Abstract
This chapter considers the issue of identity in postcolonial literature. It challenges the representations of center/metropolis and margin/periphery as a one-to-one link. The three writers considered here are located within a context of intra-colonial displacements from India. Ananda Devi, Natacha Appanah, and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown offer a blurred vision of identity, and share some important common points: the three of them define the identity as fluid and multiple. The identities they speak about are the results of a personal negotiation with numerous and diversified external stimuli. Finally, they show a similar relationship with the themes of the origins, journey, and “home”.
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Notes
- 1.
Indentured laborers (coolies) signed temporary contracts, but they often essentially lived and worked as slaves. In his analysis of the various Indian migrations over time and space, Jarayam classifies the different migratory flows from India to Africa into two categories. He speaks about an induced/provoked diaspora and another facilitated by colonial power. The difference lies in the diverse degrees of coercion employed in the migration processes. The coolies or indentured laborers were part of the first group, whereas the small traders and skilled workers were part of the second. The author uses the word “diaspora” as a synonym for “migration”, but he underlines two differences between the two terms. First, there is a numerical discrepancy (the migration of a single individual is not a diaspora), and second, the word “diaspora” cannot apply to the displacement of a “dominant” people, that is, the colonizers were not “diasporic” (Jayaram 2011, p. 234 ff).
- 2.
The Indians who arrived in Mauritius were not more numerous than elsewhere, but, considering the current ethnic composition of the country, they are the largest ethnic group.
- 3.
“Diasporic” is the term I prefer to use in Alibhai-Brown’s case. Conveying an impression of a loss of Paradise and a never-ending search for a “home”, the word “diaspora” may add various nuances to the simple concept of migration. However, it is noteworthy to stress a broader meaning than this. In an interesting article, Avtar Brah and Ann Phoenix state: “A related development is associated with valorisation of the term diaspora. The concept of diaspora is increasingly used in analysing the mobility of peoples, commodities, capital and cultures in the context of globalisaton and transnationalism. The concept is designed to analyze configurations of power—both productive and coercive—in ‘local’ and ‘global’ encounters in specific spaces and historical moments. [In Brah’s Cartographies of Diaspora, Contesting Identities] the intersection of [the] three terms [‘diaspora’, ‘border’ and ‘politics of home’] is understood through the concept of “diaspora space” which covers the entanglements of genealogies of dispersal with those of ‘staying put’. […] Importantly, the concept of ‘diaspora space’ embraces the intersection of ‘difference’ in its variable forms, placing emphasis upon emotional and psychic dynamics as much as socio-economic, political and cultural differences” (Brah and Phoenix 2004, p. 83).
- 4.
This labeling is doubly forced, as highlighted placing both “Indian” and “African” within quotation marks.
- 5.
Two metropolises characterized by two different colonial tongues. It is noteworthy that the authors’ choice to adopt a specific colonial language has consequences for both the literary landscape in which these writers are inserted and the number and cultural specificities of their potential readers.
- 6.
Some African Indian settlers left the Subcontinent before the 1947 Partition. Additionally, some individuals of Indian “origin” never returned to their ancestors’ country.
- 7.
The Indians arrived in Mauritius during two periods characterized by different colonial powers. At the beginning of the XVII century, the French engaged skilled workers to construct the île de France (Mauritius), whereas black slaves were used on the plantations. In 1814, the island became an English colony. In the first half of the XIX century, following the abolition of slavery, the British encouraged the migration of indentured laborers who worked in the sugarcane plantations. The island achieved independence in 1968.
- 8.
Regarding Mauritius, a fundamental question is to ascertain whether the island should be considered “hybrid” or simply “multicultural”. The latter is likely the more appropriate definition. In Mauritius there are various “ethnic” groups, which distinguish themselves from one another through their “spoken” languages. The Indian community is the most numerous group, which accounts for approximately 70 % of the total population and represents the dominant ethnic group in a political sense. This main Indian group comprises subgroups that differ according to their ancestral origins and “spoken” language. The “black mestizo” community is the next largest, and the last group are the descendants of French colonizers. The official languages are English and French, used mostly at a cultivated level. Undoubtedly, the common tongue is Mauritian Creole, which is spoken by all islanders, regardless of their “ethnic” origins. See Bhat and Bhaskar (2011, pp. 114–124).
- 9.
Three of Appanah’s works will be considered here. Among them, both her first and last novels are linked to historical events. In her Les Rochers de Poudre d’Or, she describes a foundation moment in the island’s history, that is, the arrival of a group of Indian indentured laborers at Mauritius (for additional information on the symbolic foundation of the common history of Mauritius, see Valérie Magdelaine-Andrianjafitrimo 2004). In Le dernier frère, Appanah locates the friendship between two little boys within the framework of the “deportation” of a group of Jews from Mauritius. In December 1940, a boat called the “Atlantic” arrived at Mauritius, carrying approximately 1500 Jews. The British Foreign Office and the British Colonial Office denied them the right to enter Palestine because they had been considered irregular migrants. Deported from one colony to another, they remained imprisoned in the Beau Bassin’s detainment camp until August 1945, when they were finally able to reach Israel. In contrast, La noce d’Anna—a story told in the first person—is set in France and narrates the events of a single day. Sonia, the protagonist, is a Mauritius-born writer. On the day of her daughter Anna’s marriage, she recalls the phases of her own and interrogates her own feelings, past and future.
- 10.
This multilingualism is typical of Mauritius. Although the various ethnic groups are identified through their ancestral tongues, their everyday language is Mauritian Creole. The island’s official tongue is English, used in the administrative system and schools, which are largely based on the British system. The ancestral tongues are protected by the state and taught both in state schools and institutes managed by the cultural organizations of the various linguistic groups. However, they are not always spoken or understood. For example, when Devi was a child—as she stated in an interview—her mother spoke to her in Telugu, an Indian tongue not common in Mauritius. Eventually, the author completely forgot it and therefore no longer speaks it.
- 11.
Their novels were first published by Gallimard in its “Continents noirs” series. Appanah’s most recent novel was published by the famous Editions de l’Olivier, and Devi’s appeared in the Gallimard’s series “La grande blanche”. Regarding the exoticism implied by the selection criteria of publishing houses, see Waters (2008, pp. 55–74).
- 12.
In her “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, Gayatri Spivak investigated the vicissitudes of the subaltern’s “voice” within the framework of official historiography. In the literary frame, however, the “subaltern’s voice” is not a particularly controversial issue. In the domain of fiction, while some problems linked to representation remain, something closely resembling the subaltern’s voice can be expressed by the creative decisions of authors through an “odd” medium: the language. For example, Devi clearly depicts “marginal” stories but in French, although she states that this would not be possible in real life.
- 13.
«On vous refuse tout simplement le droit de dire merde à vos origines» (Appanah 2005, pp. 132–133). Unless otherwise indicated, translations from French are mine.
- 14.
Nathacha Devi Pathareddy Appanah was born in 1973 in Mauritius to a family of Indian heritage. She currently lives in France, where she works as a journalist and writer.
- 15.
Les rochers de Poudre d’Or and Le dernier frère, Appanah’s two “historical” works, address identities as if these were matters of fact, something exterior as long as they do not result from the individual’s inner questioning. There are different identities—“ethnic”, social, linked to gender and caste—and they occasionally clash, or may vacillate when subjected to new conditions. In Les rochers de Poudre d’Or, for example, the wealthy Indian princess Ganga becomes a poor indentured laborer, and she is ultimately obliged to become her master’s concubine. In contrast, some characters simply exist for themselves, and while they had specific ethnic origins and identities, these elements are not key to the development of the story. This is the case in Le dernier frère,where the protagonist and narrative voice of Indian heritage, Raj, describes his friendship with David, a Jewish boy, this way: “we were two children of misfortune thrown together by a miracle, by accident” (from The Last Brother, translated by Geoffrey Strachan, London, MacLehose Press, 2010. The French text reads: “nous étions deux enfants du malheur accolés l’un à l’autre par miracle, par accident”, Appanah 2007, p. 144, emphasis added). In these words, suffering is the unifying element, something that is widely shared amongst humans. Therefore, the aspect boldly underlined is equality, and not a specific version of the identity issue.
- 16.
«On me demande assez souvent si je ne suis pas triste de vivre dans un pays si éloigné du mien» (Appanah 2005, p. 69).
- 17.
«[Ils] vous regardent en redemandant encore encore, comme si vous deviez représenter partout votre pays, en être le digne ambassadeur, payé par l’office du tourisme, dire: “Oui, c’est magnifique, je souffre d’être ici, oui, oui, quel beau pays que l’île Maurice”, et surtout leur trouver une réponse convenable à la fameuse question: “Mais que faites-vous ici, loin de la mer et du soleil?»„ (Appanah 2005, p. 85. Emphasis added).
- 18.
«Vous vous devez, pour les autres, pour ceux qui vous posent cette question, vous devez être droite et fière de ces origines-là, avoir le regard qui scintille, la larme à l’œil, le soupir long, vous leur devez de regretter que ces origines ne soyent qu’un vague passé, vous ne pouvez, sous peine de passer pour une insensible, renier vos racines. On vous refuse tout simplement le droit de dire merde à vos origines» (Appanah 2005, pp. 132–133. Emphasis added).
- 19.
«et, bizarrement, [ce vieux qui allait se suicider] m’a fait penser à Prospero dans La Tempête» (Appanah 2005, p. 85. Emphasis added).
- 20.
«Je me sens Mauricienne parce qu’un peu Africaine, un peu Européenne et un peu Indienne». Interview published on the website Indes réunionnaises, http://www.indereunion.net/actu/ananda/intervad.htm [last accessed August 10, 2014].
- 21.
Ananda Devi Nirsimloo-Ananden was born in 1957 in Mauritius. Her parents were of Indian origin. Likewise, most of her island compatriots, multilingualism and what she defines as “pluriculturalité” have been part of her life since her childhood. Having grown up in an open-minded family environment, she has always been in contact with the different cultures of Mauritius. Moreover, her parents loved reading; therefore, there were numerous books of different origins in her home. Devi learned to read at an early age and began to write when she was very young. She studied anthropology in London, where she received her PhD. She has written poetry, novels and short stories, which have been published both in Africa and Europe. She lives in France and works as a translator.
- 22.
There are some exceptions to this reticence. For example, in “Indian Tango” (Devi 2007), the author explores this issue quite explicitly.
- 23.
«Je vous propose que l’on parte de la singularité de votre situation géographique, culturelle et linguistique. Car vous apparaissez pour un lecteur européen comme un écrivain “venu d’ailleurs». Je vous demanderai donc de nous guider vers cet ailleurs„ (Sultan 2001 . Emphasis added).
- 24.
«J’ai l’impression d’être d’une certaine manière “complète” par rapport à la culture occidentale et orientale parce que j’ai accès aux deux de manière intime, et, au-delà de la culture, à la pensée même des grands courants civilisationnels» (Sultan 2001).
- 25.
«Je me considère d’abord comme un écrivain, tout simplement. C’est la vraie constante de ma vie» (Sultan 2001).
- 26.
On the one hand, this subject is linked to the difficulties related to the subaltern voice (Can the subalterns speak? When the speaking subject is in a dominant position, does s/he speak “on”, “about”, “in the name of” subalterns? Is this a problem of voice or hearing? On this issue, see Corio (2005). On the other hand, it is linked to the radical impossibility for human beings to fully understand one another (on a rational level). The only form of radical acceptance lies in the body, in human physics, and a true positive liberation can only be obtained by this fulfilling corporality. See, for example, (Devi 2007).
- 27.
«L’acte littéraire est un acte de traduction, pas d’une langue à autre, mais d’une pensée à autre».
- 28.
«Je demande au lecteur étranger de faire le pas vers moi […], d’accepter que certains aspects lui seront étrangers et étranges, mais que cela ne l’empêchera pas de suivre le parcours du roman et de le comprendre» (Corio 2005, p. 154).
- 29.
«Il y a un pacte avec le lecteur […] je ne dis pas tout de manière claire […] le lecteur a son cheminement à faire […] un cheminement l’un vers l’autre» (Le Mauricien, 25 September 2011).
- 30.
«Ce n’est pas le regard de l’autre qui est le plus important, mais son propre regard, notre propre exigence par rapport à soi […] l’écriture est un engagement de toute notre vie, une remise en question à chaque instant» (Le Mauricien.com 2011).
- 31.
«[A]u fond, j’éprouve envers eux une sorte d’affection imprécise, vague, qui s’alimente d’occasionnelles solidaritées, puis se dissipe, et puis parfois se transforme en une très forte sensation de différence. Différence, barrière, étrange incompréhension qui naît de la proximité, qui naît de fidélitées temporelles, incontrôlables. Différences, similitudes, mêmes traits d’Orientaux, mêmes habitudes vestimentaires, et des pensées, des mentalités situées à des pôles les unes des autres» (Devi 1993, p. 131).
- 32.
Speaking in culture-related terms, it is possible to argue that throughout Indian (Hindu) history, the ideal of self-sacrifice is a valuable one. On the one hand, there is a frequent and troubling relationship between the ideals of self-sacrifice and feminine virtue—“good” women are expected to sacrifice themselves, if needed (and a similar need could arise very often). On the other hand, self-sacrifice may be meaningful for those who choose it according to their cultural and traditional values. However, in the “common Western viewpoint”, two deep-rooted opinions exist—the notion of “Third World women” as “defenceless victims of their backward culture”, and an ideal of female emancipation connoted by the positive value assigned to visible “activity”. In a similar mindset, self-sacrifice loses its liberating potential and, likewise, all positive values. According to Devi, instead, this issue is quite multi-faceted and amplified to the extent of considering the renunciation of the world a tool for achieving total liberation.
- 33.
Framing the question of autonomy in “liberal” terms, they lack both the resources and possibility of choosing among different and meaningful options. Framing it according to subalternity theory, they are excluded from social mobility.
- 34.
- 35.
It is extremely difficult to establish what an “acceptable, proper, convenient” rebellion is. Not only do different forms of rebellion exist, but there are also different evaluations of this term. How visible or intentional must a behavior be be defined as “rebellion”? Does an “intimate” rebellion have the same value as an exterior, “political” one? Is a rebellious act only worthwhile if it produces a positive change in the external social sphere, or is it meaningful even when it reveals itself as a form of intimate consciousness raising? All of these questions are connected to the difficult issue of interpreting women’s agency, which is central in many “feminist” studies and/or recent development policies.
- 36.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was born in 1949 in Kampala, Uganda, where she was brought up. Her mother was born in Dar-es-Salaam, on the African coast, to Indian parents. Her father was Pakistani. In 1972, Yasmin left Uganda to move to Oxford. A few months later, the dictator Idi Amin expelled the “Indians/Asiatics” from Uganda, and Alibhai-Brown never returned to live in “her” country. She lives in London, where she works as a journalist and a writer interested in multiculturalism, difference and migration.
- 37.
Nowhere to belong is a one-woman-show Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was commissioned to produce by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The author wrote the text and interpreted it on many occasions. Recently, the show has been performed in different towns around the UK. Nowhere to Belong has been published as an audiobook. I am quoting from my transcript of the text.
- 38.
In Leela Gandhi’s words: “It is helpful to think of this stipulated shift from abrogation to appropriation as a shift from “unlearning English”, to the project of “learning how to curse in the master’s tongue” (Gandhi 1998, p. 148).
- 39.
While Caliban is not actually a native of the island, he has been interpreted in this symbolic manner by many anti-colonialists.
- 40.
Even by neglecting the problem of the “ideological” consequences of hyphened definitions such as “Asian-American”, it seems extremely important to underline the political role of official definitions. In Uganda, the Indians were never defined as “Africans”. The definitions ranged from a generic “East African Asians/Indians” to “Ugandan Asians”, but this community was never clearly acknowledged as “African”. This is a highly complex issue. It is likely that both the “Indians” and “Africans” shared the opinion that the former did not truly belong to Africa, albeit for different reasons. The former felt superior to the blacks, whereas the latter perceived the rich Wahindis as usurpers of Uganda’s resources and the “odd-ones out”—to be expelled as soon as possible.
- 41.
In Uganda, for example, a system of “differential racism”—complex in its origins and consequences—was at work. The British perceived the “others” from divergent perspectives, which were linked to the dissimilar attitudes towards the degree of “civilisation” attributed to the different colonized peoples. This colonial mindset was reflected in the ethnically mixed context of Uganda. In effect, “India” and the “East” in general benefited of a—partially—positive vision, which took into account their ancient history. Accordingly, the colonizers considered the Indians inferior to themselves, but “only” on a cultural level. The Orientalist vision originated from a similar perception. Orientalism was a complex ideology, which changed during the colonial experience, often merging with simplified forms of racism. In contrast, the British position regarding “Africans” was generally characterised by the notion of “bestiality”, that is, an essential difference based on nature itself. Acknowledging that an individual belonged to the human race, to any extent, was strictly linked to skin color. However, for various reasons, Indians had also created an aesthetic-ideological hierarchy based on color. In Uganda, these different colonial perceptions became intertwined, creating a mixed and stratified racist system. In a similar hierarchy, the whites were obviously at the top, the “browns” in the middle and the blacks at the bottom.
- 42.
For the author and her generation, the love of Romeo and Juliet, so intense and destructive, symbolized times changing and a yearning for a new and more egalitarian society. On the contrary, for Mister Banya, a highly traditionalist teacher, Shakespeare’s work entailed completely different meanings. He explained how William Shakespeare—“a very clever man”—ended his drama with the death of both lovers. In Mister Banya’s opinion, Romeo and Juliet’s original meaning was an exaltation of obedience and tradition, not of love. From a similar perspective, there was no place for mixing between Indians and Africans.
- 43.
It is noteworthy that Indians identified themselves with the rational and intrinsically good-hearted Prospero, whereas the Africans associated the wealthy Wahindis with another foreigner, Shylock, the Jewish usurer protagonist of The Merchant of Venice. In this way, in the symbolic economy of Alibhai-Brown’s text, the figures of Miranda—a potential victim of rape by the wild brute—and Jessica—Shylock’s daughter who voluntarily moves away and ultimately rejects her religion and her father to marry a Christian—combine to form a powerful trigger for fear. In a similar situation, the disruption of the father’s status quo may be provoked by both the exterior—rape—and the interior—the acceptance of a new order, which is estrangement and betrayal.
- 44.
It worthwhile to briefly quote the suggestive opinion of Dennis Austin Britton, who in his “Re-turning Othello” stresses the importance of the “here” contained in “Othello”. Although his context differs from mine, Britton’s assertions expand the boundaries of the belonging of a stranger such as Othello in Venice or the Wahindis of Uganda. In both cases, there was a “here”, which underlined a share of the right to citizenship, as partial and impermanent as it may have been (Britton 2011).
- 45.
Narayan was born in a traditional, vegetarian Indian family, Hindu by religion. Although she received her education in a Catholic school and her mother had displayed images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on her altar, Narayan’s family had always respected Hinduism’s culinary taboos. The philosopher has constantly felt uncomfortable with these taboos, which are often used in the Indian political frame to set the different communities against one another (Narayan 1997, pp. 170–172).
- 46.
Incorporation and rejection, however, are not the only approaches towards food. On the one hand, eating “ethnic food” is a clear sign of an open mindset and a positive outlook regarding others. On the other hand, however, this can lead to an oversimplification of cultural and identity issues (Narayan 1997, pp. 180–182).
- 47.
Regarding the migrations that occurred in East Africa after the independence of Kenya, Tanzania and, above all, Uganda, Jayaram distinguishes between “twice-removed” and “suppressed” communities (Jarayam 2011, pp. 235–236 ff).
- 48.
«Attraverso l’invenzione della cucina abbiamo cambiato la nostra storia culturale e sociale. I piatti imparati dalle nostre madri—quelli che cuciniamo sempre e con piacere, che ci mancano quando ci allontaniamo da casa—hanno una storia più grande della famiglia e della regione di provenienza e sono il risultato di invenzioni ed esperimenti millenari che hanno modificato la nostra dieta, i nostri gusti e la nostra vita […]. Cucinare ci fa sentire umani» (Agnello-Hornby and Luzzati 2012, pp. 12–13).
- 49.
It has been possible to follow a similar perspective because, in my view, all identities are ephemeral, transient and, ultimately, not constraining. To define what I am, for example, the label Italian—while it is much more appropriate or less dubious than that of Indian for Alibhai-Brown, Appanah, and Devi—seems to me of little importance, as it is true that it partly defines me but also limits me.
- 50.
«Parfois, je l’impression que mon pays c’est un peu ici. C’est ici que ma fille est née, c’est ici que j’écris, c’est ici que j’ai mes amis. Mais, au fond de moi, je ne me suis sentie vraiment chez moi qu’avec Matthew. Avec lui, j’étais moi-même, comme réconciliée, avec cette aisance et pourtant cette peur de décevoir qui n’existen qu’avec les gens qu’on aime et las pays qu’on chérit» (Appanah 2005, pp. 69–70).
- 51.
«Toute une partie de moi se trouvait à présent en suspens, apatride et orpheline de tout» (Devi 1993, p. 42. Emphasis added).
- 52.
«Elle était solide et véritable. Elle était une maison accueillante au fond de laquelle on aimerait se blottir ou se cacher» (Devi 1993, p. 107).
- 53.
Cavafy, too, experienced migration. He was born in 1863 in Alexandria, Egypt. His father was a Greek importer-exporter who had lived in England and acquired British nationality. In 1870, after his father’s death, Cavafy and his family moved to Liverpool, England, only to return to Alexandria in 1877. In 1882, political turmoil caused the family to move again to Constantinople. In 1885, Cavafy returned to Alexandria, where he lived for the rest of his life.
- 54.
Ithaca by C.P. Cavafy, in Mendelsohn (2009).
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Anna Agate, Ilaria Caputo, the organizers of and the participants in the International Conference on Negotiating Identity in Migration Processes, and especially MariaCaterina La Barbera, who acquainted me with the works of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Simonetta Agnello Hornby. This paper is dedicated to Annamaria, my beloved migrant soul who has now found her home.
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Caputo, L. (2015). Origins, Journey, and Home: The Issue of Identity in the Work of Three Diasporic “African-Indian” Women Writers. In: La Barbera, M. (eds) Identity and Migration in Europe: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10127-9_8
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