(The Politics of) Writing Home: Language, and Identity in the Literature of Displacement

Destruction is transnational: homes, places of worship, healing and community are annihilated across borders. One factor remains that unites the varying images of destruction: regardless of race, ethnicity, or creed, civilians are left to grapple with their new realities on the ground, including altered images of their homes. What the displaced once understood as ‘home’ is shattered, bringing forth questions of identity and homeland: how does each changing landscape impact their relationship to home(land), nationality, and identity? How does a displaced person negotiate what they remember about their homeland in light of the present conditions of violence against their community? And how do they write of a home that no longer exists as it once did? Creating a home through writing (Edward Said) in a world of displacement, where existence and identities are “site[s] of power to embed selective humanitarian practices that facilitate the exercise of hegemony” (Chimni, “The Birth”) means to find alternative ways to convey one’s homeland to the world. To resist this hegemony, translingual authors –authors writing in languages other than their own—transcend borders and enter communities where they would be unable to do so. In this seminar, we will explore how displaced writers use language and discourse to oppose forms of power, violence, and oppression. Translingual authors, described as “prodigies of World Literature,” illustrate that writing in the language of the other, which at times might be English, brings forth debates between critics who advocate one to “Forget English!” (Aamir Mufti) and others who argue that “The World Changed” (Muneeza Shamsie) through engagement with English. Authors who write in the language of the ‘other,’ occupy a unique space: to illustrate ‘home’ through storytelling and literature in a language other than their own, impacting social justice and geopolitics. As we consider writing across (linguistic) borders as a political choice that alters the dominant language and culture (for the two are re-written and subverted in poetic trespass in forms of resistance), I invite proposals for presentations to discuss the politics of “writing (about) home” in a fluid, hybrid world where notions of home are constantly contested and constructed in/through language. Some questions you may consider but are not limited to include: How do displaced writers use narratives to create a community to connect with others worldwide? What are the implications and politics of writing in the language of the ‘other’? How is language a site of both resistance and power? How do writers navigate hybrid identities and ideas of ‘home’ through storytelling and language? What are the politics and nuances of translating the experience of one’s homeland into narratives? What are some limitations? Please email proposals for 15–20-minute presentations to [email protected]