Diasporic Postcolonialism and Its Antinomies

Giri offers a survey and a critique of the discourse of “diasporism” as it finds expression in postcolonial and minority cultural studies. In this context, “diasporism” names the effort to revise and revaluate what used to be a generally negative meaning of “diaspora.” This revaluation, Giri argues, has taken place in the context of the contemporary transnational situation, which is marked by heightened international mobility and border crossings; in the articulation of diasporic culture and sensibility as politically transgressive and utopian; and in a conception of diasporic identity and subjectivity as hybrid, de-territorialized, and multiply situated. In the second part of his analysis, Giri questions the validity of this heroic and somewhat idealized view of postcolonial diaspora, and argues instead for a more variegated, worldly, and antinomial viewpoint, using examples from its literary archive.