Stories of the Diaspora

Throughout the diaspora, literature and stories are used as a way to connect people and to keep ties to the homeland strong. Topics such as culture, history, and discrimination are common throughout Caribbean diasporic literature. The presence of these themes helps to provide a commentary on the transnational community. Despite the importance of diasporic literature and the commentary it comes with, its validity is still questioned. While these opinions are not entirely uncommon, it doesn’t change the fact that these stories and writings are something that can connect people from one land to another.

Table of Contents:

Why Write?

The Importance of Caribbean Literature

Caribbean Literary Events in NYC

Recognition of Caribbean Literature

The Future of Caribbean Literature

Conclusion

WHY WRITE?

“It should give you not only comfort, but a sense of cultural obligation, to feel that you are an important part of the Caribbean as external frontier”

This quote from George Lamming, a Barbadian novelist, essayist and poet, shows part of the reason that people in the Caribbean diaspora write about the Caribbean and their experiences with immigration. He sees diasporic literature as a way for people to remain connected to the Caribbean and as a responsibility to bring Caribbean writing and culture out of the country and into the diaspora. This mindset, and the idea that there’s an obligation to one’s home country is part of what makes Caribbean diasporic literature so powerful. It ensures that values and ideas from the Caribbean continue to be explored and discovered as people move farther away from the physical place.

While keeping connections to the homeland is important for individuals and inspires many Caribbean authors to write, these connections are important for the Caribbean as a whole as well.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF CARIBBEAN LITERATURE

Another famous Caribbean author who advocates for the importance of diasporic literature is Edwidge Danticat. At the age of 12, Daticat moved to Brooklynn. She grew up in the diaspora and later became a writer. In an interview with Danticat on immigrant writers she talks about the influence that both cultures have had on her writing.

In this interview she also mentions the importance of Caribbean literature and how it can give people a better understanding of the Caribbean and the countries within it. She says that people often generalize the Caribbean and think of it as one homogenous place, but literature can help to show different aspects of Caribbean culture and history, and how it varies from one country to the next.

Lamming and Danticat show their own views on diasporic literature and how it keeps them tied to their home countries. They both mention the idea that bringing Caribbean literature to the diaspora is important because it keeps the culture alive, and keeps the Caribbean community connected.

 

CARIBBEAN LITERARY EVENTS IN NYC

The presence of Caribbean diasporic literature helps to keep connections to the homeland, but it also serves to bring people within the diaspora together. Looking at New York City in particular, places like libraries and bookstores hold events and programs that highlight Caribbean diasporic authors and the works that they have produced.

One bookstore in Flatbush, called the Greenlight Bookstore, held an event called “An Evening of Caribbean Authors”. The event featured the works of four Caribbean women, and they spoke about the novels they had written, and their experiences with immigration. The event highlighted and looked at the presence of Caribbean culture in the diaspora and also provided music and food.

The Flatbush branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system also holds events that center around the Caribbean culture and work to bring people together in the diaspora. One recurring program that they have is called Kreyòl Storytime.  It is a program that they hold to help preschool and kindergarteners learn Haitian Kreyòl. They read stories and sing songs, using Caribbean literature to pass the culture and language of Haiti onto their kids, even in the diaspora.

Places like the Greenlight Bookstore and the Brooklyn Public Library can be found throughout the diaspora. They use literature and the stories of Caribbean immigrants to bring people together and to make sure their culture is passed on and kept alive in the next generation, despite the fact that they are no longer living in the Caribbean.

 

RECOGNITION OF CARIBBEAN LITERATURE

The events held in the diaspora are very important for Caribbean diasporic authors, but there are opportunities for them to showcase their work on a larger scale as well. Every year OCM (One Caribbean Media) hosts a competition for the OCM Bocus prize for Caribbean Literature. This literary award can be won by any Caribbean citizen who has written a book, whether they are living within the Caribbean or the diaspora. The prize is $10,000 and the book can poetry, fiction or literary non-fiction. The winner is announced at the NGC Bocus Literature Festival in Trinidad and Tobago.

This events helps to bring together authors and literary enthusiasts from both the Caribbean and the diaspora. It also supports and recognizes the worth of Caribbean literature. There have been notions and opinions that Caribbean literature is somehow lacking in value, and this festival pushes back against those sentiments. Faith Lois Smith, an Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies and English at Brandeis University, writes in her article “Literature of the English-Speaking Caribbean” that Caribbean literature has often been disregarded due to the language that it is written in, or that it has been pushed aside as merely “noise”. A festival such as this one shows just how important and valuable Caribbean literature is, and it also shows that the community of Caribbean authors is actually large. It’s not something can be brushed aside anymore. 

 

THE FUTURE OF CARIBBEAN LITERATURE

While festivals and contests like the OCM Bocus Prize for Caribbean literature are helping to get Caribbean literature the recognition it deserves, it is also important to look at where it will go in the future. In the interview below, a group of women and Caribbean authors speak about how they hope Caribbean and diasporic literature will grow in the future.

One of the main points that they talked about was their hopes that Caribbean literature would become more prominent in schools, and education programs across the country. This was important to them because often times people will look at the Caribbean as just a place to vacation rather than a place to explore and learn about. Their hope is that Caribbean authors, and Caribbean authors in the diaspora can show the validity and the importance of Caribbean culture and history through their writing.

One of the women, Kaiama L. Glover, speaks about New York City as the center of the Caribbean diasporic community, and that it is an important place to discuss Caribbean literature because it is extremely relevant to the people living in New York. She mentions an “embeddedness” of Caribbean culture in New York City, and that, by teaching and reading Caribbean literature, it can bring an awareness to the greater city community of Caribbean culture and the value of diasporic literature.

 

CONCLUSION

Caribbean diasporic literature hasn’t been given the recognition it deserves in the past, but it is extremely important in keeping strong connections between people and in keeping Caribbean values and ideas alive in the diaspora. Hopefully, as events like the Bocas Literature Festival continue, people will begin to see the importance and value of Caribbean writing. It provides a platform for people to discuss their opinions on topics such as culture and history and it strengthens people’s ties back to their homeland. There are some places that are making an effort to celebrate and talk about Caribbean diasporic literature, like the Greenlight Bookstore, and the Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. If these programs and events continue, eventually they will reach a larger community, and Caribbean diasporic literature will gain the presence it deserves in schools and education programs.

 

 

REFERENCES

www.bocaslitfest.com/2015/nine-writers-compete-for-the-2015-ocm-bocas-prize/

www.bocaslitfest.com/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Lamming

http://go.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CCX3444700767&docType=Topic+overview&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=GVRL&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3444700767&searchId=R1&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true