The Paradox of (Dis)location in Moyez Vassanji’s Novels – The In-Between World of Vikram Lall and The Gunny Sack
Denilson Mairura Onsengo
Kaimosi Friends University, Kaimosi, Kenya
Barasa Remmy Shiundu
Kaimosi Friends University, Kaimosi, Kenya
ABSTRACT:
The concept of migration has been a dominant topic that has elicited many scholarly debates. The African migration to the diaspora can be traced as far back as pre-historic times during slavery and colonialism and has continued to pervade through diasporic research. Most of the existing literary studies focuses on the experiences of African descendants in the diaspora. Little attention has been to the experiences if Indian immigrants in the East Africa region. Therefore, this paper seeks to address the paradox of dislocation in Moyez Vassanji’s novels The In-Between World of Vikram Lall and The Gunny Sack. The paper conceptualizes the concept of dislocation in the form of journeys, paradoxes, and experiences of the immigrant Asian as fictionalized in M.G Vassanji’s two novels. The novels were purposively sampled to meet the objective of the paper. The discussion was arrived at through close reading, analysis and interpretation of the selected novels. This study utilizes postcolonial theory as foregrounded by Homi Bhabha. The paper finds that the immigrants’ dislocation is marked by psychological and spatial dilemmas as well as emotional incubuses.
Published in: International Journal of Research in Interdisciplinary Studies (Volume 2, Issue 10, October 2024)
Page(s): 65-69
Date of Publication: 29/10/2024
Publisher: IJRIS
Cite as:
Denilson Mairura Onsengo, Barasa Remmy Shiundu, “The Paradox of (Dis)location in Moyez Vassanji’s Novels – The In-Between World of Vikram Lall and The Gunny Sack,” in International Journal of Research in Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 2, no. 10, pp. 65-69, October 2024.