Indian Diaspora

INDIAN DIASPORA TERMS TO KNOW Indian*: This word has many relative meanings but the appropriate meaning in this context is that of a native or inhabitant of India or of the East Indies.  Diaspora*: Although this word refers to the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland, it also involves the spread of those people’s culture and perspective.  Non Resident Indian: Those of Indian origin who do not live in India.  *According to Merriam Webster dictionary DEFINITION The Indian Diaspora was therefore a spreading of the people and cultures of the subcontinent of India to places throughout the world.  This presentation will discuss this movement through a literary focus, which means it will address the authors of this category and the reasons for its invention.  BRITISH IMPERIALISM The Indian Diaspora is directly attributed to British imperialism which lasted until 1947.  The system of Indian indentured servitude used by the British would send people to places around the world. Places which included:         Fiji South Africa Guyana Trinidad Surinam Malaysia Etc. BRITISH IMPERIALISM  When those indentured servants emigrated to various parts of the world, they brought their culture along with them. This then allowed their perspective to be shaped by there new surroundings. These Indians are now known as Non Resident Indians, who are those of Indian origin but do not live in India proper.  In many literary works of Indian Diaspora writers, the perspective is tinged with that of someone commenting on the issues of Indians from an external vantage point.  WESTERNIZATION The early interaction with the British government attributed to the Indian Diaspora literary movement but also became a central subject in these writers’ works.  The negative effects of westernization are usually highlighted:   The occupation of India by the British can be seen in both the God of Small Things and Shame. In God of Small Things, the entirety of the British government appears to be personified through the character of Mr. Hollick. His rape of the women is symbolic of the raping and pillaging of Indian society, natural environment, and culture by the British. POLITICS Political shifts have become indicative of Indian politics ever since the subcontinent of India gained independence from Great Britain on August 14, 1947. The partitioning of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan is also a central issue in many of these author’s books.  The instability of India and the Indian subcontinent would allow for these authors to make their own social commentary.  RELIGION Writers in of the Indian Diaspora movement, like most other writers, tend to discuss and critique religion.  The religions range from Christianity to Islam to Hinduism to Sihkism.  Such can be seen of the critique of Christianity in Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things and the cocritique of Hinduism and Islam in Salman Rushdie’s Shame.  LITERARY FEATURES India is seen as the homeland and has traditional elements (free from westernization) mystified or idealized.  Some type of journey is usually taken in the plot of the novel.  There is usually a place in the novel that is a temporary home away from India that the characters reside.  The protagonists of the story is usually an Indian placed into a foreign environment and must choose whether or not to accept or reject their Indian culture.  EXAMPLES  Jhumpa Lahiri    V.S. Naipaul  Salman Rushdie Kiran Desai Arundhati Roy JHUMPA LAHIRI Origin  Born in London and raised in Rhode Island. Works Unaccustomed Earth  The Namesake  Interpreter of Maladies  The reactions haven't differed; the concerns have been different. When I read for a predominantly Indian audience, there are more questions that are based on issues of identity and representation. -Jhumpa Lahiri V.S NAIPAUL Origin  Born to Indian indentured servants in Trinidad. Selected Works The Mystic Masseur  The Suffrage of Elvira  Miguel Street  A Flag on the Island  Guerrillas  Half of Life  Magic Seeds  In Trinidad, where as new arrivals we were a disadvantaged community, that excluding idea was a kind of protection; it enabled us - for the time being, and only for the time being - to live in our own way and according to our own rules, to live in our own fading India. -V.S. Naipaul SALMAN RUSHDIE Origin  Born in India but raised in Pakistan before later moving to Britain. Selected Works       Grimus Midnight’s Children Shame The Satanic Verses Haroun and the Sea of Stories Shalimar the Clown Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way. -Salman Rushdie KIRAN DESAI Origin  Born and raised in India until she moved to England at the age of fourteen. Works The Inheritance of Loss  Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard  “But then, how could you have any self-respect knowing that you didn't believe in anything exactly? How did you embrace what was yours if you didn't leave something for it? How did you create a life of meaning and pride?” -Kiran Desai ARUNDHATI ROY Origin  Of India origin and lives in India (but writes with an Indian Diaspora perspective) Selected Works The God of Small Things  War Talk  An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire  Power Politics  The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile  “The American way of life is not sustainable. It doesn’t acknowledge that there is a world beyond America. ” -Arundhati Roy BIBLIOGRAPHY       "Arundhati Roy." Arundhati Roy. 2006. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . "FAQs." Reserve Bank of India. 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . "Indian Diaspora." History of Indian Diaspora. NRI Online Pvt. Ltd. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . "Jhumpa Lahiri." Random House, 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . "Kiran Desai." British Council Literature Team. British Council Arts Group, 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . Pryce-Jones, David. "Biography." Nobelprize.org. The Nobel Foundation, 2001. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. .  Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: Random House, 1997. Print.  Rushdie, Salman. Shame. New York: Knopf, 1983. Print.   "Salman Rushdie." The Official Website. 2010. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . Thilakarathne, Indeewara. "Diaspora and Diasporic Literature." Sunday Observer. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. .