Migration Matters - South Asian Diaspora, Literary Culture and the Politics of (Be)longing

The book explores the politics of gendered belonging in the South Asian (SA) diaspora through the lens of migration. It focuses on the lives of contemporary postcolonial SA migrants, particularly women, through a critical analysis of select South Asian diaspora literature. It brings together authors who have not previously been discussed collectively, examining their works to uncover the nuanced interplay between homeland, hostland, and diaspora. Focusing on postcolonial South Asian women, it critically analyzes works by Sorayya Khan, Meena Alexander, Sara Suleri, Anita Desai, and Kiran Desai to explore the interplay of homeland, hostland, and diaspora. Unpacking the grammar of dislocation, displacement, border crossing, and relocation, Migration Matters uses a postcolonial theoretical lens to assess the impact of colonialism and modernity on the production of diasporic subjectivities and the construction of diasporic communities. Engaging with the concept of a diaspora space that both separates and merges boundaries of inclusion and exclusion, this book delves into the triad of homeland, hostland, and diaspora, highlighting the processes of exchange, negotiation, and contestation. Being attentive to how material conditions of globalization produce culturally specific diasporic subjects, Migration Matters engages with the idea of transnationality as a diasporic condition but without ignoring the national, racial, class, and gender differences. Addressing the contemporary condition of transnationality, the book considers how globalization shapes culturally specific diasporic subjects. It examines the persistent connections transnational migrants maintain with their homelands and how identities are configured across multiple nation-states. Spanning texts from 1989 to 2006, Migration Matters maps the shifts in nation and diaspora, particularly post-9/11 world. It is an essential read for scholars and students in South Asian diaspora studies, postcolonial literature, gender and cultural studies, migration, and transnationalism.

Table des matières

Introduction: Theorizing postcolonial migration and South Asian diaspora1.- Chapter 1: Contested Territories, Fragmented People: Nation, Memory andBelonging in Sorayya Khan s Noor2.- Chapter 2: Engaging Ethnicities: The Politics of Identity and location in theworks of Meena Alexander3.- Chapter 3: Consuming Cultures: Food, Home and Belonging inSara Suleri s Meatless Days and Anita Desai s Fasting, Feasting4. Chapter 4: The Uncanny Migrant: Immigration, Gender and DomesticViolence in Monica Ali s Brick Lane5.- Chapter 5: Re-mapping Modernity: Postcolonial Belongings and MigrantCartographies in Kiran Desai s The Inheritance of Loss. Conclusion: Reframing diaspora studies or The Diasporic Disquiet.

A propos de l'auteur

Paromita Chakrabarti is Professor and Head of the Department of English and Director, Global Research Initiatives (GRI) at H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, University of Mumbai where she has been teaching since 2001. Her research areas include migration, diaspora, postcolonial studies, gender and nation. She has been a 2010-11 Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of English, Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Chakrabarti has published several articles in international journals and is the assistant editor of the peer reviewed journal Writing Today: International Journal of Studies in English. She has been a joint editor for the peer reviewed journal Baltic Worlds from Södertörn University, Stockholm and has been a resource person at University Grants Commission (UGC) sponsored refresher courses and short-term courses for faculty across colleges and universities in India. She annually teaches a Master’s level seminar class on Feminist Critical Theory at the University of Sheffield, UK, and has been an invited speaker for seminar lecture at several universities and colleges both in India and abroad. In her spare time Paromita enjoys trekking and travelling

Résumé

The book explores the politics of gendered belonging in the South Asian (SA) diaspora through the lens of migration. It focuses on the lives of contemporary postcolonial SA migrants, particularly women, through a critical analysis of select South Asian diaspora literature. It brings together authors who have not previously been discussed collectively, examining their works to uncover the nuanced interplay between homeland, hostland, and diaspora. Focusing on postcolonial South Asian women, it critically analyzes works by Sorayya Khan, Meena Alexander, Sara Suleri, Anita Desai, and Kiran Desai to explore the interplay of homeland, hostland, and diaspora. Unpacking the grammar of dislocation, displacement, border crossing, and relocation, Migration Matters uses a postcolonial theoretical lens to assess the impact of colonialism and modernity on the production of diasporic subjectivities and the construction of diasporic communities. Engaging with the concept of a diaspora space that both separates and merges boundaries of inclusion and exclusion, this book delves into the triad of homeland, hostland, and diaspora, highlighting the processes of exchange, negotiation, and contestation. Being attentive to how material conditions of globalization produce culturally specific diasporic subjects, Migration Matters engages with the idea of transnationality as a diasporic condition but without ignoring the national, racial, class, and gender differences. Addressing the contemporary condition of transnationality, the book considers how globalization shapes culturally specific diasporic subjects. It examines the persistent connections transnational migrants maintain with their homelands and how identities are configured across multiple nation-states. Spanning texts from 1989 to 2006, Migration Matters maps the shifts in nation and diaspora, particularly post-9/11 world. It is an essential read for scholars and students in South Asian diaspora studies, postcolonial literature, gender and cultural studies, migration, and transnationalism.

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Paromita Chakrabarti
• Edition: Springer, Berlin
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre Relié
• Sortie: 22.01.2026
• EAN: 9789819545841
• ISBN: 978-981-9545-84-1
• Pages: 208
• Illustrations: VI, 208 p.
• Catégories: Sciences sociales, droit, économie > Sociologie > Recherche en structures sociales; Migration, Soziologie, Bevölkerung und Migrationsgeographie, auseinandersetzen, Sociology of Migration, Human Migration, Transnationality, South Asian diaspora community, poverty and persecution, gendered belonging