The LATERAL (Language, Literature, Culture, and Literacy) Research Group from the Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Studies Brawijaya University held the third online seminar through the Zoom platform on Wednesday (8/19/2020). They invited Wawan Eko Yulianto, Ph.D. from Universitas Ma Chung and Yusri Fajar, M.A. from FCS UB as the speakers.
The online session began at 9 a.m., with Emma Rahmawati Fatimah, S.S., M.A. as moderator. Wawan started off the first session with a talk titled “Muslim American Literature—Utterly Political Diaspora Literature,” in which he discussed Muslim diaspora literature in the United States. He began by discussing how the meaning of diaspora has evolved over time. Formerly, the diaspora was associated with Jews who migrated from Israel to other countries. People who moved from one place to another deliberately or for other reasons and ended up settling permanently in the new location now have a more general meaning.
Wawan stated that diaspora literature frequently serves as a witness to the diaspora’s experiences in many locations. In the lives of the Muslim community in the United States, diaspora literature plays an important role. He claims that the literary works written by the Muslim diaspora in the United States are mostly ideological. Many of the paintings depicted the sociopolitical environment at the time of their creation.
Then came the second session. Yusri gave a talk entitled, “Asian Diaspora in Europe: Redefining Identity and Homeland.” Yusri presented a European viewpoint on diaspora literature. The meaning of the motherland, in his perspective, is inextricably linked to the diaspora. “The meaning of homeland in diaspora literature is very dynamic because a lot of shifts happened in the community”, he said.
He considered that diaspora literature played an important role in a nation’s and country’s hybridity, or as a negotiator of identity. Yusri believes that diaspora literature plays an important part in the global literary environment. Diaspora literature served as a link between countries as well as a means of constructing and negotiating Asia’s identity.
After both sessions ended, the moderator led the question-and-answer session which was responded enthusiastically by all participants. The online seminar gave participants a chance to understand about diaspora, the literary works they created as well as their perspective of life far from the homeland.
(FCS)
