MAPPING SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORA: Recent Responses and Ruminations

Ajay K. Chaubey and Asis De (eds)

About the Book

This book is our academic endeavour in contributing to the ever-growing corpus of diaspora criticism. Scholars from India and abroad have profusely contributed to this academic anthology and their exegeses and explications are worthy to be appreciated for multiple reasons. They have critically evaluated the texts against the backdrop of literary theories as applied to the typology of literary taxonomy of many diasporic authors who overtly and covertly belong to the South Asian nations. This anthology deals with multiple theses on the issues of diasporic overtones, inter-ethnic relations, re/dislocations and merger of mental/ physical boundaries represented in the literary texts authored by the young and veteran writers of the South Asian origin. 
The volume offers explorations and unravellings that inscribe multifarious themes, issues and agenda concomitant with the South Asian diaspora critiqued by young, vibrant and enthusiastic authors who have earned their reputation in academic field at the global fronts. There is a need for more holistic understanding of the entire phenomenon to facilitate researchers and participants engaged in innumerable homilies related to diaspora and trans-nationalism. Hence, we hope that this volume will be a trustworthy tool to comprehend the dynamics of emerging trends in the area though the continuous progress and flow in the ontological apparatus cannot be denied.

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Contents

Section A: Diaspora in Flux: Newer Insights
Transforming Continuum of South Asian Diaspora: In Conversation with Vijay Mishra / Asis De
Section B: Considering Diasporic Literatures of South Asia: Texts and Contexts
1. What Diaspora? Whither Diaspora?: Some Random Questions, Answers and Ruminations / Somdatta Mandal
2. South Asians in North America: Inter-Ethnic Reflections for the New Millennium / Amritjit Singh
3. Mentally Disturbed, Physically Unseen: The ‘Secret’ Lives of British Asians in Fiction and Autobiography / Nilakshi Roy
4. Of Forgotten Remembrances: Memories of the Passive Bangalee Bhadrolok: A Study of Dislocation in Black Ice, The Shadow Lines and The Good Muslim / Aatreyee Ghosh
5. Interrogating Borders in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines and The Hungry Tide / Sharmistha De Dutta
6. Crossing Boundaries in a Postcolonial Context: A Tale of Two Characters in Vikram Chandra’s Red Earth and Pouring Rain     / Sulagna Mohanty and Amrita Satapathy
7. Positional Shifts in Postcolonial Literature: Comparison of Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry’s Select Fiction     / Ajay Verma
8. Histories of Post-Diaspora: Neocultural Prototyping in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia and The Black Album     / Subashish Bhattacharjee and G.N. Roy
9. Of Diaspora and Native Literatures: Reading Benyamin’s Goat Days / Rositta Joseph Valiyamattam
10. Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table: A Study of Diasporic Overtones / Arifa Yesmin
11. Home No/w/here: A Study of Diasporic Dilemma in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner / Raj Gaurav Verma
Section C: Conversations and Discussions
In Conversations with Writers: Tabish Khair in Conversation with Ajay K. Chaubey
In Conversations with Writers: M.G. Vassanji in Conversation with Murali Kamma   
In Discussions with Critics: Somdatta Mandal, Makarand Paranjape and Manjit Inder Singh in Discussion with Ajay K. Chaubey    210
Section D: South Asian Diaspora: Interdisciplinary Responses
12. One Nation, Two Diasporas: Nepali Migrants and Bhutanese Refugees in the United States / Lopita Nath
13. Reconfiguring ‘Asian Australian’ Writing: Australia, India and Inez Baranay / Paul Sharrad
14. The Bhutanese Diaspora: A View on History / Alice Anna Verheij
15. Searching for Home: Explorations in New Media and the Burmese Diaspora in New Zealand / Violet Cho

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About the Author / Editor

Ajay K. Chaubey is Assistant Professor (English) at the Department of Sciences & Humanities, National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand. His published works include South Asian Diasporic Cinema, V.S. Naipaul and Salman Rushdie. His essays, book reviews and interviews have appeared in the journals, anthologies and magazines of national/international repute.
Asis De is Associate Professor of English and Head, Department of English Language and Literature, Mahishadal Raj College, Mahishadal, West Bengal. His research interests include the study of identity negotiation in newer/diasporic cultural spaces with particular reference to postcolonial Anglophone fiction (South-Asian, African and Caribbean).

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