Migrant literature

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Migrant literature is either written by migrants or tells the stories of migrants and their migration. It is a topic of growing interest within literary studies since the 1980s. Migrants are people who have left their homes and cultural settings and who started a new life in another setting that is, in most cases, initially strange to them.

Settings[]

Although any experience of migration would qualify an author to be classed under migrant literature, the main focus of recent research has been on the principal channels of mass-migration in the twentieth century. These include: European migration to North America[1][2] or Australia;[3] migration from former colonies to Europe (Black British literature,[4][5] British-Asian literature,[6][7] literature[8][9]); situations of ethnic cleansing such as the mass migration of people from India to Pakistan where the subcontinent was partitioned into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan after the British left in 1947;[10][11] guest worker programs (Turks, Italians or Greeks in Germany and Holland);[12][13][14] exile situations, such as that of exiled German dissidents during the Nazi period.[15][16]

Themes[]

Migrant literature often focuses on the social contexts in the migrants' country of origin which prompt them to leave, on the experience of migration itself, on the mixed reception which they may receive in the country of arrival, on experiences of racism and hostility, and on the sense of rootlessness and the search for identity which can result from displacement and cultural diversity.

Relationship to post-colonial literature[]

Colonialism often creates a setting which results in the migration of large numbers of people, either within the colonies or from them to the "imperial centre" (Britain, France etc.). Consequently, migrant literature and postcolonial literature show some considerable overlap.[17] However, not all migration takes place in a colonial setting, and not all postcolonial literature deals with migration. A question of current debate is the extent to which postcolonial theory also speaks to migration literature of non-colonial settings. The presence in central Europe of Gastarbeiter communities, for example, is not a result of colonialism, yet their literature does have much in common with, say, British-Asian literature.

Categories[]

A number of categories have been developed for discussing migrant literature. Some of these are the standard categories of post-colonial theory, while others have been worked out precisely to cope with non-colonial settings.

Displacement[]

Displacement is a key term in post-colonial theory which applies to all migrant situations. It refers both to physical displacement and a sense of being socially or culturally "out of place".[18]

Guest and host communities[]

Picking up on the term Gastarbeiter and using it affirmatively, Rafik Schami and Franco Boindi used the terminology of guest in 1981 and host to express some of the dynamics of migrant situations. The term describes the frustrations from many migrant authors about the lack of acceptance, poor working conditions, racism and difficulties with integration.[19]

Emigrant versus immigrant perspectives[]

It is possible to distinguish the "emigrant perspective" of the migrant whose main focus is backwards to the country of origin from the "immigrant perspective" of the migrant who is reconciled with the prospect of permanent residence in the country of arrival.[20]

Primary and secondary migration[]

In relation to work migration, it is common for one member of a family, typically the father, to travel in search of work, the rest of the family following later. In the context of migration and family ties, "secondary migration" refers to the emigration of relatives to join the primary migrant.[21]

(Alternatively, in other context related to migration, the expression "secondary migration" is also used to refer to the migration of an immigrant from their country of residence that is not their country of birth to yet another country.[22] Sometimes it is also used to refer to the internal migration of an immigrant, that is, the migration of an immigrant to another state within the country of residence.[23])

First and second generation migrants[]

First generation migrants are those who, as adults, themselves made the move from one country to another. Second generation migrants are the children of migrants, who were either very young at the time of migration or were born in the country of arrival. The perspectives across the generations can differ enormously. Some critics have even used the term "third generation migrants", though it is highly questionable whether this is meaningful: if a third generation is still culturally distinct it is probably more useful to speak of an established ethnic minority.

Between cultures[]

In literature of second generation migrants, a location "between" two cultures, sometimes called an "interstitial" space, is often mentioned as a way of expressing a sense of belonging in neither the guest nor the host community.[24] Those whose experience has been more positive may reject the notion of "between" and feel that they live, rather, in the cultural overlap, not a void but a place of particular richness.

Hybridity[]

Hybridity is another catch-phrase from post-colonial theory which applies also to many non-colonial migrant situations. It refers to the migrant's culturally mixed identity as the opposed forces of assimilation and the search for roots force a middle way. (In post-colonial theory, the term hybridity is also used in non-migrant situations to refer to the impact of the culture of the colonisers on the culture of the colonised.)[25]

Bilingual theory[]

Bilingualism is an essential component of hybridity. Results of socio-linguistic research are therefore of importance to work on migrant literature.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Lucassen, Leo; Foner, Nancy (2002). "Old and New Migrants in the Twentieth Century: A European Perspective [with Response]". Journal of American Ethnic History. 21 (4): 85–119. ISSN 0278-5927.
  2. ^ Van Mol, Christof; de Valk, Helga (2016), Garcés-Mascareñas, Blanca; Penninx, Rinus (eds.), "Migration and Immigrants in Europe: A Historical and Demographic Perspective", Integration Processes and Policies in Europe: Contexts, Levels and Actors, IMISCOE Research Series, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 31–55, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-21674-4_3, ISBN 978-3-319-21674-4, retrieved 2021-11-19
  3. ^ "A brief history of immigration to Australia". SBS News. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  4. ^ Brancato, Sabrina (2008). "Afro-European Literature(s): A New Discursive Category?". Research in African Literatures. 39 (3): 1–13. ISSN 0034-5210.
  5. ^ Hartner, Marcus; Schneider, Ralf (2015-12-01). "British Novels of Migration and the Construction of Transnational Mental Spaces". Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 63 (4): 411–431. doi:10.1515/zaa-2015-0034. ISSN 2196-4726.
  6. ^ "Migration from the Colonies to Western Europe since 1800". EGO(http://www.ieg-ego.eu) (in German). Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  7. ^ Van Mol, Christof; de Valk, Helga (2016), Garcés-Mascareñas, Blanca; Penninx, Rinus (eds.), "Migration and Immigrants in Europe: A Historical and Demographic Perspective", Integration Processes and Policies in Europe: Contexts, Levels and Actors, IMISCOE Research Series, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 31–55, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-21674-4_3, ISBN 978-3-319-21674-4, retrieved 2021-11-29
  8. ^ Elia, Nada (1997). "In the Making: Beur Fiction and Identity Construction". World Literature Today. 71 (1): 47–54. ISSN 0196-3570.
  9. ^ Hargreaves, Alec G. (2010). "Third-Generation Algerians in France: Between Genealogy and History". The French Review. 83 (6): 1290–1299. ISSN 0016-111X.
  10. ^ "The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition". The New Yorker. 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  11. ^ AP, Monica Sarkar, CNN Photos and video by Getty Images and. "India, Pakistan's independence: Story behind one of history's greatest mass migrations". CNN. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  12. ^ "GERMANY'S GUEST WORKERS". The New York Times. 1984-08-19. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  13. ^ Schmid, Carol (1983). "Gastarbeiter in West Germany and Switzerland: An Assessment of Host Society-Immigrant Relations". Population Research and Policy Review. 2 (3): 233–252. ISSN 0167-5923.
  14. ^ Castles, Stephen (1986). "The Guest-Worker in Western Europe - An Obituary". The International Migration Review. 20 (4): 761–778. doi:10.2307/2545735. ISSN 0197-9183.
  15. ^ "New Berlin museum to tell stories of exiled Germans | DW | 17.08.2020". DW.COM. Retrieved 2021-12-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "The years of exile and the postwar period (1933–1947) - Willy Brandt and the unification of Europe - CVCE Website". www.cvce.eu. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
  17. ^ Fennell, Laura. "Across Borders: Migrancy, Bilingualism, and the Reconfiguration of Postcolonialism in Junot Díaz's Fiction". Retrieved 2021-12-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Gallien, Claire (2018-11-02). "Forcing displacement: The postcolonial interventions of refugee literature and arts". Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 54 (6): 735–750. doi:10.1080/17449855.2018.1551268. ISSN 1744-9855.
  19. ^ "Guest Worker Literature". www.yorku.ca. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  20. ^ Terminology first proposed in Graeme Dunphy, "Migrant, Emigrant, Immigrant: Recent Developments in Turkish-Dutch Literature", Neophilologus, 85 (2001) 1-23.
  21. ^ Lamb, Michael E.; Bougher, Lori D. (2009-04-01). "How Does Migration Affect Mothers' and Fathers' Roles Within their Families? Reflections on some Recent Research". Sex Roles. 60 (7): 611–614. doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9600-1. ISSN 1573-2762.
  22. ^ Urquia ML, Frank JW, Glazier RH (November 2010). "From places to flows. International secondary migration and birth outcomes". Social Science & Medicine. 71 (9): 1620–6. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.08.006. PMID 20850920.
  23. ^ Weine SM, Hoffman Y, Ware N, Tugenberg T, Hakizimana L, Dahnweigh G, Currie M, Wagner M (March 2011). "Secondary migration and relocation among African refugee families in the United States". Family Process. 50 (1): 27–46. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01344.x. PMC 5322815. PMID 21361922.
  24. ^ "Label and Literature: Borders and Spaces in Postcolonial Migrant Literature in Australia" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-12-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ^ Moslund, Sten Pultz (2010). Migration literature and hybridity : the different speeds of transcultural change. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-28271-1. OCLC 682614147.
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