Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities

by Avtar Brah

By addressing questions of culture, identity and politics, Cartographies of Diaspora throws new light on discussions about 'difference', and 'diversity', informed by feminism and post-structuralism.

Genres: Sociology, Diaspora, Nonfiction, Philosophy

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Yasmine Kherfi]

great academic read for understanding how to make sense of different experiences of migrancy, displacement/dislocation, helps clarify understandings of diaspora and diaspora spaces from an intersectional lens. helpful elaborations on the inferiorisation and othering of certain groups - outlines ideas of the 'collectivity' - while accounting for tensions and making space for their heterogeneity. appreciated the bits on how discourses of commonality are used to politically mobilise.

[Rochu]

Verdaderamente gran colección de ensayos que tiende a una conclusión, donde la autora ronda conceptos como la diferencia, la diáspora, la interseccionalidad. Una mirada compleja y atenta en pos de una teoría práctica para la acción. Con ciertos toques biográficos y mucha ejemplificación la lectura es, además, amena.
Señalo particularmente la preocupación por contextualizar históricamente y analizar cada cosa como un proceso. Esa mirada diacrónica me pareció muy rica.

[Ria Kalsi]

Read for my MA dissertation.

I have been studying immigrant narratives for both of my degrees and following and learning about my own heritage as a British Asian immigrant. Avtar Brah’s book feels like the defining text for my area of focus. I find she discusses immigrants, particularly those from South Asian/African backgrounds with such accuracy, pinpointing specific feelings in the sea of broad, overarching topics from colonial history to labour markets. I feel this book personally helped me with identifying where I sat amongst issues of multiculturalism, culture and diaspora. I particularly gelled with her denotation of diaspora space, distinguished from diaspora.

I only felt like the last chapter related most of what I’d just read, and some other chapters felt slightly like de ja vu, which pins it to 4 instead of 5 stars for me. However, it is still one of the most concise and accessible theoretical texts I’ve read.

[Alycia]

An informative examination of South Asian diaspora in Britain across generations with an intersectional approach. Brah also challenges problematic binaries of "Western" and "non-Western" culture, and does not only frame arguments through the lens of conflict between cultures - which was refreshing. I found the focus on the different strands of South Asian migration (from the sub-continent or from East Africa), and the close look at class relations among racialised/non-racliased groups particularly interesting.

[Jimmy J. Crantz]

In the political climate of today this is the kind of book I wish I got to read more often. Good arguments around different concepts and myths. Still, sometimes I wanted more examples to follow her reasoning - especially in the last chapter or the book, and sometimes I felt like she was a bit to quick to come to the conclusion that something had been proved by her reasoning.

[Ismail Kaygısız]

One of the best sources to analyze the diasporic relations in Britain with emphasis on intersectionality, which allows the reader to see different dynamics of intra- and extra- communal affairs, and a comprehensive approach taken.

[Lin SINGH-BARRINGTON]

I haven't read this cover to cover, however, I have read much of it and have found it a useful academic reference for assignments on postcolonial texts in relation to my literary research on representation and transnationalism in (mainly) South Asian fiction in English.