A Question of Belonging
Reading Jean Arasanayagam through Nationalist Discourse
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9002671 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elaine Yee Lin Ho (0000-0001-8803-929X, University of Hong Kong, corresponding author), Harshana Rambukwella (University of Hong Kong) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 61-81 |
| Publication date | 2006-05-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Commonwealth Literature (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9894 • E-ISSN: 1741-6442 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0021989406065772 |
| OpenAlex | W2127075298 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Jean Arasanayagam’s writing, arising from a unique confluence of what can be considered minoritized identities in Sri Lanka (Burgher and Tamil), provides critical insights into the ways in which a marginalized consciousness seeks to carve a niche for itself within an exclusive, majoritarian nationalist discourse. Such minority self-fashioning is often seen in terms of a paradigm of resistance that deconstructs the dominant or hegemonic national discourse and renders identity mobile and fluid. However, we argue that Arasanayagam’s writing, rather than being “post-national”, is heavily invested in the idea of national belonging. Through close readings of a selection of poems, drawn from her earliest published work to recent writing, we explore the ambiguities and contradictions arising out of Arasanayagam’s desire for a self-identity in what can be loosely termed a Sri Lankan national imaginary
Aesthetics · Art · Consciousness · Epistemology · Hegemony · Identity (music · Literature · Media studies · National consciousness · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process · Sociology · Tamil · The Imaginary · Gender Studies · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |