9 Diaspora, Home and New English Literatures

Mohaiminul Islam

About the chapter:

The title of the module is “Diaspora, Home and New English literatures”, which explores the representation of the lives of the members of the diasporic communities and their negotiation in foreign lands. It also explores how the memory of home makes them sick to think about returning to the homeland. It is exploring how the diasporic people maintain their diasporic identities, traditional cultures and foods in host lands. It is also exploring the relationship between diasporic people and homeland. Moreover, it examines the themes of several writers and their writings in order to relate them with new English literature. It also examines how their writings involve the quest for identity, nostalgia, familial and marital relationships apart from re-rooting, uprooting, multi-culturalism.

Introduction:

 “The subject of diaspora immediately elicits basis questions of origins and locations. Where do people come from? Where do they pause, rest, live? What routes have they traveled? And yet the real and imagined worlds of all peoples, especially migrant people, have proven far too complex and contradictory to be easily serviced by any attempt to respond in the singular to such compelling questions.”

(Shukla, 2001)

From the etymological point of view Diaspora means the dispersion of Jewish population, but in the contemporary world the word designates the people who left their native land and took root in a foreign country. The notion of the Diaspora has organized our understanding of nation, ethnicity, identity, religion and globalization in today’s world. There are many writers who have shared their ideas and definitions of the Diaspora. Such as, according to William Safran diaspora as referring to a community which was historical dispersed and share a common desire to return to the homeland (Safran, 1991). In addition, for the diaspora, does not only create an unrequited desire for a lost homeland, but also a ‘homing desire’, a desire to reinvent and rewrite home as much as a desire to come to terms with an exile from it (Nasta, 2001, p7). Furthermore, Robin Cohen said in his book Global diaspora, diaspora is referring to different communities of people who are living together in a ‘new country’ by often thinking of their homelands (Cohen, 1997). In the sense of this definition diasporic communities share their emotional attachment with their homelands and try to maintain their cultural identity, ethnicity and religion in a new host society. Further the realities, memories and rebuttals have profoundly affected the diasporic people and their cultures in host land colonies.

Memory of Home:

The diasporic people have nostalgia for their village, culture, language, food, cinema, and so on. Mostly Indian Diasporic people faced a lot of problems with foreign people at the time of the conversation because they feel uncomfortable with other countries’ languages. But, the research scholars used to ask a question that is, if diasporic people have nostalgia for their own language, why most of the writers have been writing in English language to make themselves feel love toward homeland, why not the writers are writing in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati or any Indian languages. This question makes Indian people very complicated to think about it. Anyway, I find they don’t have true nostalgia for homeland rather they are doing business to sell their writings in a book form or they may want to be a famous person in the glove.

Whatever it is, my intention is not to criticize the writers’ personal choices, but to criticize them and their writing to focus on how they portray Indian diaspora in their writings. Before going into their writing, I would like to note the history of the migration from India, whose history has been thoroughly documented. Because, over the past two centuries, India has achieved arguably the world’s most diverse and complex migration histories, forming the Modern Indian Diaspora. It varies to such an extent that we define two subsets of our diaspora: the Old Diaspora and the New Diaspora. There is one consistent theme in the both categories of the diaspora. They were, and continue to be, created by a labor migration – unskilled labor starting two centuries ago, and highly skilled labor after the mid-1960s. The first wave of the Indian Diaspora is what we call the “Old Diaspora.” It began during the early 19th century and continued until the end of the British Raj. Chetan Bhatt (2003) said in his article that “they migrated to British, French, and Dutch colonies during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as indentured and kangani labourers, and today they constitute the Old Diaspora” (Safran, 2009). On the other hand, during the post-colonial era Indians also migrated to industrially developed countries of Europe and North America as skilled workers and professionals and thus constitute the New Diaspora.

However, Vijay Mishra defines old diaspora as exclusive diaspora because they created relatively self-contained ‘Little India’ in the colonies. That is why Mishra says they make the imaginary homeland in foreign lands. But most of them don’t have regular contact with the homeland. On the other hand the new diasporas are late capital diaspora (border), mostly they move to study, to do business and various kinds of jobs. Most of them keep in touch with India through family networks and marriage to support family and encourage being reunited, like they have double consciousness.

However, here Mishra describes the concept of the diasporic imaginary as follows: “I use to refer to any ethnic enclave in a nation-state that defines itself, consciously or unconsciously or because of the political self-interest of a racialized nation-state, as a group that lives in displacement” (Mishra, 2008). To valid the usage term of Mishra, I would like to note Slavoj Zizek’s definition of imaginary. Zizek defines “the imaginary as the state of identification with the image in which we appear likeable to ourselves, with the image what we would like to be” (Mishra, 2008). Further, the ethnic enclave is as the fantasy of the homeland. The fantasy of the diasporic people is linked to their homeland and that is recollected memories of diaspora. At the movement of the slave trade, many people have lost their homeland and their things. This rupture is transformed into a trauma which is very problematic for diasporic people. Most of the time, they felt absence in mind like their soul is living in the homeland and body present there. Therefore the people of Indian diaspora start to construct the imaginary homeland to fulfill their gaps of the homeland from a distance. But nowadays the distance between the homeland and the hostland are totally collapsed by cyberspace and social network. Even it’s given a good opportunity to diaspora that now they can connect with the politics of homeland and they can live elsewhere. Moreover, they construct imaginary homeland in ways that are very different from the people of the homeland itself.

Cultural Identity:

Not only they have problem of living in a same constructed house as have in the homeland, but the cultural identities are also an important agenda for diasporic people. The term ‘Cultural Identity’ define a shared culture, a sort of collective one true self, hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed selves, which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common (Hall, 1990). Nevertheless the cultural capital forces diasporic people to rethink about the new host land cultures. But the Indian diasporic people are deeply conscious of their rich cultural heritage. They are aware that they are the inheritors of the traditions of the world’s oldest continuous civilization. Being part of such a rich legacy they are naturally keen to maintain their cultural identity. Their cultural identity has manifested itself in many ways and in every component of the Indian diaspora. There is probably no other diaspora in the world, which has such an extraordinary diversity. It is as diverse as the ethnic, linguistic and religious groups in India itself. The culture of India is the way of living of the masses of India. India’s languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food, and customs differ from place to place within the country. For instance, there is a best known culture in India called Hindu culture. The Hindu Diaspora as we know that Hindus are now rooted in more than one hundred and fifty countries around the world. It reflects and analyzes the myriad ways in which Hindu migrants negotiate their identity in the midst of exotic civilizations. Some scholars deal with historical perspectives, while others utilize their personal experiences in alien grounds, within a broad theoretical framework. Some others reflect on the form of temples that Hindus have built in their adopted states, while still others speculate on questions like the shock of ‘food’ on being ‘Hindu’ and also on the role of ‘women’ in maintaining one’s religious identity. Nevertheless, these cultural traditions of  India have remarkable memories of the place, while new Hindus diaspora came to strange states and experience the same kind of temples in their host nations.

Not only Hindus has been migrated to foreign lands, but there are other religious people in India who have been migrated, that has also been deeply affected the diaspora and diasporic literature. However, the diaspora carried with them the deep traditions of harmonizing different customs, practices, values and beliefs. Their unique capacity to agree and adapt has served Indians very well in the grounds of their acceptance. It is not a coincidence that the Indian Diaspora has done unusually well in every portion of the world wherever they have fallen down but the exception of one or two countries. Furthermore, the Indian Diaspora has also a higher position in income than the national income of the countries of their settlement in both the most advanced countries as easily as in the growing states. In nearly every nation of their adoption they have higher educational standards than the national norms. Many writers used to say their cultural traditions are known as a major element in their success. The Indian Diaspora is naturally keen to draw on these cultural values to their coming generations. The single biggest expectation of the Diaspora from India is to receive assistance in this effort. Therefore, cultural identity is likewise a significant component in developing relations between diverse parts of the Diaspora. It is, therefore, important that India takes concrete steps to facilitate this process.

Furthermore, this matter has assumed a vital position in diasporic people to throw a larger question of diasporic self-definition and self-representation, both politically and culturally, in a place of multicultural context. Moreover, the difference gets larger when the host society uses terms of “we” and “they”. Other than “we”, the host society considers the group as different in attitude, behavior and cultural baggage. Beside the adjustment problems and the difficulties in getting jobs and housing, Indians also miss their friends, family members and home (Indian) atmosphere. They talk over the topics with some Indian allies who have been surviving in these cities for a long time.

Tradition and Food:

India is a nation that is comfortably poised in terms of culture, tradition, and lifestyle. The multitude of different regions of India has their own choice and perception of looking things around and enjoying the foods that are chosen in their cultivation. Therefore, India holds a wide assortment of cuisines that are favored in different neighborhoods. But dating back to the two centuries, Indian people went to other countries as a salve or labour, servant, ayah and lascar. At that time, there were no Indian foods available in foreign lands. That is why most of the Indians were getting fall down physically and attacked them by various diseases. Finally, they started to open grocery shop in foreign lands to have Indian foods. After that there are many hotels and motels opened by Indian people. For example, the first Gujarati motel owner, Kanjibhai Desai, who, opened a “residential hotel. The people who remained at that place were generally down and away.

There are some of the Indian foods that are highly loved by Indians like ‘Dahi-Bhaat’, ‘Dahi Butti’, ‘Tandoori Chicken’, ‘Chicken Tikka Masala’, and so on. Most of the Indian dishes especially non-vegetable are highly preferred by the UK people and is highly popular there.

Not only that, most of the time it is noted that when the Indian people go abroad and eat  their food, people in abroad find it home. Moreover, it is very interesting to know that women are playing an important role to preserve and  protect  their  homeland  cultures. Parama Roy says that especially Indian women in foreign lands, who will give priority to cook Indian foods  because they used to say, this is one way of maintaining their ‘culture’ abroad (Mankekar, 2002). Further, she explains her interview with an Indian woman, where the woman says that she used to teach native language and at least an Indian meal in a day she cooks for her kids to retain her native culture.

Diaspora Literature:

The term diasporic literature has defined the works that written by authors who lived outside of their native land. It is also defined by its contents, regardless of where it has written. For instance, the story of Joseph is often called a diasporic writing. Because it describes how the Joseph learns to survive outside his homeland. It has also shown us how Joseph had migrated from Canaan to Egypt and how he became an owner of a land from a slave of Putipher (an assistant to the Pharaoh of Egypt). Not only that, it also describes how Joseph’s nostalgia for the homeland has put him to think and to do something for his homeland at the time of starving. In addition, in Potiphar’s house, there was an old man (personal assistants of Putipher) who was fully cared of Joseph. In the story, Joseph frequently misses his old father. Whenever he misses his father, he used to come to personal assistants of Putipher and talk to him for getting satisfaction. However, it’s finally written within the land of Israel. However, from the story, we get to know that the memory of diasporic people has forced them to cry  for their own family members. And it also describes how the similar things remind diasporic people to their homeland. Furthermore, according to Martien A. Halvorson-Tylor, “The book of Job”, too, may be an example of diasporic literature because it was also likely written in the wake of the Babylonian destruction, which gave rise to the question, why would God punish Israel, the chosen people, with such mass suffering.

To further define what diasporic literature is, I would like to draw a distinction between exile and diaspora. The difference between exile and diaspora may lie in a book’s attitude toward the homeland and toward the migration. “The word ‘exile’ has negative connotations, but if the self-exile of a Byron is considered, then the response to that very word becomes ambivalent” (Saha, 2009). But the holistic point of view, the word ‘exile’ defines migrant people and non-resident people and even gallivanting people who roam one place to another place for a better life and fulfil their desires. Furthermore, according to Martien A. Halvorson-Tylor, exile emphasizes the forced nature of the migration and freshness of the experience of leaving the homeland. Exile literature may be written during the Babylonian exile of the sixth century B.C.E. when experience and memory of it was still vivid (http://www.bibleodyssey.org/people/related-articles/diaspora-literature). For Example, in the story of Joseph, Joseph had exiled, he was forced to leave his homeland because his brothers disliked him. On the other hand John Simpson writes in his The Oxford Book of Exile that “exile is the human condition; and an inner upheaval of history has merely added physical expression to an inner fact” (Saha, 2009). Here exile is taken to be identical with self- alienation in modern, post-Marxist, Brechtian sense of the term (Saha, 2009). In the same way, many writers have been writing about their own experiences of being an exile and diasporic identity.

Diasporic Writings and New Literatures:

The literature of the diaspora constitutes an important part of the burgeoning field of English literature. Some of the better known Indian diasporic writers in this archive include V.S Naipaul, Amitav Ghosh, Bharati Mukharjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, Anita Desai, Aravind Adiga, M.G. Vassanji, Shyam Selvadurai, Kiran Desai, Mira Nair and Anjali Joseph. These writers are visible in the growing of popularity in Indian Diasporic literature. Most of them have been written travel books and autobiographical novels and short-stories. For example Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas (1961), Bharati Mukharjee’s Jasmine (1989) and so on is the best known autobiographical novels.

In the 21st century the diaspora literature is the result of developments in both the old and the new diaspora. In the diaspora, diasporic people have worked very hard to preserve their identity, while showing skill and creativity in adjusting to the situation in which they find themselves in the new host societies. The diasporic literature has developed the diaspora in a wide-range. It is basically emphasized on the homeland’s language, religious values and cultural norms of diasporic people. It is also claimed the critical attention, theoretical formations and relationships to culture of origin and adoption are many. At times, these claims may be contradictory, representing momentary adjustments and impulses and draw attention to the complex nature of diasporic existence and writings (Jain, 2001). But the diasporic writers may try to relate their homeland and culture of origin. It is also implied the power relations and the relation to the culture of the homeland. To valid this point I would like to mention a few lines from a novel written by V.S Naipaul. The lines are:

“In the arcade of Hanuman House… there was already the evening assembly of old men… pulling at clay cheelums that glowed red and smelled of ganja and burnt sacking… They couldn’t speak English and were not interested in the land where they lived; it’s longer than they expected. They continually talked of going back to India, but when the opportunity came, many refused, afraid of the unknown, afraid to leave the familiar temporariness.”

(Mishra, 2008)

The larger narrative of global migration and diaspora has situated in complex ways. This is Indian diaspora of around twenty five million across the world, which has not much been written in a theoretical nature. In the above lines, the narrator tries to focus on how the Indian diasporic people in the new host land reveal their desire to come back. It also focuses that how they preserve their culture of smoking ganja to do it together in a foreign land and how their memory of homeland forces them to make a desire to come back. In the case of writers, whenever they see the cultural practices of the diasporic people in foreign lands they miss their homeland and archive their activities in their texts.

Selected Writers and Texts:

The ‘Diasporic Literature’ is a very vast concept and an umbrella term that includes in it all those literary works written by the authors, who are living outside their native country, but these works are associated with native culture and background. The diasporic literature also irrespective of language, style, literary form and technique attracts the readers crossing the borders. In this wide context, all those writers can be regarded as diasporic writers, who write outside their country, but remained related to their homeland through their works.

Furthermore, it is a globally accepted fact that Indian diasporic writers have set a tendency since the Independence. It may be stream of consciousness or magical realism or immigrancy or alienation or adaptability of a new country and culture (Lakshmi, 2016). But the nostalgia for all diasporic writers is alike. Their works on Indian diaspora cover mostly all regions of the globe. Nonetheless, it is an Interesting Paradox. Because it has a heavy trade of Indian writing in English, which is produced not only in India, but in widely distributed geographical areas of indenture (Lakshmi, 2016). For better understanding, I would like to draw some Indian diasporic writers and their writings and how they portray their nostalgia for their homeland, which is very notable to the readers.

Such as V. S. Naipaul, who is a Nobel Laureate, belongs to Trinidad born in a Hindu Brahmin family. He is also a writer of Indian descent. He mostly writes on the pessimistic themes. In his non-fiction writing Area of Darkness (1964), he focuses on the post- Independence problems of India like poverty, the caste systems, neglected areas of sanitation and segregation by society. In his fiction A House for Mr Biswas (1961), Naipaul presents the story of the protagonist Mr. Biswas, who quests for having a house on his own. The Mimic Men (1967) criticizes the newly liberated countries and the individual’s sense of identity (Lakshmi, 2016).

Salman Rushdie, who is best known for his controversial works Satanic Verses (1988). It has been banned in various countries, although the themes of his writings are innovative and about migration and spiritual alienation. In his non-fictions and travel writings Homeless by Choice (1992) and East, West (1994), he portrays many connections, disruptions and migrations between eastern and western civilizations.

Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian descent writer, who settled in the USA after her birth. Her central themes of all her works are the difficulties that the lives of Indians and Indian Americans who are caught between their roots and the new countries. In her collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies (1999), she portrays how the Indians have in relating to Americans and how the Indian Americans are arrested in the middle of two different cultures. In her first novel The Namesake (2003), she presents the Indian families who are living in America. She also portrays how the Indian American families face a lot of problems in between two conflict cultures. Her best tragic novel The Lowland (2013) is the story of blood relationship that is brutally destroyed by politics.

Bharati Mukherjee is an Indo American writer, who wrote many fictions and non-fictions. The central themes of her writings are all about two conflict cultures (multiculturalism), the Indian immigrant women and the territorial feeling of a new kind of pioneer here in America.

In her writing The Middle and Other Stories (1988) Mukharjee portrays how the Indian Americans encounter between western and third world cultures as technology and overpopulation join diverse peoples in tragic-comic relationships. Her other works are Wife (1975) and Jasmine (1989), both novels are about the story of a woman, who immigrates to the USA. Along with that she is also reluctant to have the outdated traditional society.

Vikram Seth became world famous through his novels and poetry. His best known novel is A Suitable Boy (1993). The theme of the story is about social and financial subjects. In the novel, a Hindu mother searches a suitable son in law for her daughter. But it highlights the issues like land rights, inter religious marriages and identity crisis in sections. On the other hand, his poetry has also given a remarkable sense to the readers. Such as a collection of poetry Mappings (1980), in which he shares his nostalgia toward home and his family members. For better understanding, I would like to note and analysis here a few lines from his poem Rakhi, For Aradhana (Mappings, 1980). The lines are:

I had forgotten the time

Of year. Your Rakhi came

Showing how things have changed

And are the same.

It was a contract of trust

With more than you. I know

I left my home too many

Years ago.

I place the golden thread

Across my wrist; that done

Struggle with my left hand

To tie it on.

In the above lines, the poet portrays how the collection of memory, a feeling of distance and the gap of the intimacy relationship become the complicated to some extent year by year. It also focuses how a longer separation changes the attitude of people.

Conclusion:

At the conclusion of this paper I would like to say, today’s narratives of personal history, memoirs and recollections fall within the category of ‘New Literature’. The new literature is  a new movement in literary works that mostly dominated diasporic literary theory in the decades of the 21st century. It emphasized close reading, particularly of travels and autobiographical fictions and non-fictions; to discover how a work of literature functioned as it roots in the sense of loss and alienation in foreign lands. The foremost characteristic features of diaspora writings involve the quest for identity, nostalgia, familial and marital relationships apart from re-rooting, uprooting, multi-culturalism, etc. (Lakshmi, 2016). Furthermore, the new literature in English also discusses the theme of stream of consciousness, magical realism, immigrancy, alienation, adaptability of a new country and culture. In the books of Naipaul, Bharati Mukharjee, Anjana Appachana, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Anita Desai, Salman Rusdie and so on, who wrote their life experiences with diasporic people. Many writers have written about the problems of poverty, caste and bad sanitation in India which are very close to new literature such as V.S Naipaul. Anyway the diaspora in the recent time has developed for diasporic literature and diasporic writers. Most of their writing explores that the memory of the homeland, which has been made them sick to think about returning to the homeland, the representation of India in foreign lands, which has been shaped by the lives of members of a diasporic community, the identities which they forge, and the politics they negotiate. However, nowadays many diasporic people are returning to their homeland to develop the native land. Such as Shashi Tharoor, who is one of the return migrants. The recent newspaper says Shashi Tharoor will fight for the position of Prime Minister in India because he wants to develop and may serve our country in a better way. However the list of diaspora, return migrants and diasporic writers and their writings are really lengthy and elaborative. The diasporic writers are writing to represent their homeland’s cultures and their nostalgia through their deeds. The readers of such literature sporadically experience different and relatively unpalatable trends of life in exotic countries. Finally, I would like to say; this paper brings together discourses of literature, diaspora and their memory, culture, food in an interesting way.

Summary :

This paper has given various kinds of definitions of the Diaspora and also shown the differences between diaspora and exile. The main focus of the paper is to represent the memory of home, which will help the students and readers to understand the basic things of nostalgia of the diasporic people. Later it has shown how the diasporic people retain their traditional cultures, language and foods in the host societies. For better understanding of diaspora and their relationship with home the paper has explained a few important writers and their writings. It will also very helpful for the students and readers, those who want to understand the fact of being a diaspora and diasporic writer. Finally the paper has concluded to make a relation between diasporic writing and English literature, which will widen the ideas of the students and readers.