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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

References

• Freedman, Samuel G. (2001) Lectures in nonfiction book seminar at the Graduate School of Journalism of Columbia University, New York.
• Khan, Aisha (2006) `"Deterritorialized Roots" and "Coolie Odysseys": Seeking a Diasporic Consciousness', paper presented at the 23rd annual Spring Symposium `Margins and Migrations: South Asian Diasporas across the World', organized by the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, 20 April.

Cultural Dynamics, Vol. 19, No. 2-3, 301-307 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0921374007080296


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hajratwala, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?