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Diaspora, Law and Literature Law & Literature Edited by Daniela Carpi and Klaus Stierstorfer Volume 12 Diaspora, Law and Literature Edited by Daniela Carpi and Klaus Stierstorfer An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License, as of February 23, 2017. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. ISBN 978-3-11-048541-7 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-048925-5 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-048821-0 ISSN 2191-8457 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com TableofContents DanielaCarpi Foreword VII Klaus Stierstorfer Introduction: Exploringthe InterfaceofDiaspora, Law and Literature 1 Pier Giuseppe Monateri Diaspora, the West and the Law The Birth of Christian Literaturethrough the LettersofPaul as the End of Diaspora 7 Riccardo Baldissone Towards aGrammar of the Multiverse AGenealogical Reconsideration of Humans, Places and Diasporas 23 Jeanne Gaakeer Close Encountersofthe ‘Third’ Kind 41 Paola Carbone Fair Hearing and Fair Play in Multicultural Societies Diasporic Narrations from the Commonwealth 69 Peter Schneck Critical Subjects of Belonging Diaspora, Indigenism and Human Rights 89 Florian Kläger Theorizing Reflexivity in Literature, Law and Diaspora 113 Emma Patchett Overlapping Sovereignties Legal DiasporaStudies and the LiteraryText 135 Fabian Wittreck The Old ArmenianLawcode of Lemberg The Law of DiasporaCommunities as Literature? 155 VI TableofContents Melanie Williams The Diaspora of the ImaginaryinPoliticsand Poetics “Let the Godnot abandon us”–The PoetryofDerek Mahon 171 DanielaCarpi Cultural Mobility and Diaspora: The Case of Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock 187 Franziska Quabeck Cultural Rights and the PoliticsofRecognition in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go 205 Sidia Fiorato Diasporic Fragments Coalescing: Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’sGhost 223 Nilufer E. Bharucha The Indian Diasporaand Laws Reflections in Literature and Cinemafrom the Jahajis to the Transnationals 247 Avtar Brah ArticulationsAcross Diaspora, Law and Literature 273 Janet Wilson Queer Diasporas? LiteraryDiaspora Studiesand the Law 293 Chiara Battisti Unaccustomed Earth: Diasporaonthe Developing Reel 307 Leif Dahlberg Melancholic Face-Off: CarylPhillips’ Elegyover David Oluwale 327 Contributors 349 Index of names 355 Daniela Carpi Foreword Diasporastudies afford acritical perspective on the very visiblethematic field of culturalmigrancy and on debates about transnationalism and postcoloniality – debates which find aresonanceinthe resurgent multi-culturaldebates.¹ Although the term diasporaoften refers to acatastrophic dispersion, we must now extend the strict literal meaning of diasporatoinclude trade, labour, and culturaldiasporas. In fact the discourse on diasporaisintertwined with is- sues concerning multiculturalism,neocolonialism, and transnationalism under the large umbrella termofCultural Studies. Multiculturalism,inparticular, means at the sametime variety and cohesion; it implies deracination from one’shomeland and re-contextualizationwithin anew environment,while keep- ing one’soriginal culturalroots.How to combine the right to keep one’sculture with the necessity of adaptingoneself to new surroundings?Inthis sense the term diasporacan alsobeused as ametaphor: aperson mayfit into anew coun- try while keeping adiasporic consciousness.Inother words diasporacan mean geographic displacement,while at the same time entailing adiasporic sensibility that cannot be suppressed. All this is further complicated by aworld economy which is getting more and more transnational. To some extent global economyhas supersededthe concept of diaspora, be- cause everybodyispart of awidespread economic system that supplants barriers and privateinterests. In other words the idea of diasporamay slowlyfade away and become onlyaquestion of culturalmemory.But the issue of identity con- struction within cultural differencesstill remains.AsRobinCohen points out: In the postmodern world […]identities have become de-territorialized and constructed and deconstructed in aflexible and situational way; accordingly,concepts of diaspora had to be radicallyre-ordered in response to this complexity.² Whereastraditionallydiasporaentailedlivinginthe intersticesofasocietyasa consequence of theglobaleconomywehaveall become diasporicindividuals de- prived of theillusionofafixedidentityand culturalrole. Even in this sensethe term diaspora carrieswithin itself anegativeconception of liminalityand incom- pleteness. Samir Dayal, “Diaspora and Double Consciousness,” TheJournal of the Midwest Modern Language Association . (): –, . Robin Cohen, Global Diasporas (London and New York: Routledge,second ed. ): . VIII Daniela Carpi Thediscourse of diaspora displacesthe obsession with (particularlybour- geois) individual identity andthe wholeapparatusofnormativity that sustains it.³ Global consumerismthrives on cultural hybridities.⁴ Actually,hybridity hasal- ways been part of theculturesofthe world, thus intrinsicallyannulling the “myth” of theintegrity,purity, andnationalityofcultures. Discourses on diaspora must also take into consideration the concept of human rights. There are some fundamental rights for the individual that go be- yond anynationalism and which intrinsicallypertain to the individual qua human being. Forinstance: everybodyhas aright to life (Section 1, art.2of the “European Convention for the ProtectionofHuman Rights and Fundamental Freedom,” 1953), no one shallbesubjectedtotorture(Art.3)orshall be held in slavery (Art.4.1), everyone has the right to liberty and security of person (Art.5.1), everyone has the right to respect for his privateand familylife, his home and his correspondence (Art.8.1), everyone has liberty of religion. These rights must be respectedfor the sake of the individual in whatever community he/she happens to move. Humanrights therefore go beyond the concept of dia- spora: the fact is that each individual enjoys these rights wherever he/she ends up living.Tosome extent,human rights annulthe sense of diaspora: youare at home in the world. At thepresent time diaspora is thereforeacomplexissue to confront because itstraditional meaning is becoming outdated.WhatIobserveisthatthe term tends to survive as ametaphorfor identity crisis or alienation,asdoubleconsciousness or as aproblematization of multiculturalismorevenas“internal andshiftingim- balances of powerwithinWestern democracies, andamong minorities.”⁵ Consequently, it is necessary to distinguish between the cosmopolitan, the refugee, and the exile: the former does not share the same cultural condition as the latter ones. Whether or not it is regarded as aphenomenon coextensive with the histor- ies of decolonization, diasporaisadmittedlyfar from providing an adequate ‘ex- planation’ or account of recent transformations of nation-states.⁶ Some of these questions aredealtwithinthis volume whichrepresents an in- sightful additiontoanimportant ongoingdebate. Even in ade-territorialized con- cept of identity the ideasof‘home’ and ‘homeland’ remainpowerful discourses and herethe conceptofdiasporaisset against this linguistic background. Dayal, “Diaspora and Double Consciousness,” . See Brian Massumi, AUser’sGuide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia:Deviations from Deleuze and Guattari (Cambridge:MIT P, ): . Dayal, “Diaspora and Double Consciousness,” . Dayal, “Diaspora and Double Consciousness,” . Klaus Stierstorfer Introduction: Exploring the Interface of Diaspora, Law and Literature Diasporahas become acentral term in the studyofthe continual, and indeed exponential, rise in global migrationand dispersion. The concept has acquired its own inter-and transdisciplinary field of studies which has shown itself as eminently dynamic, vibrant and topical. In fact,diaspora studies can now be considered awidelyestablished research paradigm: Diasporaiscanonized by its inclusion in the ‘Very Short Introductions’ series of Oxford UniversityPress; it has its Reader,and its ownjournal.¹ While in this recent rise of the field, the earlyyears of diasporastudies show apredominanceofthe social sciences – with namessuch as William Safran, Robin Cohen, Avtar Brah or Roger Bru- baker starring that firmament – further disciplineshavemeanwhile joined the discussion with much verveand enthusiasm. Among these, literaryand legal studies have onlyrecentlymoved towards amore focused consideration of the diasporaparadigm, but now generate aparticularinterest. This is not onlybe- cause these two disciplines can contributevaluable insight and new perspectives to the field as much as they are set to draw further enrichment from theirengage- ment with the studyofdiaspora; lawand literature have themselvesmutual overlaps and stimulatinginterrelations, so that an exciting,productive triangu- lation between diasporastudies, legal studies