The Homing of Diaspora and Relational Positioning in Gooneratne’s A Change of Skies

Abstract

This paper studies Gooneratne’s A change of Skies from diasporic perspective. Globalization, colonization and global flow of labour have led people to shift to different parts of the world. This dispersion from the homeland and re-rootedness in the diaspora space is a complex phenomenon. It involves intersection of multiple spatio-temporal and personal factors that shape and reshape the diasporic subjects. Keeping this in view, the selected novel reflects upon the diasporic journey of a young Sri-Lankan couple who shifts to Australia initially for a period of five years but later on decides to reside there permanently. Bharat and Navaranjini’s experiences as immigrants in the host country and their struggle for homing of diaspora are representative of the efforts of all the immigrants who shift abroad for some reason or the other. Brah’s notions of diaspora journey, the formation of the diasporas, relational positioning , the homing of diaspora and Berry’s ideas related to plural societies and acculturation strategies have been used as theoretical framework for this research. The study is qualitative in nature and uses Belsey’s textual analysis as a method to interpret the selected text. The paper concludes that though the immigrants are treated differently on the basis of relational positioning in the host country, making diaspora composite formation due to distinctive historical experiences and multiple modalities of race, gender, class, religion, generation and language, they negotiate these differences and finally succeed in their efforts of homing diaspora space.