Humanities and Language Division

Abstract— Identity formation is integral to every human being where by a person locates oneself in society. However, in the case of immigrants, many of them undergo identity transformations as part of their adjustments with the host society. Bharati Mukherjee’s ‘Jasmine’ is the story of a village girl from India who immigrates to America and undergoes multiple identity transformations to assert her place in the American society. This paper is an exploration into Jasmine’s journey of transformed identities and how she emerges not only as a survivor but also a successful immigrant in America. It explains why these different identities are integral for her survival as an immigrant and ultimately throws light into the fact that for immigrants if the past is replete with sufferings and hopelessness, it is better to discard the past and move forward in life.


Index Terms— Identity, transformations, immigrant, survival, Bharati Mukherjee

Immigrants undergo displacement in their lives geographically as well as culturally. Diaspora literature talks about the stories of these individuals who are victims of multiple dislocations. It also throws light on the complexity of identity, the hybrid and hyphenated identities as well asthe difficulty in finding a sense of belonging. This paper gives an overview of Diaspora literature and the theme of Multiple Dislocation as seen in the lives of immigrants. The immigrant experiences portrayed by the first generation South Asian-American Diaspora writers Bharati Mukherjee and Meena Alexander are analyzed. It becomes evident that the experiences of the writers influenced their writings about diaspora experiences; the fissures and displacements further accentuated by their poignant styles of writing.The literature of diaspora becomes the collective expression of the nuances of the immigrant psyche.

This article draws from an ethnographic case study of a group of Thai-Sikh diaspora students in an International college of a Thai Public university. It examines the issues related to the identity of Sikh diaspora students in Thailand and how it affects their participation in extracurricular activities at the university. This study fulfil the deficit of abundant research in the area of Thai- Sikh diaspora studies. Based on Social Identity theory, this qualitative study focuses on the empirical data collected over a period of nine months mainly through semi-structured in-depth interviews as well as ethnographic observation. The major findings of this study are (a) the diaspora students mostly feel comfortable in their own groups because of the cultural and religious differences from Thai students, (b) their schooling in India or International schools have an impact on their socialisation patterns, (c) the unwillingness on the part of the host society to see them as ‘Thai’ limit their participation in extracurricular activities, (d) the fear of not being accepted and viewed differently impacts the lack of participation and (d) there is a lack of proper knowledge and understanding on the part of the Thai society about Sikh religion. This study emphasises the need of a mutual understanding between the Thai-Sikh diaspora students as well as the Thai students to accept the differences and broaden their networks outside of their community.

The state of Kerala lies in the SouthWest of the Indian peninsula. Kerala has a rich history and folk culture. The stories of Yakshi, the blood sucking, man-eating seductress vampire is very popular among the older and younger generations of Keralites. This paper is an exploration into the legend of Yakshi and how it is demonstrated in the society and culture of Kerala. These legends have influenced Kerala's art and literature significantly. Numerous stories were written and movies were made with Yakshis as subjects where they were given both sexual appeal and annihilating power. Visual media gave Yakshis a new lease of life by attributing more human characteristics to them. Yakshis are worshipped as deities in some parts of Kerala. The legend of Yakshi is a perfect example of how legends are intertwined with the religion and culture of a society, the reflections of which are manifested in the art and literature.