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Intimate History

Reweaving Diaspora Narratives

hajratwala{at}hotmail.com

While conventional academic diaspora narratives privilege sociopolitical/ economic causes, migrants themselves rely on such factors as coincidence, impulse, and destiny (karma) to explain migratory choices and outcomes. The literary nonfiction approach (what I call `intimate history') juxtaposes these insider and outsider explanations, weaving together journalistic, historical, and ethnographic methods with literary techniques, without resorting to fictionalization. I lay out three writerly `tools'—research, vulnerability, and speculation—that, I argue, allow for a more complex model of diaspora to emerge. I describe how these tools, developed and used in the process of writing my forthcoming nonfiction book, provide insight into the emotional and historical complexities around each diasporan's `moment of migration'.

Key Words: Fiji • Gujarati • literary device/technique/craft • migration • nonfiction • South Asian writing

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