Chosen Pamilya: Student-Based Retention Programming for Queer Pilipinx American College Students at UC Berkeley

This paper is concerned with the experiences of  LGBTQ Pilipinx American undergraduate leaders who are in charge of developing retention programs and resources for fellow queer Pilipinx American students at UC Berkeley. Using semi-structured interviews, this research draws upon the personal experiences of queer Pilipinx American undergraduate at UC Berkeley who  been involved in student organizing and retention event planning. As descendants of immigrants, uprooted and diasporically displaced by centuries of colonial and imperial regimes, and as members of the pan-ethnic “Asian American” category, observing the existence of queer Filipinx Americans may allow us to further unpack and disaggregate underlooked AAPI experiences. Thus, I interrogate how queerness, gender, and sexuality inform the ways queer Pilipinx Americans navigate higher education, how the experiences they faced as queer subjects growing up, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in between, affected their path to college, and the factors that led them to do the work they are currently doing. This work will allow me to develop a theoretical framework that destabilizes, complicates, and expands our current understandings of queer Asian diasporic experience within educational research.

Özgön’den Konya’ya Uzanan Göç: Tacigül Özgen Küntüz’un Kimlik ve Anavatana Dair Aidiyet Duygusunu İfade Etme Biçimi

First generation diasporic immigrants, who have diasporic experience due to the trauma of forced migration, have a strong sense of belonging to the homeland. Even, they can transfer this sense of belonging to the next generations without losing its liveliness. In addition, the sense of belonging to the homeland is an important factor affecting the identity formation of the next generations. This study aims to investigate the second-generation member of the diasporic immigrant Özgen family, the painter Tacigül Özgen Küntüz's sense of belonging to the region of origin, her identity formation process and the way she expresses them. The study will deal with the works created by the painter in terms of identity and belonging.

VAMPİR DİASPORASINI OKUMAK: OCTAVİA BUTLER’IN FLEDGLING ROMANINDA MELEZLİK VE DİASPORİK BİLİNÇ

This article by applying diaspora theories to Octavia Butler’s vampire novel Fledgling (2005), will engender a critical engagement with the issues of difference and hybridity. By examining the oscillating relations between the hybrid vampire protagonist Shori, her human symbionts, and the vampire diasporic community, this study reflects on the complexity of the diasporic condition; especially, the conflicting claims of belonging where the celebration of hybridity can easily go hand in hand with ethnocentric articulations of nationhood. The focus of this paper will be threefold. The first part will unpack the historical scope of the vampire Ina diaspora, highlighting the three constitutive elements of diasporic experience which are dispersion, homeland orientation, and boundary maintenance. The second part sheds light on the problematic nature of Ina/human relationship termed as ‘mutualistic symbiosis.’ And the last part will interrogate the hybrid identity of Shori Matthews, questioning whether this cross-breed vampire with Afro-American human genes can really hold the potential for boundary-crossing and write her scripts of survival on the necessity of embracing diversity and change without being dichotomized by issues of national belonging and identity politics.

Digital transnational queer isolations and connections

ABSTRACT In this essay, my goal is to push the discourse of critical queer intercultural communication research further and expand its circumference by focusing on transnational and diasporic digitalized queer experiences. Hence, I argue that new media technologies, social media platforms, and quick media applications play a significant role in the lives of transnational, diasporic and immigrant queer individuals by providing new opportunities to imagine home and belonging and perform transnational and accented queer identities. Therefore, I enact and embody decolonizing autoethnographic writing. In doing so, I aim to decolonize mainstream queer spaces, including how queer stories are being told and whose stories are being published in which venues. Thus, I aim to speak from the periphery, including that of queer and critical intercultural communication scholarship, with a transnational queer accent.

Entangled peripheries: Spatial agency in Jackie Kay’s Trumpet and Caryl Phillips’s The Lost Child

ABSTRACT With the increase in global mobility, notions of centre and periphery are becoming more unstable. Urban centres of colonial significance lose their importance as diasporic literature in general, and Black British literature in particular, explores liminal spatial perspectives within the diasporic experience. Two contemporary Black British novels, Jackie Kay’s Trumpet (1998) and Caryl Phillips’s The Lost Child (2015), imagine British peripheries as spaces of personal and cultural significance. The periphery is analysed here as a material presence in the novels and considered as a locale that is multiple at its core. Revealing European peripheries as entangled in a complex web of historical and cultural implications, these Black British fictions shed light on peripheral spaces from a non-dominant European perspective and demonstrate a shift in understanding the periphery not only as an opposition to the centre, but as a locus for the negotiation of postcolonial life in Britain.

Writing Towards the Truth and Away from Invisibility: A Conversation with Patricia Engel

Invisibility, displacement, and the immigrant experience are all key themes of US Latinx literature, and recently, more writers who identify as Colombian-American have garnered attention for their narratives that approach these subject matters. In this interview, writer Patricia Engel speaks about representing the Colombian and Latinx diasporic experience in her work. Engel also discusses her evolution as a writer and her research process throughout her novels Vida (2010), It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris (2013), and The Veins of the Ocean (2016), as well as the importance of authenticity to history and geography within the representation of global communities.

Rereading Diaspora

The contemporary diasporic experience is fragmented and contradictory, and the notion of ‘home’ increasingly blurry. In response to these moving circumstances, many diaspora and multiculturalism studies’ scholars have turned to the everyday, focussing on the local particularities of the diasporic experience. Using the Italo-Australian digital storytelling collection Racconti: La Voce del Popolo, this paper argues that, while crucial, the everyday experience of diaspora always needs to be read in relation to broader, dislocated contexts. Indeed, to draw on Grant Farred (2009), the experience of diaspora must be read both in relation to—but always ‘out of’—context. Reading diaspora in this way helps reveal aspects of diasporic life that have the potential to productively disrupt dominant assimilationist discourses of multiculturalism that continue to dominate. This kind of re-reading is pertinent in colonial nations like Australia, whose multiculturalism rhetoric continues to echo normative whiteness.