A Discourse on Diaspora - Exploring Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Namesake’

Diaspora is defined by Stuart Hall, as one “defined not by essence or purity, but by recognition of heterogeneity and diversity, by a conception of identity which leaves with and through despite difference.” Diasporic discourse is marked by its supposed complexities and ambivalences arising, out of the conflict between localities and spatial duplexes. The concept of identity for the Diasporas is precariously bound within an episteme of displacement and the sense of exile. And a zone not defined by ethnicity and nations. The Namesake becomes a culture, hypertext dealing with Bengali culture, and its merging with foreign influences. As in Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat, the tone of the language and the subject matter of the novel work together, to help the readers find a space in which, to discover his own meanings and contemplate on the inner fables of life.