1st Edition

Cartographies of Diaspora Contesting Identities

By Avtar Brah Copyright 1996
    292 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    By addressing questions of culture, identity and politics, Cartographies of Diaspora throws new light on discussions about `difference' and `diversity', informed by feminism and post-structuralism. It examines these themes by exploring the intersections of `race', gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, generation and nationalism in different discourses, practices and political contexts.
    The first three chapters map the emergence of `Asian' as a racialized category in post-war British popular and political discourse and state practices. It documents Asian cultural and political responses paying particular attention to the role of gender and generation. The remaining six chapters analyse the debate on `difference', `diversity' and `diaspora' across different sites, but mainly within feminism, anti-racism, and post-structuralism.

    Introduction: Situated Identities/Diasporic Transcription 1. Constructions of the `Asian' in post-war Britain: Culture, Politics and Identity in Pre-Thatcher Years 2. Unemployment, Gender and Racism 3. Gendered Space: Women of South Asian Descent in 1980s Britain 4. Questions of `Difference' and Global Feminisms 5. Difference, Diversity, Differentiation 6. `Race' and Culture in the Gendering of Labour Markets: South Asian Muslim Women and the Labour Market 7. Re-framing Europe: En-gendered Racisms, Ethnicities and Nationalisms in Contemporary Western Europe 8. Diaspora, Border, and Transnational Identities 9. Refiguring the `Multi': The Politics of Difference, Commonality, and Universalism

    Biography

    Avtar Brah teaches at Birkbeck College, University of London.