Post-colonial migrant stories: a reading of selected texts from Britain and the United States of America

Abstract

Migrants and their children most often inhabit two worlds, and are at the centre, as well as the margins of both these worlds. In “No Master Territories”, Trinh Minh-ha writes of her migrant experiences, “Wherever she goes she is asked to show her identity papers. What side does she speak up for? Where does she belong?” In this unstable in-between space, marginalisation takes place – even within the margins themselves. This essay will examine the cultural identity of migrants and their children in the selected post-colonial texts, with a focus on how migrants negotiate the space in between their affiliations and filiations. With regards to how these characters engage with the dilemmas they face when trying to explore and understand what is their own cultural identity, this essay will explore the creating of a home and community in a new country in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake; socio-economic difficulties, racial problems and nostalgia for migrants’ homeland in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane; and the significance of ‘talk-stories’ in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts.