Diasporic Identity Research Articles

Close Encounters of the Archival Kind: Affect and Transnational Solidarities in African Diaspora Archives

Recent explorations of affect in the archives have focused on the experiences of users and particularly the distress archival collections could possibly cause them. Perhaps because they have, until recently, been trained to think of themselves as engaged in objective and neutral work collecting and preserving memory, archivists rarely reflect on or talk about their work, how they engage with the materials they manage, and how they personally feel about what they encounter in the course of their professional lives. Using an autoethnographic conceptual framing, this article uses four archival encounters in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to reflect on affect in the archives invoked by archival work. Through these encounters, the article seeks to demonstrate archives of the African diaspora as both a locus of transnational African diasporic identities and solidarities, as well as a critical site for the (re)building of the same. Finally, it also hints at how such affective experiences can, in fact, further the cultural and political work of Black archivists and archives.

Contesting Identities: The Case of Sidis of Gujarat

The article seeks to explore the contestations about the identity of the Sidis of Gujarat, which is deeply imbricated with experiences of marginalisation and victimisation. Given their African origins, the Sidis are categorised as a diaspora even as they have endeavoured to assert their Schedule Tribe (ST) status in India (a status which so far is segmentally conferred). The association with the diaspora has perpetuated a policy of isolation towards the Sidis and the perception of them as ‘outsiders’. Their aspiration to be identified as ST has been to shift the focus from their diasporic identity and to overcome their historical marginalisation. In this context, the article explores the questions of who the Sidis are, whether are they a diaspora or a tribal community, what ST status means to them, and whether the ST status will aid them in transcending the structural barriers that hinder their integration.

Reimagining the urban stroller in Mumbai: Suketu Mehta as a flâneur in Maximum City

ABSTRACT Suketu Mehta’s reportage cum travelogue cum memoir, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (2004), is an insightful account of the complex and multifaceted yet intriguing city of Mumbai. This article aims to position Suketu Mehta as a modern-day flâneur of Mumbai, emerging during a period of significant urban transformation, much like the classic flâneur of nineteenth-century Paris who navigated a changing cityscape. Mehta embodies a modernised urban wanderer whose flânerie incorporates elements of ethnography and journalism, investigating contemporary urban reality. Besides, Mehta’s flânerie exemplifies convergences between transnational travel and flânerie in a global city like Mumbai. The article also demonstrates that through the exploration of both diverse and archetypal urban characters and the analysis of the city's urban myths, the text encapsulates Mumbai's distinctive spirit, or “urban charisma”. Finally, it illustrates that Suketu Mehta's postcolonial diasporic identity introduces innovative perspectives for comprehending the ambivalence that inherently characterises the flâneur figure.

Ocean and Beyond: A Benthic Imagination of the Black Historiography in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean and Henry Dumas’s “Ark of Bones”

Ocean can be read as a mnemonic text, from anthropological, historiographical, sociological, and literary perspectives, despite ocean being constructed, in our popular imagination, as a void –a ‘non-place’ in Mark Auge’s term.Ocean, in general, symbolizes chaos. The present studyseeks to identify the symbolic and material connotation of ocean water,recognizing how ocean becomes an integral part of African-American diasporic identity, cultural, and historiographic legacy, predicated on a mnemonic context, as represented in August Wilson’s play Gem of the Ocean and Henry Dumas’s short-story “Ark of Bones,” bringing out a literary-historical dimension of ocean water, closely linked with identity-formation.

Exploring Mythical Realism and Diasporic Identity in The Mistress of Spices: A Multifaceted Analysis

In this research article, we delve into the intricate interplay between myth, magical realism, and the diaspora experience among Indian immigrants in the United States in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's novel, The Mistress of Spices. Through a comprehensive analysis, the present study investigates how the narrative employs these elements to weave a tapestry of cultural identity, displacement, and otherworldly enchantment. The article uncovers the ways in which the protagonist, Tilo, navigates the complex realms of myth and magic while simultaneously grappling with the challenges of diasporic existence. By focusing on the novel's portrayal of a mystical Indian spice shop in California, we examine the transformative power of spices and the profound influence of cultural myths in shaping the immigrant experience. Tilo’s journey reflects the broader immigrant experience which blends ancient traditions with contemporary challenges in a deeply human and magical tale. By employing a multidisciplinary approach, we offer a nuanced perspective on the novel's themes that enriches our understanding of the intricate connections between storytelling, cultural memory, and the Indian-American immigrant’s narrative.

We Do Not Let History Shroud Us: The Body as Curriculum and Its Refractive Possibilities

As two South Asians in the diaspora, we situate the significance of the body as a curriculum, where our lived experiences and stories supported us in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. We engage in the method of life writing to attend to specific narratives that have framed our diasporic identities. Through that engagement, we seek to demonstrate how we struggle with questions about belonging and dislocation, while also finding ways to overcome those challenges and realities in our everyday lives. Gripped by memories formed through phone calls and visits, with miles between us and the place we know as South Asia, we posit that the diasporic body forms a curriculum by way of a Brown(ing) body. We make the case that such a body has always had to refract in all its complexities and nuances—pandemic or not. Accordingly, we then consider how our lived experiences and subjective bodies informed the pedagogical possibilities of navigating the morbid pandemic as it touched the lives of the students we worked with. Our collaborative writing is therefore an offering of hope and sustenance that emerged during a pandemical time of grave uncertainty and profound loss.

From Home to Homeland: Re-Imagining Chinese Diaspora in Recent Science Fiction Films

Abstract This article investigates the representation of the Chinese diaspora in the films Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Wandering Earth 2, employing a comparative approach to explore how these narratives engage with and reshape notions of diasporic identity within a transnational context. Through a detailed analysis of both films, it highlights the complex interplay among cultural memory, identity, and migration, using the sf genre as a framework to examine these dynamics. It further argues that the films challenge traditional understandings of Chineseness and homeland, presenting a more fluid and dynamic portrayal of cultural identity that responds to contemporary global movements and cultural intersections. By juxtaposing these films, the article contributes to the discourse on globalization and cultural hybridity, emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding of ethnic and national identities in a progressively interconnected world.

THEMES OF DISPLACEMENT AND IDENTITY OF VIKRAM LALL IN M.G. VASSANJI’S NOVEL THE IN-BETWEEN WORLD OF VIKRAM LALL

The issue of migration, displacement or dislocation is not new. From the beginning man has been moving across the globe in search of a job or for safety reasons. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji examines the difficulties of displacement and identity in the post-colonial Kenyan setting, where diasporic peoples' lives are shaped by historical, political, and cultural factors. Vikram Lall, the protagonist is the man divided between several identities and commitments. The journey of Vikram Lall, which reflects the larger story of South Asian immigrants in East Africa is examined in this novel. The story expertly combines themes of identity negotiation in the face of changing socio-political environments, displacement and belonging.In his novel The In-Between World of Vikram Lall Vassanji uses the idea of migration both psychological and physical to emphasize the conflict and confusion that diasporic people go through. The protagonist Vikram battles to settle his mixed identity arose between his colonial Kenyan childhood, his Indian ancestry, and his ultimate banishment to Canada. His journey is placed within the larger framework of Kenyan history and the effects of colonialism, which highlights how the personal and political intertwine to shape diasporic identities in the novel.

Changing diasporic identity and increasing global backlash: the Xi government’s tactics and challenges of engaging new generation overseas Chinese

ABSTRACT The transnational engagement between the Chinese communist government and first-generation overseas Chinese has been analysed extensively, but the academic analysis of interactions between the Chinese communist government under Xi Jinping and new generation overseas Chinese is scarce. Questions arise regarding how the rise of new generation overseas Chinese has changed the diasporic identity of the overseas Chinese community; what the Xi government’s tactics of engaging new generation overseas Chinese are; and how new generation overseas Chinese respond to the Xi government’s targeted campaign. By answering these questions, this article provides an important case study for the emerging scholarship on the relations between authoritarian states and new generation diasporas. Building on government archives, ethnographic interviews, media reports, and online and offline diaspora events, this article analyses the Xi government’s tactics and challenges of diaspora engagement targeting new generation overseas Chinese, and forecasts an uphill battle for the Xi government.

Book Review: Reclaiming Diasporic Identity

Book Review: Reclaiming Diasporic Identity

“We are the Revolution, Abroad”: Diaspora Protests, Identity Construction, and the Remaking of Citizenship in the 2019 Lebanese Thawra

Abstract Diasporas are often viewed as mirrors for their homeland’s politics. The Lebanese diaspora’s involvement in the 2019 Thawra, however, established the diaspora as a locus for autonomous and disruptive political action. Through an analysis of the spatialities of protest, this paper analyses the diaspora’s involvement in the Thawra, its implications for the protest movement, and for the diaspora itself. It argues that diaspora protests gave rise to new tactics and protest repertoires. These mirrored protest activity on the ground, supported protestors in Lebanon, and constituted the diaspora as a locus for contestation and claims-making. Moreover, the diaspora’s mobilization in the Thawra contributed to the consolidation of diasporic identity and the construction of alternative societal imaginaries and conceptions of citizenship that challenge Lebanon’s state-centric and sectarian citizenship regime. This paper thus makes the case for reassessing the autonomous political role of diasporas to gain a fuller understanding of transnational protest dynamics, solidarities, and citizenship beyond the boundaries of the nation-state.

Introduction – Partition and the South Asian diaspora: exploring (inherited) memories and creative practices of remembering

ABSTRACT This short piece introduces the special issue ‘Partition and the South Asian diaspora: exploring (inherited) memories and creative practices of remembering’. This issue was conceived at the juncture of intersecting commemorations of key historical events – 1947 Partition of British India, 1971 Bangladesh independence and 1972 exodus from Uganda – in South Asia and its diasporas. By bringing together articles focused on practices of commemorating these events, we propose that studying entangled memories of Partition and its associated events in the diaspora provides a distinct perspective, both in terms of creative and cultural practices of remembering and in terms of the construction of diasporic identities and belongings.

Misreading the Air: Narrative Ambivalence and the Burden of Representation in Dinaw Mengestu's How to Read the Air

Abstract: This article argues that Ethiopian-American writer Dinaw Mengestu's novel How to Read the Air (2010) generates a narrative and cultural conundrum. It contests mainstream, trauma-riddled depictions of immigrant life while simultaneously conforming to the reductive cultural tropes it criticizes. I approach the notion of the stereotypical "singular" immigrant story, wherein the individual's struggles stand for those of the diasporic community, by drawing on Kobena Mercer's and Stuart Hall's notion of "the burden of representation" as well as Cathy Park Hong's "literature of minor feelings." Situated within an ongoing critical conversation about Mengestu's relationship to diasporic identity and popular migrant stories, this article foregrounds How to Read the Air 's narrative dissonance and departs from the current scholarly discourse, which tends to either interpret Jonas' individual experience as reflective of collective diasporic experience or overemphasize the novel's revisionist self-consciousness. Through close textual analysis, I show that How to Read the Air both masterfully employs irony and falls victim to it. The novel might not ultimately rise above tropes, but its ambivalence blends opposed positions, sentiments, and tones, and in doing so creates a pluralist revisionist narrative that assimilates stereotypes creatively.

التناوب اللغوي والهوية المشتتة في ترجمة عابد إسماعيل لرواية فادية فقير اسمي سلمى

ode-switching is a sociolinguistic phenomenon that refers to the shift between various languages in speaking or writing and it is employed by speakers or authors for different linguistic, social and political reasons. This study examines the significance of code-switching in the formulation of diasporic identity in the Syrian poet and translator Abed Ismael's translation of the Jordanian-British author Fadia Faqir's My Name Is Salma (2007). The researchers propose that authors in diaspora use code-switching so as to return home linguistically/textually. However, we argue that the use of code-switching poses problems in the translation of the source text. -The methodology in this study follows a descriptive approach to analyze data concerning code-switching that Faqir employs in the original novel and their translations by Ismael. The researchers classify and list the codes used by both writers and study the connections between them. Faqir’s usage of code switching is based on her construction of Arab culture as a culture of shame, which is foreign to the English culture. Via the employment of code switching, Ismael also shows that everything is foreign for Salma in England. Exoticism and fragmentation lead to a state of indecisiveness and in-betweenness that demands sacrificing identity, language, and even home.

AMBIVALENT AND NOSTALGIC ATMOSPHERE IN KIRAN DESAI’S THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS

Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss is considered to be the best postcolonial novel, having multiple geographic settings as a backdrop, cross-cultural diasporic identities, multi-layered narration and representations, cultural conflicts, and deviations from moral values and ethics of the East and the West inextricably interlinked under the impact of ambivalence and nostalgia in her fictional Kalimpong town located in the western part of Darjeeling Hills in the Eastern Himalayas of India, where the local, colonial, postcolonial and global live, long and belong.

Indo-Fijian Diasporic Identity and Representation in Postcolonial Indo-Fijian Literature

Indo-Fijian Diasporic Identity and Representation in Postcolonial Indo-Fijian Literature

Diaspora, music, and identity: Indians in the Caribbean and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora

ABSTRACT To maintain a unified identity within a local community, people express their association with specific rituals and practices. As a testament to the evolution of cultural ideas and journeys, these rituals and practices serve as an important platform for validating their ethnic identity as well as providing a sense of authenticity to the community. Migration and dislocation are associated with a sense of ruptured identity and an unfulfilled desire to reconnect with lost culture, with a focus on traditional practices as a way of reconnecting with their roots. While the old indentured migrants glorified ‘Indianism’ through music, their successors used music to strengthen ethnic ties and to preserve their diasporic identities. Examining the contemporary development in music practices and genres, this article focuses on the creation and recreation of Indian identities in the diaspora through music with the example of Indo-Caribbeans.

Transcultural negotiation of art and aesthetics: A study with reference to history of Kathakali in Calcutta

The article discusses the idea of transcultural negotiations focusing on the history of Kathakali institutions in Bengal. It elucidates the idea of institutions with diasporic identity, which resulted in the popularity of the art forms. The article establishes an idea that art forms are relocated to another place as a part of establishing a diasporic identity. It identifies three types of reinventions namely, syllabus-oriented, teaching-oriented and performance-oriented which are connected with Kathakali. These categories are described in detail through the opinion of various teachers, scholars and the artists. The article also describes the difficulties of the transcultural migration of the art forms and the detailed description of the institutions. The study also looks at the contribution of Asiatic Society of Bengal in bringing up a patronage for Asian arts.

Floating notions of selfhood: interrogating cultural displacement across generations in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

ABSTRACT This paper, based on an argumentative essay, without involving any human-participation, is focusing on how the diasporic identity remains rooted in fixed cultural templates despite enduring shifts and transformations as depicted in two contemporary South Asian American novels, namely, The Namesake (2004. The Namesake. New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers, 40–289.) by Jhumpa Lahiri and Jasmine (1989. Jasmine. New York: Virago Press, 26–185.) by Bharati Mukherjee from an intergenerational lens. The sociocultural dynamics of name change reveal the nuanced interface between belonging and non-belonging, acceptance, and alienation. The second-generation occupies an ambiguous space, the very polysemic ambiguity that Lacan’s ((1956) 1977. “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious.” In Écrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock.) letter manifests as a material object, text, and sign. One of the most potent instruments of defining oneself is the name as it is not merely a proper noun to identify an individual, it is a multifaceted identifier denoting among others, the gender, religion, ethnicity, race, and even the condition of hybridity (Saha, Amit Shankar. 2023. Transitions Indian Diaspora and Four Women Writers. Kolkata: Virasat Art Publications.).

Digital Diasporas and Gendered Narratives: A Transnational Feminist Exploration of Americanah

This article examines the interplay between digital diasporas and gendered narratives within Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. It employs Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s transnational feminist framework to analyze the protagonist, Ifemelu’s, experiences across both physical and digital realms. The study highlights how digital platforms function as vital spaces for identity negotiation and community engagement, facilitating a complex dialogue between Ifemelu’s Nigerian heritage and her American experiences. By integrating theoretical insights from Mohanty, the analysis emphasizes the intersectionality of race, gender, and class, enriching our understanding of diasporic identity formation.