Category Archives: Diaspora

Equiano’s Turkey

November 28, 2013 Yes, according to Mark Forsyth, the Thanksgiving bird is named after a country 4429 miles away. But not the first to be so named.  In fact, the original turkey was a guinea fowl from Madagascar, brought to … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Americas, Atlantic, Diaspora, Turkey, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Animals in Chicago

November 6, 2013 It seems right that the theme this year for the Chicago Humanities Festival should be “Animals: What Makes us Human.”   This city, after all, used to be called (and maybe is still called) hog butcher for … Continue reading

Posted in Americas, Animals, Atlantic, Diaspora, Environmentalism, Ethnicity, indigenous communities, Race, Spanish, World history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Oscar Hijuelos, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien

October 16, 2013 This week saw the passing of Oscar Hijuelos: guitar-playing, cake-loving (I suspect), also lover of bountiful, sometimes over-stuffed prose. His father was the morning-to-lunch shift cook at the Biltmore Hotel, so he definitely knew a thing or … Continue reading

Posted in Caribbean literature, Cities, Contemporary novel, Cuba, Diaspora, Food in literature, Latin America, Latino/a literature, Music | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Zora Neale Hurston: American literature as World Literature?

August 14, 2013 The polemical essay, “World Lite,” just out in n+1, is perhaps generating more heat than light.  But it does raise an interesting question: what exactly is “world literature”?  How broad its scope, and what could be in … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Caribbean literature, Catholicism, Colonization, Creole, Diaspora, Global South, Igbo, Latin America, peripheral networks, Race, slavery, Twentieth century literature, World religions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Turkish Munich

July 3, 2013 Last time I came by train.   What struck me immediately, getting out of the station, was the city’s Turkish population, out in force, women wearing head scarves and not looking conspicuous, walking comfortably up and down … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Cities, Diaspora, Germany, Middle East, Race, Racial violence, Turkey, Twentieth century literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Michelle Cliff, Adrienne Rich: Animal Sound

April 3, 2013 It’s surprisingly difficult to find a photo of the two of them.   In fact I found only one.   Yet they’ve been together since 1976, a companionship of almost 40 years. Maybe photos aren’t the point? … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, African languages, Animals, Auditory field, Black-Jewish alliances, Caribbean literature, Contemporary literature, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Media, Music, peripheral networks | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Junot Diaz, Octavia Butler: Other People’s Books

March 13, 2013 It was 1957 and she was ten.    She had managed to save five dollars, mostly in change,  but still a lot of money.   The public library had been fine up to this point;  now she was … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Contemporary literature, Diaspora, Latino/a literature, Remix, Science fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ntozake Shange, Alice B. Toklas: What Cooks Know

January 23, 2013 “The first effable gazpacho was served to us in Malaga,”  Alice notes.   She and Gertrude Stein would also find “entirely different but equally exquisite” versions of the that soup in Seville and Cordoba, cities once under Islamic … Continue reading

Posted in African-American literature, Cities, Contemporary novel, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Global South, Greek, Islam, Mediterranean, Middle East, Polish, Spanish | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mangoes: Richard Blanco, Sandra Cisneros

January 9, 2013 Conceived in Cuba, born in Spain, raised and educated in Miami– that’s Richard Blanco, as described by the inaugural planners. What poem would he be reciting on January 20? It’s not so easy to guess based on … Continue reading

Posted in Americas, Cities, Contemporary literature, Cuba, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Global South, Latino/a literature, Poetry, Spanglish, Vernacular dialects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shankar, Coltrane, Whitman: Within You, Without You

December 12, 2012 2012 is full of deaths at the year’s end.  Dave Brubeck last week; this week, Ravi Shankar. Shankar was half an American musician (the fractions don’t have to add up to a zero-sum game).  Since 1970 he … Continue reading

Posted in Afro-Asian alliances, Asia, Cities, collaboration, Diaspora, Educational institutions, Ethnicity, Global South, India, jazz, Music, Nineteenth-century literature, Poetry, public universities | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment