Overlapping space and the negotiation of cultural identity

Abstract

Salman Rushdie, in this resonant quotation, engages with the political concerns of diaspora: the right for individuals to lay claim to both their ‘home’ and ‘homeland’ cultures.¹ The emphasis Rushdie places on the word ‘heritage’ signals why diasporic individuals should be able to lay claim to these places. But what about the how of such assertions? How is one able to lay claim to different cultures? How are these affiliations created? And, how are individuals able to resolve differences in cultural nuances? These questions probe the workings of cultural identity formation and negotiation, concerning which existing theories offer only partial solutions. My research into children’s literature from the South Asian diaspora draws attention to this gap, but more specifically to the fact that currently there is no definitive cultural identity model which focuses solely on how post-migrant generations, including foreign-born migrant children (hereafter referred to as the ‘second generation’), negotiate their cultural identities. By addressing this gap, this chapter attempts to answer questions about how these diasporic individuals claim cultural identities, and a model theorizing this engagement emerges which is best identified as Overlapping Space. Drawing on both sociological and literary discussions of cultural identity, the Overlapping Space model demonstrates the ways in which second generation identities are reliant upon practices of enculturation.

‘We are. We are here.’ And we are not willing to be excluded from any part of our heritage; which heritage includes both a Bradford-born Indian kid’s right to be treated as a full member of British society, and also the right of any member of this post-diaspora community to draw on its roots.

(Rushdie, 1991, p. 15)