"A Mythic Place of Desire”: The Diasporic Woman's Quest for Home and Identity

Abstract

 In this paper I explore the issues of diasporic identity and subject formation of Indian women by attempting to examine the ways in which a female protagonist of a literary text constructs her own subjectivity in an alien country. I look at the ways in which the immigrant woman negotiates her identity and how national identity acquires a meaning in a diasporic space. I also explore the notion of "home” which is of paramount importance to the diasporic woman for she must create for herself a feeling of belonging and being at "home” amidst the alienation, isolation and marginalization that she is compelled to face. The diasporic woman has to negotiate her identity and her sense of belonging between home as the place of origin and home as the "experience of locality” in an alien country. I argue that in constantly moving between cultures, attempting to negotiate an identity for herself and to create a sense of home and belonging, the female protagonist acquires agency. She makes a conscious effort to maintain her Indian identity and her endeavour involves her various acts of resistance against the intersection of racism, patriarchy and displacement from all that is familiar and comfortable. The simple acts of resistance constitute her agency and help her articulate her subjectivity in the interstitial space of her diasporic existence.