From exile literature to migrant literature This shift challenges the binary logic of here and there by emphasizing movement, rootlessness, and the mixing of cultures, races, and languages....ambivalnce....

Migrant literature Settings: mass-migration in the twentieth century. (European migration to North America or Australia; migration from former colonies to Europe; literature in the context of guest worker programs (Turks, Italians or Greeks in Germany and Holland, for ex.); exile literature, such as that of exiled German dissidents during the Nazi period, etc.)

Migrant Literature Themes: Migrant literature often focuses on the social contexts in the migrants' country of origin which prompt them to leave, on the experience of migration itself, on the mixed reception which they may receive in the country of arrival, on experiences of racism and hostility, and on the sense of rootlessness and the search for identity which can result from displacement and cultural diversity.

Migrant Literature Useful categories: - displacement: physical displacement and a sense of being socially or culturally "out of place" - guest and host communities: which relationship? - emigrant versus immigrant perspective: "emigrant perspective" of the migrant: focus on the country of origin - "immigrant perspective" of the migrant : reconciled with the prospect of permanent residence in the country of arrival - primary and secondary migration: 1) work migration ; 2) the emigration of relatives to join the primary migrant - first and second generation migrants - between cultures - hybridity - bilingualism - assimilation vs integration - self-acceptance - pride, etc.

Is this list complete? Can we add anything? Let's read some Hijab scenes by Mohja Kahf

Hijab scene #7 – by Mohja Kahf No, I’m not bald under the scarf No, I’m not from that country where women can’t drive cars No, I would not like to defect I’m already American But thank you for offering What else do you need to know relevant to my buying insurance, opening a bank account, reserving a seat on a flight? Yes, I speak English Yes, I carry explosives They’re called words And if you don’t get up Off your assumptions, They’re going to blow you away.

Hijab scene #2 – by Mohja Kahf ‘You people have such restrictive dress for women,’ she said, hobbling away in three inch heels and panty hose to finish out another pink-collar temp pool day.

Sandra Cisneros First important Chicana writer a pioneer in her literary field as the first female Mexican- American writer to have her work published by a mainstream publisher

What do we mean by “Chicanas/os”? “The terms Chicano and Chicana (also spelled Xicana) were originally used by Americans in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano movement, mainly amongst Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The self-identification Chicano is still in popular usage today.” (source: wikipedia)

Sandra Cisneros - Born in Chicago, 20 December The only daughter in a family of six brothers - father's background: eminent but... - Cisneros's father : flew away from Mexico, always on the run between Chicago and Mexico City Cisneros's mother : voracious reader and more enlightened and socially conscious than her father (but: dependant) - when Cisneros was 11 she moved to a predominantly Puerto Rican neighbourhood of Chicago: inspiration for The House on Mango Street

While attending College Cisneros discovered how the particular social position she occupied gave her writing a unique potential. She recalls being suddenly struck by the differences between her and her classmates: "It wasn't as if I didn't know who I was. I knew I was a Mexican woman. But, I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, whereas it had everything to do with it! My race, my gender, and my class! And it didn't make sense until that moment, sitting in that seminar. That's when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn't write about." She cast aside her attempt to conform to American literary canons, realizing that instead of being something to be ashamed of, her own cultural environment was a source of inspiration. From then on, she would write of her "neighbors, the people [she] saw, the poverty that the women had gone through."

Cisneros about writing and The House on Mango street Links to an interview: Early life Writing The House on Mango Street: inspiration The House on Mango Street: the story