Longing for Belonging: Home, Homemaking and Diasporas in the Selected Pakistani Fiction Writing

Abstract

Pakistani fiction offers a rich tapestry of the diaspora’s life. Living in a foreign land and culture miles away from their homeland, diaspora’s life is marked by arduous journeys, perpetual struggle for settlement and career, legal restrictions, social exclusion, and racial discrimination. The increasing phenomenon of Islamophobia has put the diaspora in an even more precarious existential situation. As a consequence of social, political, and economic exclusion, the Pakistani diaspora faces a sense of homelessness in a foreign land and, hence, nostalgia for the homeland. This study delves into the intricate relationship between longing and belonging within the context of diaspora as depicted in the selected Pakistani fictional literature. It seeks to understand how concepts of Home and the practices of homemaking contribute to the complex experiences of individuals and communities displaced from their places of origin, as portrayed by Pakistani authors. By using textual analysis as a research method, the paper attempts to uncover the themes, motifs, and narratives related to Home, homemaking, longing, and belonging within the context of the Pakistani diaspora. In addition, this study explores how literary artists employ storytelling as a methodological intervention to comprehend the interplay of Home, longing, and belonging in diasporic narratives through a literary lens.