Cultural Survival in Exile: Diaspora and Masculinity in Vassanji’s No New Land
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1503.20Keywords:
diaspora, masculinity, identity, transcultural, victimAbstract
Gender, has an impact on virtually every facet of our lives. A person’s gender is an essential component of their complete identity. Some men do not subscribe to the qualities and features of hegemonic masculinity, yet, it is the cultural and institutional practices that can exercise their effect on these men. Given that masculinity plays a significant role in the lives of men and its impact on women and children. This paper investigates how masculinity is portrayed in Vassanji’s novel No New Land and examines how immigration to foreign places either promotes or challenges men’s sense of masculinity. An examination of the representation of significant male figures in Vassanji's No New Land provides views of two distinct civilizations and permits a transnational and transcultural comparison of the consequences of masculinity on men who migrate to various cultures. Given that gender studies often overlook the challenges men face compared to those faced by women under patriarchy, this study adds to the growing body of research highlighting the issues men encounter under patriarchy.
References
Adomako Ampofo, A., & Boateng, J. (2009). Becoming an Adult: The Training of Children in Ghana. Institute of African Studies Research Review, 19, 239-256.
Adomako Ampofo, A., Okyerefo, M., & Pervarah, M. (2009). Phallic Competence: Fatherhood and the making of men in Ghana. Culture, Society and Masculinity, 1(1), 59-78.
Balaji D, & Thenmozhi M. (2023). An Investigation Into the Psychological and Cultural Transformation of an Immigrant Woman in Bharati Mukherjee’s Novel Jasmine. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13(9), 2172-2178. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1309.02
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
Coleman, D. (1998). Masculine Migrations: Reading the Postcolonial Male in ‘New Canadian’ Narratives. University of Toronto Press.
Curry, T. J. (2017). The Man-Not. Temple University Press, U.S.
Davis, R. G. (1999). Negotiating Place: Identity and Community in M.G.Vassanji's “Uhuru Street.” Ariel, 30(3), 7-25.
Eter-Lewis, G. (2010). Sexual impotence as metonymy for political failure. In H.N. Mugambi & T. J. Allan (Eds.), Masculinities in African literary and cultural texts (pp. 160-177). Ayebia Clarke.
Fiaveh, D. (2016). Hegemonic Penile Discourses and Continuities in Penile Conceptualizations. Proceedings of the African Futures Conference, 1(1), 178–196. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2573-508x.2016.tb00053.x
Gyekye, K. (1996). African Cultural Values: An Introduction. Sankofa Publishing Company.
Harrison, S. (2008). Masculinities and Music. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Kayani, A. I., Zahra, K., & Anwar, B. (2023). Patriarchy and Counter Discourses: A Critique of Female Subordination in Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 23(3), 111-126. http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/gema-2023-2303-07
Lindsey, L. (1997). Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective. Prentice Hall.
Mohd Radzi, N. S., Dato’ Haji Abdul Hamid, B., & Abu Bakar, K. (2018). The Discursive Construction of Modern Masculine Identities in Contemporary Malaysia. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 18(3), 36–56. https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2018-1803-03
Nukunya, G. K. (2003). Tradition and change in Ghana. Ghana Universities Press.
Ojaide, T. (2010). Deploying Masculinity in African Oral Poetic Performance: The Man in Udje. In H. N. Mugambi & T. J. Allan (Eds.), Masculinities in African Literary and Cultural Texts (pp. 66-77). Ayebia Clarke Publishing Limited.
Ramphele, M. (1997). Teach me how to be a man: An exploration of the definition of masculinity. In D. Veena et al. (Eds.), Violence and Subjectivity (pp. 102-119). California Press.
Rollins, J. (2014). Picturing Canada: Narratives of Home and the (Trans-) National Imaginary in the Work of M.G.Vassanji. In A. Sayed (Ed.), M.G.Vassanji: Essays on his works (pp. 109-167). Guernica Editions.
Rungano, K. (2003). The Woman. In M. Daymond et al. (Eds.), Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region (pp. 385-386). The Feminist Press.
Sayed, A. (1997). Introduction: Writing History, Writing Diaspora: The In-between World of M.G.Vassanji. California Press. 102-119.
Shabanirad, E., & Dadkhah, M. (2017). A Foucauldian Study of Space and Power in Two Novels by Nadine Gordimer. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 17(4), 113–127. http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2017-1704-08
Vassanji, M. G. (2014). M. G. Vassanji: Essays on his works. In A. Sayed (Ed.), Toronto: Guernica Editions Inc., 2014, 3-36.
Smith-Rosenberg, C. National Violence: A fresh look at the founding era- Common-place. Commonplace. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://commonplace.online/article/national-violence-fresh-look-founding-era/
Rhodes, S. (1997). M. G. Vassanji: An Interview. Studies in Canadian Literature, 22(2), 105-107.
Vassanji, M. G. (1997). No New Land. Emblem, McClelland & Stewart.
