| This study traces a paradigm shift with regard to the concept of diaspora consciousness from a generation of black British writers who began publishing in the early-/mid-1980s to a younger generation of black British writers who began publishing in the mid-1990s. The first group of writers is made up of Fred D'Aguiar and David Dabydeen whose diaspora consciousness is closely related to memories of Guyana where they spent their childhood before leaving for Britain. They are aware of the multiple strands of their identities and examine contemporary Britain with its shifts and changes in defining what it means to be British. Their diaspora consciousness is participatory, generally positive, and optimistic. Diasporic people can construct non-fixed identities and thus change what it means to be British. Their feeling of "in-betweenness" is empowering in creating diaspora identities that transcend an atmosphere of fear and emphasizes fluidity, solidarity, cherishing of elements found in diaspora and actively embracing newness and change.Bernardine Evaristo and Andrea Levy represent a newer generation of black British writers. Unlike D'Aguiar and Dabydeen, they have not been born or raised outside of Britain. The connection between diaspora consciousness, identity, and the concept of Gilroy's Black Atlantic is examined by Evaristo, whose protagonists trace and claim their diasporic identities with the help of journeys they undertake on the routes of the Black Atlantic. The same can be said about Levy, who, like Evaristo, contemplates what Britishness means for the children of earlier Caribbean settlers in Britain. The other two writers I deal with in this group are S. I. Martin and Abdulrazak Gurnah. They both show the range of diaspora consciousness to be found among this newer generation of black British writers. Martin's interest in early black settlers in Britain emphasizes the importance of presenting the British public with the presence of black diasporas in Britain that go back for centuries and the active part they played in negotiating their place in British society as British persons. Gurnah, on the other hand, does not see anything celebratory in the condition of diaspora and is not willing to have his protagonist take advantage of the possibilities that diasporic life offers. He is oriented towards the future of how diaspora consciousness develops in a postmodern world of mass migration, displacement, and increasing numbers of refugees. |
