Home, or the Limits of the Black Atlantic

Building on Africanist and third wave feminist critiques of Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic, this essay examines how the notion of diaspora is interpreted by non-anglophone women writers of African descent. In particular, it focuses on the work and careers of two women authors: Afro-Brazilian novelist and academic Conceição Evaristo and Mozambican fiction writer and essayist Paulina Chiziane. Both of these authors participate in international events about the black diaspora and their work has been widely translated. Despite playing active roles in transnational academic and literary communities, however, these two authors repeatedly focus on national concerns in their fiction. The essay argues that many black women writers privilege domestic spaces, such as home and nation, over the space of the black diaspora. Finally, the essay uses reflections on Evaristo’s and Chiziane’s work to revise Toni Morrison’s role in Gilroy’s black Atlantic, starting with her most recent novel, Home.