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Title Re-Remembering Home: Nostalgia and Displacement of Identity in Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

Author(s) SEHRISH NAQVI

Abstract The present study is qualitative in nature and aims to analyze the dynamics of re-remembering home with reference to nostalgia and identity. The research is delimited to Hurston’s Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”. The memoir is approached using Dr. Janelle L Wilson’s concepts presented in her book Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning. Being the last witness of the Middle passage, Lewis, the protagonist of the selected memoir, serves as the connection between nostalgia and (recreated) identity. The ‘third space’ created by Lewis is a reaction to the loss of home as he is being stripped of his identity. The textual analysis explains the outcomes of nostalgia and its relevance in the modern-day slave narratives. Hurston’s work is conservative, but it is also politically aware of its time, and it opens up new scope for African narratives. The significance of memoir with reference to contemporary Black Lives Matter Movement is investigated using Watson, Turner & Hines’s (2020) theory Black Lives Matter: We are in the Same Storm but we are not in the Same Boat which highlights the planned and systematic dehumanizing of blacks in America. It provides insight into the issues faced by displaced people. It justifies the Black Lives Matter Movement as after all these years discrimination against Black is still prevalent in American society.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2023-01-09

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