The Politics of Home and Belonging in Contemporary South Asian Diasporic Narratives

Authors

  • N Veera Basavaraju Research Scholar, Sunrise University, Alwar, Rajasthan Author
  • Dr. Navjeet Kaur Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sunrise University, Alwar, Rajasthan Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29070/sdm8kh57

Keywords:

South Asian diaspora, belonging, home, cultural identity, migration, nostalgia, postcolonial studies, hybridity, displacement, transnational narratives

Abstract

Using transnational settings as a lens, this research analyzes how South Asian diasporic narratives of the present day navigate the politics of home, belonging, and identity. The study examines literary works that deal with themes of cultural displacement, generational gaps, racialized experiences, and the emotional conflicts that arise from migration and remembrance. This piece delves into the ways in which authors use narrative techniques like fragmented storytelling, nostalgic memories, multilingual expression, and spatial symbolism to challenge rigid ideas of "home" and show how belonging is subject to constant change. Gender, class, nationalism, and cultural hybridity are just a few of the power dynamics illuminated by the study's examination of postcolonial, feminist, and intersectional frameworks as they pertain to diaspora. In the end, this study contends that modern South Asian diasporic literature reimagines home as an ever-changing emotional and psychological terrain impacted by grief, longing, strength, and inventive rethinking, rather than a fixed location.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Altman, Dennis. Defying Gravity: A Political Life. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1997.

2. Schein, Louisa. 1999. “Of Cargo and Satellites: Imagined Cosmopolitanism.” Postcolonial Studies 2(3): 345–375.

3. Tomlinson, John. 1999. Globalization and Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.

4. Mehta, Deepa. 1996. Fire. Kaleidoscope Entertainment and Trial By Fire Films Inc., DVD.

5. Mishra, Vijay. 2007. The Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary. London and New York: Routledge.

6. Cruz-Malave, Arnaldo and Martin Manalansan. 2002. Queer Globalizations: Citizenship and the Afterlife of Colonialism. New York and London: New York University Press.

7. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. 2001. “The Blooming Season for Cacti.” In The Unknown Errors of Our Lives. New York: Doubleday (Random House). [Originally published in Zoetrope, 2000]

8. “Global Gaze/Global Gays.” GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies, 3 (4): 417-436

9. Binnie, Jon. 2005. The Globalization of Sexuality. London: Sage.

10. Brah, Avtar. 1996. Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. London and New York: Routledge.

11. Tan, Chong Kee. “Transcending Sexual Nationalism and Colonialism: Cultural Hybridization as Process of Sexual Politics in ‘90s Taiwan.” In Post-colonial, Queer: Theoretical Intervention, Edited by J.C. Hawley. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001. 123-3

12. Brubaker, Rogers and Frederick Cooper. 2000. “Beyond ‘Identity’”. Theory and Society, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 1-47. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3108478.

13. Alexander, Meena. 2008. Quickly Changing River: Poems. Northwestern University Press.

14. Alvi, Moniza. 2011. “Exploring dualities: An Interview with Moniza Alvi”. Interview conducted by Muneeza Shamsie. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Vol. 47, No. 2, pp. 192-198, doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.557196.

15. Basu, Lopamudra and Cynthia Leenerts. 2009. “South Asian Literary Association 2009 Achievement Award Recipient: Meena Alexander”. South Asian Review, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 71-73, doi.org/10.1080/02759527.2009.11932722.’

Downloads

Published

2025-07-01

How to Cite

[1]
“The Politics of Home and Belonging in Contemporary South Asian Diasporic Narratives”, JASRAE, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 470–489, July 2025, doi: 10.29070/sdm8kh57.