Dialogues Across Diasporas focuses on the shared historical legacies of members of the Africana and Latina diasporas, and the cultural impact of the African diaspora in the Americas. This book seeks to emphasize connections rather than divisions among different migratory ethnic communities via a reconfiguration of borders and ethnic identities. This collection of essays has three major goals: first, to foreground shared themes and strategies in the literary productions of women of Africana and Latina/o descent; second, to highlight the importance of the arts for community activism within shared diasporic spaces; and third, to illustrate the potential of artistic and activist collaborations among women from both groups across disciplinary, political, national, and ethnic divides. Dialogues across Diasporas is divided into three sections. The first section provides a theoretical overview of diasporic migrations, politics, and identities. It argues that diverse diasporas can unite around shared political and cultural experiences such as converting contested spaces into communities and resisting rhetorics of exclusion. The second section demonstrates the diverse ways in which migratory women and daughters of the diaspora frame their histories, lived experiences, and different forms of knowledge via poetry, short stories, academic essays, and other art forms. The third section focuses on women's activism, suggesting opportunities for collaboration among and between diverse diasporic communities.
Preface Introduction Part 1: Diasporic Debates: Exploring the Dynamics of Gender, Race, and Migration Chapter 1: `Harvesting' Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Zora Neale Hurston's Literary (Dis)Articulation of Being, Myriam J.A. Chancy Chapter 2: Not in Our Mother's Image: Ekphrasis and Challenges to Recovering Afro-Mestizaje in Contemporary Latina/Chicana Historical Fiction, Marion Rohrleitner Chapter 3: Male Wives, Female Husbands: Immigration, Gender and Home in Calixthe Beyala's "Le Petit Prince de Belleville and Maman a un Amant", Ayo Abietou Coly Chapter 4: Embodied Translation: Dominant Discourse and Communication with Migrant Bodies-as-Text, Karma R. Chavez Part 2: Diasporic Dances: Performing Language, History, and Community Chapter 5: in tongues-the trouble inside language. Imag[e]ining presence, Olumide Popoola Chapter 6: A Freedom Stolen, Yvette Christianse Chapter 7: Reading Yvette Christianse: Reflections from a Border Scholar Activist, Kathleen Staudt Chapter 8: Pin-Stripe Alley, Nelly Rosario Chapter 9: A Box of Chocolates, Angie Cruz Chapter 10: The Sun Once Again Sings to the People, Ana-Maurine Lara Chapter 11: "Talking Tagalog" and "The Eyes Open to a Cry", Sasha Pimentel Chacon Chapter 12: An Afro-Mestizo Tamal: Remembering a Sensory and Sacred Encounter, Meredith E. Abarca Chapter 13: Recovering Afro-Mestiza Identities: A Borderlands Classroom, Selfa Chew Chapter 14: Discourses of Deference: Women and Submission in the Nigerian Diaspora, Veronica Savory McComb Chapter 15: Catherine Mary Ajizinga Chipembere of Malawi: Living an Extraordinary Life, Natasha Gordon-Chipembere Chapter 16: luchando, rimando, sacando, pintando: Young Female Artist Collectives in Ciudad Juarez, Kerry Doyle and Gabriela Duran Barraza Chapter 17: Constrained Activism: National Agendas versus Local Activities in Nongovernmental Organizations Serving Diasporic Women, Sarah E. Ryan and Milena Simoes Murta
