Translating Postcolonial Pasts: Immigration and Identity in the Fiction of Bharati Mukherjee

182 Pages·2017·1.03 MB·English

University of Miami
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Open Access Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations
2011-05-09
Translating Postcolonial Pasts: Immigration and
Identity in the Fiction of Bharati Mukherjee,
Elizabeth Nunez, and Jhumpa Lahiri
Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero
University of Miami, [email protected]
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Nunez, and Jhumpa Lahiri" (2011).Open Access Dissertations. 577.
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UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

TRANSLATING POSTCOLONIAL PASTS:
IMMIGRATION AND IDENTITY IN THE FICTION OF
BHARATI MUKHERJEE, ELIZABETH NUNEZ, AND JHUMPA LAHIRI

By

Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty
of the University of Miami
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Coral Gables, Florida

May 2011
©2011
Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero
All Rights Reserved
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

TRANSLATING POSTCOLONIAL PASTS:
IMMIGRATION AND IDENTITY IN THE FICTION OF
BHARATI MUKHERJEE, ELIZABETH NUNEZ, AND JHUMPA LAHIRI

Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero

Approved:
________________ _________________
Lindsey Tucker, Ph.D. Terri A. Scandura, Ph.D.
Professor of English Dean of the Graduate School

________________ _________________
Tim Watson, Ph.D. Ranen Omer-Sherman, Ph.D.
Professor of English Professor of English

________________
Bishnupriya Ghosh, Ph.D.
Professor of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
ALFONSO-FORERO, ANN MARIE (Ph.D., English)
Translating Postcolonial Pasts: (May 2011)
Immigration and Identity in the Fiction of
Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Nunez, and Jhumpa Lahiri.

Abstract of a dissertation at the University of Miami.

Dissertation supervised by Professors Lindsey Tucker and Timothy Watson.
No. of pages in text. (171)

This dissertation examines how postcoloniality affects identity formation in
contemporary women’s immigrant literature. In order to do so, it must interrogate the
critical fields that are most interested in issues of national and cultural identities,
migration, and the appropriation of women by both Western and postcolonial projects.
By examining the fiction of Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Nunez, and Jhumpa Lahiri
through the triple lens of ethnic American studies, postcolonial theory, and transnational
feminism, I will argue that theorizing postcolonial women’s writing in the United States
involves sustained analysis of how particular socio-political experiences are translated
into the context of American identity.
I am particularly interested in the manner in which female subjects in these texts
navigate between the various and often contradictory demands placed on them by their
respective homeland cultures and their new immigrant positions in the United States.
Although each of these writers depict immigrant women protagonists who adapt to these
demands in their own particular ways, a study of these characters’ gendered and cultural
identities reveals a powerful relationship between the manner in which women are
figured into the preservation of the postcolonial nation-state and the ways in which these
women utilize immigration as an occasion to appropriate and subvert this role in the
establishment of a new, negotiated identity.
This project draws on three important and current fields of interest to both cultural
and literary studies. Postcolonial studies, which has been central to the study of literature
by minority writers, provides a useful foundation for understanding hybrid identities,
dislocation, and the ways in which empire gave rise to nationalisms that utilized women
in the formation and preservation of the nation-state. Transnational feminist theories are
critical to understanding the implications of nationalism’s appropriation of women and
their bodies in it projects, and are especially useful in establishing feminisms that are not
limited by American or European definitions and that defy homogenizing the experiences
of postcolonial women. They affirm that there are many strategies for employing female
agency, and that we must consider the particular circumstances (economic, cultural,
racial, national, gender) that allow women of color to favor one strategy over another.
Finally, U.S. Ethnic studies will inform my readings of texts that are, at their core,
narratives of immigration to the United States and the seeking out of the American
Dream. However, this dissertation suggests, the precarious position of immigrants in a
nation whose ideals and dominating mythology are marred by a dark history of racism
and exclusionary practices plays an important role in the establishment of an ethnic
American identity in the United States.
For Eddie and Coraline Moon,
with all my love and gratitude.

And in memory of
my abuela, Urania De Guevara (1930-2005).

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Acknowledgments

I completed this project thanks to the generosity, vision, support, and love of
many people, and my words can barely begin to express my gratitude. I hope that each
of you knows how much I value all that you have done.
First of all, I am extremely grateful to have had a supportive and engaged
committee, whose academic expertise and personal dedication inspired me to challenge
my own intellectual limits as well as complete this dissertation in a timely fashion. Dr.
Ranen Omer-Sherman has been a mentor since I began my graduate studies in 2003, and
his contributions to my project and my development as a scholar are invaluable. Thank
you for your detailed comments on my chapters and the helpful advice about my place in
academia. My outside committee member, Dr. Bishnupriya Ghosh of the University of
California, Santa Barbara, inspired me to think more critically about the intersections of
American and Postcolonial studies at a conference in 2007, and I feel lucky that she not
only took an interest in my project, but was also willing to provide such insightful
feedback. My co-directors, Dr. Lindsey Tucker and Dr. Tim Watson each guided and
encouraged me in different ways: Lindsey, your wisdom and vision helped shape this
project; Tim, your attention to detail and compelling questions pushed me to refine my
arguments and has made me excited about how this project will continue to evolve.
Thank you both so very much.
I am also lucky to have had the financial support to pursue graduate studies at the
University of Miami. The English department generously funded me for five years with
Teaching Assistantships, which allowed me to pursue my academic, research, and
pedagogical interests. I am also extremely grateful to the College of Arts and Sciences for
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the Dissertation Fellowship that allowed me to spend an entire year researching and
writing. During the 2006-2007 school year I was fortunate enough to receive a year of
funding from the Graduate School, during which time my own writing was enriched by
my position editing theses and dissertations. Thank you to Doreen Yamamoto, the current
Dissertation Editor, for all the work that she does to facilitate this daunting process for
graduate students at the University of Miami.
The English department has provided multi-faceted support since I started the
M.A. program in 2003. I am indebted to all of the faculty for the intellectual curiosity
they inspired in graduate seminars, lectures, presentations, and personal conversations. I
am also grateful for the teaching support I have received from Gina Maranto, Director of
English Composition, and Professor Frank Stringfellow. In addition, the department
encourages the professional growth of its graduate students, and I appreciate the many
opportunities I have had to attend workshops, present my research to faculty and peers,
and travel to conferences. In particular, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to Dr.
Frank Palmeri and Dr. Mihoko Suzuki for their consistent academic and professional
guidance and their continued commitment to English graduate students. Also, my
heartfelt thanks goes out to Lydia Starling, for all that she does for the department and for
all of the times she has come to my rescue over the last seven years.
I would also like to thank my amazing family, starting with my parents, Tony and
Velia Alfonso, for their constant love, support, and unwavering belief that I can do
anything, and my Abuelo Felix DeGuevara. My in-laws, Alvaro and Miren Forero,
provided many hours of loving childcare so that I could work peacefully, knowing Cora
was safe and happy; that was a priceless gift for a new mother. My older siblings and
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their families provided me with the love, support, humor, and healthy doses of reality,
without which I would have been lost; thank you Isidron family (Dianna, Gas, Ellie, and
Ethan) and Alfonso family (Tony, Diana, and Chris). To my big sister, Dee, in particular:
thanks for being my first teacher and a great Tia. I am also extremely lucky to have a
wonderful group of friends who are like family. Crissa, Gloria, Jennean, Kristin, Shaleen,
and my grad school “wife” Kara – I am honored to be friends with such intelligent,
caring, and successful women; thank you for all of your love and support.
My daughter, Coraline Moon Forero, is too young to understand how she
contributed to my project, but I hope that someday she will know that nothing I
accomplish matters without her. I was merely floating around before she came along,
and her presence in my life has humbled and grounded me. Thank you, Cora, for holding
a mirror up to me every single day and compelling me to be the best version of myself.
Finally, nothing I say can do justice to the overwhelming love and gratitude I feel
for my husband and best friend. He is my partner in every sense of the word, and I
marvel every day at how lucky I am to have married him. His steadfast belief in me and
my work encouraged me every single day. His humor continually kept (and still keeps)
me from getting bogged down by the minutia of my work and everyday life. And his
willingness to do whatever it took to support me – including using his vacation time to
spend quality time with our daughter so I could write – allowed me to finish this project.
He is equally if not more devoted as a father, and that more than anything made me fall in
love with him all over again during the last few months of this dissertation process.
Thank you, Eddie Forero; I adore you.

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