International Journal of English Research

Authors
Mausam Kumari

Abstract
This article shall put forth the post-colonial feature dealing the diasporic identities. According to Oxford English Dictionary: identity is defined as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is” but in post colonial context identity is linked to the “other” that means they recognize themselves as “us” with the existence of the “other”. Otherness is a feature to recognize identity in post colonial era. The term Diaspora is prevalent during the post-colonial literature. It deals with alienation, displacement, existential rootlessness, quest for identity. It is a literature which involves an idea of a homeland, where displacement occurs and narratives of harsh journeys are undertaken. Diaspora is mainly a community living in exile. Exile and alienation from one’s homeland occurs mainly due to the need for earning or living. In the process of migration from homeland the roots of ancestral land is lost and one’s quest for identity is raised. Migration from one place to another and even from one country to other country occurs in search of identity. ‘Roots’ and ‘Rootlessness’ are the important features of Post-colonial writings. ‘Roots’ conveys ideas about background, ancestors, heritage as well as race and culture, whereas ‘Rootlessness’ occurs due to loss of one’s identity. In the process of earning a better living the inhabitants lose their identity, meanwhile they gets separated from their ancestral land which results in loss of their ‘roots’.