Navigating the Past, Visioning the Future: Constructions of Diaspora and Belonging in Black and Jewish Literatures

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation into the ways that Black and Jewish writers — specifically drawing on the works of Martin Delany, Theodor Herzl, Dionne Brand, and Irena Klepfisz — engage with politics of diaspora. Grounded in literary analysis of novels and poetry, I bring in historical, political, and theoretical lenses to understand the imaginings of diaspora, nationalism, and home that these writers express. I examine both historical circumstances as well as how constructions of identities like race, religion, and gender shape Delany and Herzl’s colonial visions in the nineteenth and very early twentieth century, then, I turn to how contemporary authors Brand and Klepfisz respond to this legacy and offer alternative conceptualizations of community, identity, and belonging. By examining two ‘fathers’ of nationalist movements and two contemporary feminist authors committed to diasporic belonging, I analyze how these current works can be understood more fully within the context of the 19th and early 20th century movements of Black Nationalism and Zionism that precede them. This project follows the logic of Brand and Klepfisz to recognize that the past is intrinsically tied to the present, but it does not have to determine the direction of the future. By comparatively analyzing these conceptualizations of community, identity, and belonging, I seek to present alternative methods of understanding the past and our current moment, and how we can think about possible futures beyond strict hierarchical and nation-state identifications.