Diaspora: concept, context, and its application in the study of new literatures

Abstract

Displacement and dispersion do not only feature prominently as topics in the New Literatures in English, but characterize the lives of many postcolonial authors who have chosen or been compelled to develop their writing careers in different parts of the Western world. This paper puts forward the term diaspora as an analytical field with which to map and apprehend multi-centred New Literatures, taking Anglophone Afro-Caribbean literature -produced along a London-New York-Toronto axis- as a case study. Background to the origin, development and widespread currency of the term across disciplines will be provided.