Assignment
Literary Criticism and Theories
Name : Ravina Parmar
Roll no : 18
SEM : M.A. sem- 2
Batch year : (2019-2021)
Email :ravinaparmar827@gmail.com
Enrollment no : 2069108420200031
Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi English Department Bhavnagar
Topic :
What is the term Diaspora :
If we want to understand the term Diaspora then first of all we have to know the meaning of the word. Then we go through the dictionary meaning. First of the word used for Jewish people. And principal, meaning relates to the settling of the Jewish people outside of Palestine after the Babylonian exile thousands of years ago. However, in recent times that word expresses larger meaning. Like those who are dispersed outside its traditional Homeland.
" a group of people who live outside the area in which they had lived for a long time or in which their ancestors lived. "
For any reason the group of people live outside his or her own country. But in the case of Diaspora the people are very conscious of their roots and origins. There is a key role in identity formation also. Those people like to maintain their own myths, and the special feature is that these people try to keep in touch with their Homeland.
History of the word :
The term diaspora comes from an ancient Greek word meaning "to scatter about." The word first recorded in 1875-80 is from the Greek word diaspora, a dispersion. And that's exactly what the people of a diaspora do, they scatter from their home and spread their culture as they go ahead. The Bible refers to the Diaspora of Jews exiled from Israel by the Babylonians.
In the present time we find that the Science Diaspora and the Corporate Diaspora. In which science diasporas are communities of scientists who conduct their research away from their homeland. And the Corporate Diaspora , use of corporate diaspora reflects the increasing popularity of the diaspora notion to describe a wide range of phenomena related to contemporary migration, displacement and transnational mobility.
Diaspora Theory :
Diaspora Theory with its various features has influenced the literature of every language of the world. Each and every language has diasporic literature in which we find that flow of feelings and emotions.
In the past decade people were Forced to leave their Homeland to go to other countries and unknown places. And then those people who crave their motherland and feel nostalgia and that is a term known as ' Diaspora'.
New Diaspora :
New Diaspora based on Diaspora, the concept of neo/new diaspora is explained by Juan Flores in his work The Diaspora strikes Back, by stating that the concept tries to “state what diasporas are, how they are, where they are in time and place , and what sets of relations condition their existence.”
That is focused on and you can say based on it causes such as Globalization, Neoliberalism and imperialism.
Indian Diasporic Literature :
Diasporic Literature is the new literary space for writers. In which they faced and we can say deals with two cultures, two places and often two languages. So the diasporic literature arises under these circumstances. However, in the 17th century, there was a rise in migration from India.
Those who lived outside the country and wrote literary work. This is a production of Literature called Diasporic Literature. And also these works are associated with the native land and native Culture. All those writers who write in this criteria are all called Diasporic writers.
Indian-English writers like Anitha Desai, Bharati Mukherjee, Shashi Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Sunetra Gupta, Rohinton Mistry, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Hari Kunzru have established themselves as fine writers in the tradition of Indian Diasporic writing.
So here we discussed how Indian immigrants expressed their nostalgic feelings and emotions towards native land. In which contexts they write about native land. Generally, diasporic literature deals with alienation, displacement, existential rootlessness, nostalgia, quest of identity. It reflects the immigrant experience that comes out of the immigrant settlement. That through we understand which type of problems they faced in their life as an outsider.
The feeling of rootlessness, alienation, confusion, nostalgia, dislocation and sufferings due to discrimination on the basis of race, culture, religion and language concludes into conflicts, fight for identity and on the other hand lead to birth of feeling of marginality in the minority group. This results in the creation of a questioned identity. Any reason behind their migration like financial, social, political, no matter whether they migrated for trade and commerce, as religious preachers, as laborers, convicts, soldiers, as expatriates or refugees, exiles. How they adjust with the new Culture, different climate, deal with different mindsets people.
Nation and Identity :
The term 'Nation' and 'identity' are the important study for diasporic literature. When we think about the concept of nation and identity, it's become necessary to investigate the way of living life and human existence, in the past and present. There we find that the Problems of the nation, identity, national identity, individual identity, etc are the recent needs, which have surfaced, which were never experienced by mankind in the past. Nowadays the native people of any country become more conscious of their own Culture and they think about their own priorities first.
At some point the land of that new culture does not accept him fully, and such a state creates in him the feeling of nowhereness that is nothing but the problem of nation and identity. We find the question of real identity in Jhumpa lahari's novel Namesake, in which the character of Nikhil we find that he suffered for his real identity.
In a way every person wants to a good and well known identity,
"One wants to accept and to be accepted"
particularly diasporic identity that is made by various factors. That is affected by many things. This diasporic identity is multi-level. It is also based on the history or conditions leading to migration, as well as the individual responses to these circumstances. Why the diasporic has shifted away from his homeland and also the approach of the host country towards the diasporic community. There are some factors like language, dress, and socio-cultural environment that deepen the problem of nation and identity after migration takes place.
- If we look at an old generation of diasporic Indian writers like Raja Rao, G. V. Desani, Santha Rama Rau, Dhalchandra Rajan, Nirad Chaudhari, Ved Metha, mainly look back at India and hardly ever record their experiences away from India as expatriates. It is as if these writers have discovered their Indianness when they are out of India. Evidently, they have the benefit of looking at their homeland from the outside. The distance offers detachment that is so required to have a clear insight of their native land. There is a rare chance for them to express Diasporic feelings.
- But in contemporary time the writer who permanently settled in another country and writes about native Indian culture. Like, V. S. Naipaul, Jhumpa Lahari, Anita Desai, Bharti Mukherjee, Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor and Amit Chaudhari.
Uniqueness of Indian English diasporic literature:
So the unique characteristic of the Indian Diasporic writer that they express the regional experience.
👉 So let's have a look at how Indian Diasporic writers express their feelings towards native land.
As I mentioned earlier, many Indian English writers gave their valuable contribution in Diasporic Literature.
Jumpa Lahari :
Diaspora in "Namesake"
Jhumpa Lahiri represents the second generation diasporic ‘desis’ whose relationship with America as well as India is thoroughly different from that of the first generation. Lahiri portrays the situation of second generation expatriates who confidently asserts their ethnic identity in a multiculturalist situation.
Here Jhumpa Lahari focused on the first-generation and second-generation immigrants' adherence to the old and new lands as can be found in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake (2003). In this novel, Lahiri has explored the psychological condition of the first generation immigrants, Ashima and Ashoke and the second generation immigrants, Gogol, Sonia and Moushumi. The novel critically demonstrates how the concept of homeland creates an atmosphere to construct home and identity of proximity. In this age of transmigration, 'home' signifies its impermanence, displacement, and dispossession.
According to the critics like Homi K. Bhabha, Avtar Brah and Stuart Hall, the floating nature of home and fluid identity have replaced the age-old concepts of fixed ‘home’ and identity as well. Similarly ethnic food and costume act as the symbols of one's ethnic identity. Ashoke-Ashima's preference for the Indian Bengali food like rice, dal, samosa etc symbolizes their shared root. On the other hand, Gogol-Sonia's preference for the American cuisine like Shake' n Bake chicken or Hamburger Helper is better than the Indian food.
Amit Chaudhari :
Diaspora in " Afternoon Raag" (1993)
So in this Novel also the character investigates the question of identity in the novel Afternoon Raag (1993) written by Amit Chaudhuri. This novel deals with young Indian-origin protagonists living in England who struggle with self-identification. The modern world is globalized and has many representatives of different diasporas living outside their homelands. The novel is a conspicuous example of diasporic literature and is analysed from the angle of postcolonial and diasporic literary studies.
In fact, half of the novel consists of the protagonist, Sandeep's memories of India and his family life. He is extremely homesick and nostalgic. Who is studying at Oxford University. On the other hand, living in England, he does try to be integrated in the local society. His attempts are not successful as he feels lonely and homesick every day, every moment. As he lives in Oxford we get to know some bits about the life of students studying in Oxford.
Diaspora in " The Shadow lines"
That is the novel by Amitav Gosh. Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines published in the year 1988 deals with various issues related to diaspora and history. The novel has the background of the second world war, the partition of India (specially the partitions with Bangladesh) communal conflict in Bengal and Calcutta in 1964.
So here in this novel we can notice that the forcefully Diasporic situation. The novel focuses on the political decision taken by the government in India. The novel also has nationalistic concerns. Various stories in the novel are representative of the theme of diaspora, nationalism and partition. The novel has three generations of characters. So the novelist has a lot of scope for free movement in terms of time and space.
The female character called Thamma who has firm nationalistic values in her and the idea of partition and the forced separation of the people so suddenly by drawing lines in between them. It is the story about the two families –the Datta Chaudhari and the family of Price. The family is associated for three generations. The story begins in a united country called India and ends in the creation of a new nation. Thus we can say that it is the forced diaspora as after the partition the family is separated forcefully.
So in this novel we come to know how within one nation if political circumstances changed than how people suffered a lot. Here we can see the psychological condition of the diasporic people.
Conclusion :
Thus, diaspora is a growing phenomenon today, we can only guess what its future will be. Which type of Diaspora included in history we don't know. Here I am focusing on indian diaspora, but if we look at the world's history then we find that a million people who enjoy diaspora, as well as half of the people have bad experiences through the diaspora. So the study of Diasporic literature is the interesting study in literary theories
India has the world's largest diaspora, 15.6 million people. Followed by Mexico at 12.3 million people.
Work Cited :
- Bhatt, Indira. “The Journey Motif : A Study of Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines.” Interpretations : Amitav Ghosh’s “The Shadow Lines”. Eds. Indira Bhatt and Indira Nityanandam: 33-39.
- Chaudhuri, A. (1993) Afternoon Raag. London: Oneworld Publications, 118-119.
- Dutta, Barnali. “Diasporic Identity and Journey in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.” Diasporic Identity and Journey in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, www.grfdt.com.
- Flores, Juan. The Diaspora Strikes Back (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-95261-3.
- Ghosh, Amitav. The Shadow Lines. 1988. London : Black Swan 1989.
- Jayaram. N. Ed & intro. “Introduction: The study of Indian Diaspora”. The Indian Diaspora: Dynamics of Migration. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004.
- Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake, Great Britain: Flamingo,2003.
- “United Nations Population Division | Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org
Thank you…..
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