Angles of vision: Diasporic consciousness in post-colonial diaspora discourse (Nigeria, Jamaica, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Buchi Emecheta, Joan Riley, Bharati Mukherjee, Marlene Nourbese Philip)

This study explores the articulation of diasporic consciousness in two domains of post-colonial diaspora discourse: cultural critical theory and literature. Examined in the domain of cultural critical theory is a corpus of writings produced by Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, Kobena Mercer and Homi Bhabha. The literary texts examined are Buchi Emecheta's Second-Class Citizen, Joan Riley's The Unbelonging, Marlene Nourbese Philip's Harriet's Daughter, and Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine.; The study shows that there are significant differences in the terms in which diasporic consciousness is conceptualized in the works of the male cultural critical theorists on the one hand, and those of the female literary writers on the other. These differences are the result of differences of interpretative perspectives shaped by the counter-hegemonic enterprises in which the theorists and literary writers are engaged. The male theorists conceive of diasporic consciousness in relation to the nation and in terms of 'race' and culture. I argue that the centering of the social unit of the nation and of 'race' and culture gives rise to conceptions of diasporic consciousness that are not far-reaching enough in explaining the nature of this socio-cultural phenomenon. This is because these theorists leave untheorized or undertheorized aspects of diasporic consciousness that do not directly relate to their counter-hegemonic projects. One such aspect to which the male theorists pay little attention is the ways in which gender positioning shapes diasporic consciousness.; The women writers whose works are examined illuminate the gendered dimension of diasporic consciousness. The foregrounding of gender is integral to these women writers' counter-hegemonic enterprises. I demonstrate that these women's interpretative perspectives generate a body of knowledge about diasporic consciousness which complements that produced by the male theorists. Hence, for an episteme which provides a nuanced understanding of diasporic consciousness, and diasporic existence in general, one perspective cannot be privileged over the other; both are essential.