People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

L’arbi Ben M’hidi University-Oum El Bouaghi

Faculty of Letters and Languages

Department of English

The Agony of Nowhere and Dischronotopicality in Joan Riley’s The

Unbelonging

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

A Master’s Degree of Arts in Anglo-American Studies

Submitted By: Supervisor:

Miss Messoud Debbih Chams Echourouk Dr. Salah Eddine AAID

2022-2023
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Candidate Declaration Form

I, Messoud Debbih Chams Echourouk Candidate of Master at the Department of English,

Larbi Ben M’hidi University, do hereby declare that the dissertation entitles The Agony of

Nowhere and Dischronotopicality in Joan Riley’s The Unbelonging in partial fulfillment of

Master Degree in Literature and Civilization is my own original work, and it has not

previously, in its entirety or in part, been submitted at any university.

Date 03/06/2023 ID number 117888158

Signature of the candidate

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Dedication

First, I dedicate this humble work to my beloved parents, and to my future

children, I want to express my deep and special thanks to my dear friend Amel

for her sincere friendship, significant help, and encouragement.

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Acknowledgments

First, all the gratitude to the one and only Allah the almighty.

I would like to thank my supervisor: Dr. Salah Aaid, I am thankful for his guidance,

motivation, and patience throughout the preparation of this dissertation. It is a privilege to

benefit from his competence.

Warm thanks to my beloved parents, my dear Mama your honest prayers enabled me to

conduct this research, and my father your encouragement made such a difference, I would

also express my feelings of gratitude to my siblings, Saliha, Sondra, Charaf, and Abdou and

to my dear friends Aber and Nardjess, I shall never forget your sincere friendship, and help

throughout this journey.

I will never forget the influence the teachers of this department had on me. Mainly: Dr.

Bouri, Dr. Dali Shawsh, and Dr. Haddad Mordjana, you are my idol teachers.
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Abstract

Black female immigrants from the Windrush Generation suffered from numerous forms of

racism, discrimination, and abuse in Britain. They are oppressed based on their race and

gender. Joan Riley’s writing explores how this double-layered oppression has generated

feelings of alienation, unbelonging, and self-denigration in the context of displacement and

diaspora. Home and identity are problematized via the metaphorical lens of “nowhere”. This

study examines how the process of finding a homely space in the borderline, where

belonging is frozen in a specific time and place, is complex. It explores how Riley’s The

Unbelonging creates a space of navigation that reconstitutes narratives of displacement,

placelessness, and (un)belonging for diasporic Afro-Caribbean female subjectivity. The study

borrows theoretical insights from diaspora studies, black cultural studies, and Peeren’s

Dischronotopicality. It reveals how Riley criticizes both British society and her own Jamaican

belonging, which foregrounds the motif of the borderline and its state of ambivalence. The

novel shows how the protagonist Hyacinth came across a very complex process of self-

identification. It starts with idealizing Jamaica as a symbol of absent motherhood, yet by the

end of the novel, she manifests a feeling of disappointment and grief and eventually realizes

the impossibility to belong to a fixed national space. The borderline is regarded as a

transnational location for diasporic subjects.

Keywords: Unbelonging, Nowhere, Joan Riley, Dischronotopicality, Borderline.

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Résumé

Les immigrantes noires de la génération Windrush ont souffert de nombreuses formes de

racisme, de discrimination et de maltraitance en Grande-Bretagne. Elles sont opprimées en

raison de leur race et de leur genre. Les écrits de Joan Riley explorent comment cette

oppression à double niveau a généré des sentiments d'aliénation, de non-appartenance et

d'autodénigrement dans le contexte du déplacement et de la diaspora. Le foyer et l'identité

sont problématisés à travers l'objectif métaphorique du "nulle part". Cette étude examine

comment le processus de recherche d'un espace d'appartenance dans la zone frontalière, où

l'appartenance est figée dans un temps et un lieu spécifique, est complexe. Elle explore

comment le roman de Riley, "The Unbelonging", crée un espace de navigation qui

reconstitue les récits du déplacement, de l'absence de lieu et de l'appartenance (ou non-

appartenance) pour la subjectivité féminine afro-caribéenne diasporique. L'étude emprunte

des idées théoriques aux études sur la diaspora, aux études culturelles noires et à la notion

de "Dischronotopicalité" de Peeren. Elle révèle comment Riley critique à la fois la société

britannique et son propre sentiment d'appartenance jamaïcain, mettant en avant le motif de

la zone frontalière et son état d'ambivalence. Le roman montre comment l'héroïne Hyacinth

traverse un processus très complexe d'auto-identification. Elle commence par idéaliser la

Jamaïque comme symbole de la maternité absente, mais à la fin du roman, elle manifeste un

sentiment de déception et de chagrin et réalise finalement l'impossibilité d'appartenir à un

 ‫‪7‬‬

‫‪espace national fixe. La zone frontalière est considérée comme un lieu transnational pour les‬‬

‫‪sujets diasporiques.‬‬

‫‪Mots-clés : Non-appartenance, Nulle part, Joan Riley, Dischronotopicalité, Zone frontalière.‬‬

‫ملخص‬

‫لقد عانت المهاجرات األفارقة السود من جيل ويندراش من أشكال عديدة من العنصرية والتمييز واالعتداء في‬

‫بناء على جنسهن وعرقهن‪ .‬تستكشف روايات جوان رايلي كيف أن هذا القمع المزدوج قد أحدث‬
‫بريطانيا‪ .‬يتم قمعهن ً‬

‫شعورا باالغتراب والعدم االنتماء واالهتمام بالذات في سياق التهجير والشتات‪ .‬يتم تشكيل المشكلة فيما يتعلق‬
‫ً‬

‫بالمنزل والهوية من خالل مجاز "ال مكان"‪ .‬تتناول هذه الدراسة كيفية عملية إيجاد مساحةـ منزلية في الحدود‪ ،‬حيث‬

‫يتم تجميد االنتماء في زمانـ ومكان محددين‪ ،‬وهي عملية معقدة‪ .‬تستكشف الدراسة كيف يُنشأ مساحة التنقل في‬

‫روايةـ "العدم االنتماء" لجوان رايلي والتي تعيد تشكيل سرديات التهجير وعدم المكان واالنتماء (غير المنتمي)‬

‫للشخصية األفرو‪-‬كاريبيةـ الشتاتية‪ .‬تستعير الدراسة رؤى نظرية من دراسات الشتات ودراسات الثقافة السوداء ونظرية‬

‫"ديسكرونوتوبيكاليتي" لـ بيرين‪ .‬تكشف الدراسة كيف تنتقد رايلي المجتمع البريطاني وانتمائهاـ الجامايكي الخاص‬

‫بها‪ ،‬مما يبرز رمزية الحدود وحالتها المترددة ‪.‬تُظهر الرواية كيف تعقد البطلة هاياسينث عملية تحديد الهوية لها‪ .‬تبدأ‬

‫شعورا بالخيبة والحزن وتدرك في النهاية استحالة‬

‫ً‬ ‫بتثمين الجامايكاـ كرمز لألمومة المفقودة‪ ،‬ولكن بنهاية الرواية‪ ،‬تظهر‬

‫االنتماء إلى مكان وطني ثابت‪.‬‬

‫الكلمات الرئيسية‪ :‬عدم االنتماء‪ ،‬ال مكان‪ ،‬جوان رايلي‪ ،‬عدم التزام بالترتيب الزمني والمكاني‪ ،‬حدودي‬
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Table of Contents 

Candidate Declaration Form ………………………………………………………………… II

Dedication: III

Acknowledgments: IV

Abstract V

Résumé………………………………………………………………………………………VI

‫ ملخص‬.................................................................................................................................... ٍ VII

Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………VIII

General Introduction:…………………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter one: Chapter One: Historical and Conceptual Background of Dwelling and Writing in
Dischronotopicality 6

I. The Formation of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora in Britain……………………………….6

II. II. The Complexity of Afro-Caribbean Identity between Dischronotopicality and

Belonging…………………………………………………………………………………..10

Chapter Two: The Borderline of Nowhere between Racial Order and Self-denigration 19

I. Female Identities Living in the Borderline ………………………………………………...19

 9

II. The Traumatic Home of Nowhere 25

Chapter Three: Female Domesticity between Romantic Nationalism and Dischronotopicality

31

I. Jamaica of the Female Mind as a Romantic Non-Racial Home ……………………...…31

II. Dwelling in Dischronotopicality ……………………………………………………….38

General Conclusion: 44

Works Cited: …………………………………………………………………………………46

General Introduction

Following World War II, the first wave of mass migration took place in the middle of

the 20th century. Due to a labor shortage, Britain invited people from its former colonies,

including the Caribbean, to fill positions in a variety of industries, including manufacturing,

transportation, and healthcare. The Empire Windrush ship, which transported the first

sizable influx of Caribbean migrants in 1948, inspired the term "Windrush era" to describe

this period. Despite obstacles like racial discrimination and limited opportunities, early

migrants-built communities and laid the groundwork for the following generations. More

Caribbean people moved to Britain over time in search of job opportunities and a better life

for their families. Yet, in Britain, the Afro-Caribbean community expanded significantly and

underwent significant cultural changes in the 1950s and 1960s. In towns like London,

Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, they established close-knit communities, establishing

settings where they could safeguard their cultural traditions and support one another.

Political and social transformations in the Caribbean also had an impact on the

development of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. Some people looked for opportunities

 10

abroad, including Britain, due to the region's economic difficulties and the fight for

independence from colonial rule.

Afro-Caribbean fiction has significantly increased recently, becoming more well-

known and prominent in the literary community. This genre includes works that explore the

complex ideas of identity, culture, and diasporic home. It is created by authors of Afro-

Caribbean descent. The issue of home is one of the major issues covered in Afro-Caribbean

literature. Home has many different meanings for many Afro-Caribbean people, and it is

frequently tense. The Afro-Caribbean community has been severely impacted by the history

of slavery, colonialism, and displacement, which has resulted in a sense of rootlessness and

a question of belonging. Furthermore, the struggles of people juggling their ties to their

countries of residence and their African and Caribbean roots are explored in Afro-Caribbean

fiction. These pieces frequently explore the yearning for a physical home as well as the

desire for a strong emotional and cultural bond with a particular community.

Identity, belonging, and cultural displacement are all explored in Joan Riley's The

Unbelonging". The novel, which was published in 1985, has drawn a lot of interest for its

depiction of the protagonist's quest for acceptance in a society where she feels alienated.

This literature review aims to give a general overview of Riley's novel's critical reception and

major themes. The sensitive depiction of the experiences of marginalized people in The

Unbelonging and its nuanced exploration of identity has won praise. The protagonist

struggles as she juggles her dual heritage, and Riley's ability to depict the complexities of

cultural displacement has been praised by critics. A compelling narrative that connects with

readers is produced by the novel's evocative writing style and fully realized characters,

which have been cited as strengths. Furthermore, the story focuses on the protagonist's

identity search and the conflicts brought on by her mixed heritage. It examines the conflict
 11

between cultural norms and personal aspirations, highlighting the difficulties faced by

people who cross cultural boundaries. Similar to Riley, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys tells

the story of Bertha Mason, an Afro-Caribbean character who is referred to as the

"madwoman in the attic," and serves as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre." Rhys

examines issues like colonialism, racial identity, and the need for a sense of belonging. Sam

Selvon's "The Lonely Londoners": The lives of Caribbean immigrants in post-World War II

London are followed in this novel. It explores the characters' struggles with racism,

isolation, and cultural misunderstanding while they look for a place to call their own in a

foreign country.

The novel explores the challenges of finding a place to call home by examining the

emotional effects of feeling like an outsider and the longing for acceptance. Riley sensitively

explores the protagonist's struggles with cultural alienation, racism, and the loss of a sense

of rootedness as she explores the experiences of cultural displacement. Riley also sheds

light on the more general societal problems faced by people who are marginalized because

of their cultural background. In this sense, The Unbelonging makes a significant literary

contribution by illuminating the search for belonging and the universal human desire for

acceptance; To better understand the author's message and the social or cultural issues it

addresses. The present study aims to analyze the novel’s problematic portrayal of diasporic

homes amid the metaphorical equation of nowhere and chronotopic borderline as they

shape diasporic Afro-Caribbean female subjectivity.

Furthermore, Riley sheds light on the larger social and historical conditions that

influence the experiences of individuals. She clarifies the effects of colonization, migration,

and systemic discrimination, giving readers a better understanding of the difficulties

associated with cultural blending. The study explores how all unpleasant experiences
 12

generated by displacement and diaspora shape the socio-cultural and psychological

formation of the heroine, Hyacinth, in the novel. It also seeks to interpret the author's

imagination into the realm of reality to examine how nowhere is portrayed.

Riley focuses on the protagonist's quest for self-awareness and her battle to fit in

with a society that frequently rejects and alienates her. The novel discusses issues including

racism, prejudice, and the difficulties that people have assimilated into the dominant

society. Riley emphasizes the value of ethnic pride, the necessity for self-empowerment,

and the demand for social acceptance and understanding via her narrative. This raises the

question of identity and how belonging is deeply rooted in the author’s novel. Overall, the

novel under study can be viewed as a potent examination of identity and the difficulties of

belonging, challenging readers to think critically about social conventions while embracing

their own sense of self. However, this study also aims at exploring the author’s search for

identity in the nowhere and where the outsiders are supposed to fit into this story.

The research topic has carefully been chosen thanks to my supervisor Dr. Aaid and

his worthwhile suggestions and guidance. Joan Riley is known for her examination of

subjects like identity, migration, and the experiences of Black women, she wrote the novel

Waiting in the Twilight, which was published in 1987. It won praise from critics for its

moving narrative and perceptive analysis of the experience of Black Britons. Cisely Barnes, a

young woman of Jamaican descent who immigrates to Britain in search of better

opportunities, is the protagonist of the novel. The story explores Cisely's struggles as she

navigates racial tensions, cultural clashes, and the complexities of her own identity against

the backdrop of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Likewise, in The Unbelonging, Hyacinth, a

young girl finds herself out of her home and struggling to forge an identity. The study

adopts an analytical methodology through which theoretical insights are drawn from the
 13

diaspora and black cultural studies in order to examine the way the novel (re)constitutes

narratives of displacements into a more meaningful story of Dischronotopicality. In this

regard, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, Avtar Brah, and Esther Peeren’s insights on diaspora space,

cultural identity, and diasporic chronotopes are used to set the theoretical framework of

the study.

This study is divided into three chapters. The first chapter, entitled Historical and

Conceptual Background of Dwelling and Writing in Dischronotopicality, gives an attempted

definition of diaspora and the experiences of the Windrush generation that paved the way

for the huge mass migrations. It also tackles several terminologies that provide key

analytical insights in two practical chapters. The second chapter, entitled The Borderline of

Nowhere between Racial Order and Self-denigration, explains how identity is used as a

strong tool root in certain spaces, this chapter is divided into two sections, the first one is

related to the border space of Avtar Brah, and the second section highlights the way

traumatic boundaries of race and abuse have shaped diasporic Afro-Caribbean femininity in

England. The third chapter, entitled Female Domesticity between Romantic Nationalism

and Dischronotopicality, deals with the struggles of the emigrants to forge a homely space

for themselves based on the romanticized vision of Jamaica that is less considered a form of

nationalism than a trope of absent motherhood. It also proves how diasporic femininity

moves from confinements of displacement to the complexity of dwelling in

Dischronotopicality where space-time relations are approached in a pluralistic manner.

 14

Chapter One: Historical and Conceptual Background of Dwelling and Writing in

Dischronotopicality

Introduction

The ability to secure a sense of belonging and being at home in Britain may have

been more contested than ever for members of the Caribbean diaspora in the 1980s, the

decade in which Joan Riley’s 1985 novel, The Unbelonging is set and was written, Joan Riley

is an afro Caribbean writer who focuses on the trauma and challenges of dislocation as

experienced by Third World women in the diaspora. It is a long history of oppression,

 15

discrimination, and racism, and the issues of gender and identity that black women had

suffered from. The present chapter tends to discuss the status of the afro Caribbean women

in Britain in general and the complexity of belonging in specific.

I. The Formation of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora in Britain

The mistreatment of hundreds of residents of the British Caribbean faced

widespread public outcry and anger in April 2018, and the British government later

acknowledged this fact. The British government and businesses encouraged immigrants

from the former British colonies in the Caribbean islands to cross the Atlantic and provided

work visas in exchange for their assistance in rebuilding society and the economy that had

been devastated by the Second World War. The Windrush Generation, a group of West

Indian immigrants who arrived between 1948 and the early 1970s, was named in honor of

the first 492 adults and children from Jamaica who arrived during that period and

disembarked from the passenger ship HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in London on

June 22, 1948.

The Windrush Generation has made significant and considerable contributions to the

multiculturalism of modern British life (Selvon 3). Both Sam Selvon and Linton Kwesi

Johnson are Windrush writers and artists—who have created a sizable body of Black British

writing and cultural energy that is as central to British society as the economic contributions

of the original Windrush migrant workers and succeeding generations (3)The exact number

of the Windrush Generation is unknown because many children entered and settled in the

country legally using their parents' passports, but it is estimated to be thousands,

highlighting the quantitative and qualitative Caribbean roots of modern British society

(Selvon 4).

For centuries, Caribbean immigrants and settlers have influenced British history and
 16

society. The transatlantic Caribbean diaspora has been developed through layered and

interconnected social, cultural, economic, and political landscapes of connection. Given the

widespread celebration of the profound and positive contributions of the Windrush

Generation, it was all the more outrageous and puzzling that, since 2012, the British

government's "hostile environment" policy has led to a great deal of unease and uncertainty

among many legal British Caribbean residents. Despite the fact that they were entitled to

such rights, this adversarial agenda consisted of several administrative and legislative

actions intended to make it harder for foreign nationals to remain in the United (Johnson 4).

This turned out to be the case for many Windrush settlers and their offspring, who, despite

having lived legally in the UK for fifty years, faced barriers to welfare services, internships,

and actual or threatened deportation back to the Caribbean (4).

The current targets of this only recently revoked crackdown—May 2018—are now

speaking out with their own political and cultural voices, much like writers and artists such

as Linton Kwesi Johnson and Selvon have done in the past with their accounts of the

difficulties of relocation in Britain during the Windrush era and their outrage at continuing

legacies of empire and slavery. New diasporic landscapes of resistance and calls for justice

are emerging through oral and visual media.

This dynamic topography reflects the long-standing tensions of diasporic landscapes

that earlier immigrants encountered as they traveled from Britain across the Atlantic in the

opposite direction. Those who were under stress felt the need to forge new routes, while

also compiling old memories and seeking stasis, to establish a new sense of home and self in

foreign settings and settlement in place, which develops the core of dislocated identities.

Diasporic landscapes explore the intimate connections that mobility continues to

forge between the body and place, reflecting spatial scales of embodiment and emphasizing

intersections. Diverse historical and physical trajectories of complex identities are formed.
 17

Experiences of migration and settlement are supported by these embodied landscapes,

which closely reflects Machado’s understanding that both individual and collective diasporas

are frequently predetermined and always in motion: "There is no road, the road is made by

walking" (Hunziker et al. 49).

It is revealed that there are traumatic tensions between optimism and pessimism,

joyful reflection, and solemn commemoration of time, space, and movement. However,

Tuan’s theory on spontaneous and voluntary processes of recollection [la mémoire

spontanée et la mémoire volontaire], and transdisciplinary approaches to memory, mobility,

and mindsets are reflective of these processes. He contends that while time flows with an

unchanging, linear current, the embodiment of human memory is not limited by either

space or time (Tuan 6). The memory of the migrant and settler operates vertically, cutting

across and into the present constructions of place and sense of belonging. These glimpses of

the past and future are fleeting and unexpected. Human memory brings together the past

and present in one location, joining or dislodging the individual or collective depending on

the circumstances at the time and with the depths of personal identity, knowledge, and

experience (6)

The experiences of the Windrush generation are very different from British

mainstream culture. However, connections can be made by outlining a number of routes

through visceral and emotive landscapes, giving the reader and the writer several ways to

discern various memories and diasporic identity narratives. The act of forging routes leads

to the diasporic landscapes that have been revealed historically and currently, and which

are now manifesting in poignant new political and cultural forms as British society grapples

with the dreadfully mistaken idea of a "hostile environment" (Fali 32). Although "landscape"

is frequently thought of as a noun denoting fixity, diasporic literature reveals the word as a

'bristling' with identities, memories, and the transformative effects of moving through the
 18

place (32). They are dynamic and cause commotion.

Diaspora is an old word, but thanks to its unexpected applicability to the

nationalisms and subaltern imperialisms of the late nineteenth century, it now has a

distinctively modern taste. It continues to be a persistent aspect of the ongoing

repercussions brought on by political turmoil in Palestine and elsewhere. However, if it can

be stripped of its authoritarian connotations, it might give a seed that can yield fruit in the

battles to understand the innovative sociality of the new millennium. It adds something

beneficial to the examination of cross-cultural and intercultural processes and forms. It is

also an outer-national term that contracts before the totalizing egotism and ambition of the

word global. It connotes change and difference (Baronian 9).

Diaspora denotes flight or forced experiences of displacement rather than freely

chosen mobilities; it puts life itself in danger. Slavery, pogroms, indentured servitude,

genocide, and other unnameable terrors all had a role in the formation of diasporas and the

spread of diaspora consciousness, where identification is less centered on common

geography and more on shared experiences. Memory, precisely, the social dynamics of

commemoration and memory is highly relied upon as an active agent that forges the

imaginary threads of diasporic experience. Another tension is created by the historical split

between the place of residency and the place of belonging: between the awareness of

diaspora-dispersal and affiliation and the unique modern structures and modalities of power

coordinated by the institutional complexity of nation-states. Diaspora identity exists apart

from and occasionally in contradiction to the political structures and morals of

contemporary citizenship (Baronian et al. 10).

The nation-state has frequently been portrayed as the institutional mechanism to

put an end to diasporic dispersion, either through assimilation or through return. Once

there is a chance for an uncomplicated reconciliation with either the place of sojourn or the
 19

place of origin. Some forms of diaspora consciousness—but not all—accentuate the

likelihood and appeal of returning. Although diaspora has mixed feelings about organicity,

the concept of sowing seeds is closely related to it. This legacy is up for debate and is a

dubious blessing. We must make an effort to balance the importance of the scattering

process against the alleged uniformity of the scattered material. It suggests significant

tensions between the present and the past, the seed in the ground or a packet, the fruit or

the body, and the seed in a bag, packet, or bag.

II. The Complexity of Afro-Caribbean Identity between Dischronotopicality and Belonging

In many areas of cultural studies literature and other distinct fields of study, the idea of

belonging or social identity is regarded as a serious issue. Due to its significant influence on

people's lives, a sense of belonging has also been a topic of study in the fields of education,

psychology, sociology, social psychology, and religion. Having a sense of belonging is

essential to understanding how people find meaning in their lives (Messaoudi 11-12).

We are pointed toward the divisive boundaries of "race," "ethnicity," and "culture."

The conflict between those who accept that we are essentially what we were but disagree

over which should be prioritized in political and historical calculations enmeshes us in the

diaspora. However, geopolitical alienation and historical marginalization have combined to

cause the angst-ridden desire for reconnection to a place of origin that can appear to anchor

identity and provide enduring alternatives to devalued constructions of blackness in African

diasporic communities scattered across the Americas and Europe (Lourens 176). Stuart

Hall's "twice diasporic" (6) suggests that Caribbean immigrant communities may be

experiencing an even more severe identity crisis. The term "home" was finally used after

years of brutal political and cultural (re)negotiation with Africa, India, and Europe. Travels to

the notoriously racial and culturally divisive metropolises of North America and Europe

destabilize Caribbean identities and the idea of the region as "home" (Brah176).
 20

The crisis of identity may be even more severe for Caribbean immigrants (179) As a

result, for African Caribbean immigrants, Caribbean subjectivity frequently takes the place

of Africa as the source of a resisted counter-narrative that can contest the construction of

blackness as a lack and absence encountered in these urban centers (179).

according to Esther Peeren, the notion of the diaspora gives priority to the promise

of return and the assumption of the rooted nation or region. Issues that come with the ideas

of "home" and "nation" make it more difficult to feel a sense of (re)belonging(74). In

addition, the 1980s, the decade in which Joan Riley's 1985 novel, The Unbelonging was

written, may have witnessed a greater challenge for Caribbean diaspora people to find a

sense of belonging to Britain. The struggle to assert a place and an identity—markers of

belonging and feeling at home— for the diasporic subject has been expressed in the social

construction of Black Britons as outsiders. As a reaction, physical displacement,

disorientation, and emotional dislocation are the main themes developed in the novel.

In addition, the aspect of spatial dispersal in diaspora studies takes precedence over

the temporal component of diaspora. So, through Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of the

chronotope, it seeks to theorize how space and time are inextricably linked in the creation

and dissemination of diaspora consciousness. The chronotope encourages a perspective on

diaspora identities as being based on removal from not only a specific place in time and

space but also from a specific social practice of time-space, through which a community

conceptualizes its surroundings and its place in them. The chronotope, as defined by Bakhtin

is "the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically

expressed in literature" (71). Diaspora then appears as a specific kind of “dwelling-in-

dischronotopicality” or doubled chronotopical interpellation (Peeren 67) Space is temporal

in the sense that movement in space is always also movement in time, and time is spatial in

the sense that the passing of time can only be perceived and given meaning (67). in space.
 21

Bakhtin elevates the chronotope to the primary organizing principle of all human life

because all behaviors, ideas, and experiences take place in time-space and are initially

understood in spatiotemporal terms. Because all signs must be audibly, visibly, or haptically

etched into space and time in order to have any sort of meaning, meaning itself becomes a

chronotopic phenomenon (Peeren 68).

Moreover, chronotope for Bakhtin is also taken into account as a cultural tradition,

supporting James Clifford's claim that the preservation of traditions is a central concern of

diaspora: "Diaspora cultures work to maintain the community by selectively preserving and

recovering traditions, ‘customizing’ and ‘versioning’ them in new, hybrid, and frequently

conflictual situations" (317).

Diasporic subjects do not simply interact with traditions as if they were superior to

them. Instead, they have been formed by and through traditions. There is a limit to how

much personalization and adaptation can be done because the diaspora community is itself

subject to a particular tradition of a time-space organization. The chronotope adds the

dimension of temporal distance and makes the two dimensions integral to each other. In

contrast, the diaspora is typically perceived in terms of displacement and assumes distance

from a specific space, and depends on homeland return. In other words, time and space are

always displaced from one another according to the diasporic imagination. Homeland is not

only far away but also physically distant or vanished, having passed through time and space,

yet still haunts diasporic subjectivity.

Based on the temporal focus of diaspora, Paul Gilroy points out that black counter-

cultures gave modernity a "syncopated temporality - a different rhythm of living and being"

(281). In a similar vein, James Clifford characterizes diasporic consciousness as "a sense of

rupture" and "an attachment elsewhere, to a different temporality and vision" (72) The

ambivalent temporalities of the nation-space are the result of the various temporalities that
 22

diasporic communities bring into (or reject) the linear historical time of the host nation.

Homi Bhabha has also illustrated the aforementioned idea (294). However, the

discussion of the temporal aspect of diaspora frequently does not overlap with those of its

spatial aspect. As time and space are fundamentally intertwined in the production of

diaspora subjectivity, a fully chronotopic analysis of diaspora would change it from a

"dwelling-in-displacement" (Clifford 310) to “a dwelling-in-dischronotopicality” (Peeren

72).In this sense, Community and subjectivity would be constructed based on its shared

particular practice of conceptualizing time-space and subjectivity within, through

performative enactment, rather than just (or primarily) on the basis of the concrete spatial

and temporal situation (where and when a community is located in objective space and

historical time (72-73). Therefore, viewing diaspora as Dischronotopicality prompts a view of

identity that does not involve some "true self" that can be recovered by going back to a

homeland that is thought to have remained frozen in time-space, but rather one that is

based on the various time-space constructions the subject encounters and performatively

enacts. Identity then takes on a plural form and refers to both the past and an unrealized

future.

This is in line with Stuart Hall's theory of identity. Accordingly, it is perceived in terms

of becoming rather than being and undergoing transformation, rupture, difference, and

discontinuity. In this regard, Hall notes that identity is “a ‘production,’ which is never

finished, always in progress, and always constituted inside of representation rather than

outside of it” (51). Additionally, it supports Gilroy's assertion that "identities are unstable

and mobile, always in flux and being remade" (xi). Diaspora communities end up embodying

these ideas of identity as a process of constant movement in time, space, and time-space

when seen through the lens of the chronotope (75). However, living in a state of temporal

and spatial displacement or dislocation is referred to as "dwelling in dischronotopicality." It

 23

has to do with how people who have left their native countries and are now navigating

unfamiliar cultural, historical, and geographic spaces feel a sense of belonging and the

development of their identities.

Caribbean literature frequently addresses issues of identity and belonging,

particularly in light of the region's diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The search for a

place to call home complicated racial and cultural heritage, and the character's sense of self

may all be sources of conflict for the characters. however, the novel of Sam Selvon titled

"The Lonely Londoners" explores the lives of West Indian immigrants in London during the

immediate post-World War II period. It emphasizes the concepts of alienation, isolation, and

identity. The story follows a cast of characters as they deal with racism, poverty, and

homesickness while adjusting to life in a foreign land. So, several important factors come

into play when analyzing how Dischronotopicality affects the subjectivity of the Afro-

Caribbean diaspora. Among them is Migrant Identity and Displacement Due to slavery,

colonization, and economic factors, the Afro-Caribbean diaspora has a complicated history

of forced migration and displacement. By upending the fixed geographies of place and the

linear timeline of time, dwelling in Dischronotopicality can amplify this sensation of

displacement. It has the potential to undermine traditional ideas of national identity and

forge a transnational identity that crosses borders and fosters a fluid sense of belonging.

Due to its significant influence on people's sense of selfhood, belonging has also been

studied in the fields of education, psychology, sociology, social psychology, and literary

studies. Having a sense of belonging is essential to explore and making sense of how people

find meaning in their lives. Our social connections, which demonstrate our kinship to

particular groups through shared ideals, principles, or behaviors, serve as the foundation of

our identity. For instance, developing relationships with people, adopting a religious

perspective, acquiring neighborhoods, etc., all these things enable us to be a part of the
 24

communities, groups, and families that make up human society.

Different terms are used to define a sense of belonging. For example, Hagerty points

out that it is "the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that

people feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment" (794). This

means that the connections we form with other people, places, groups, and cultures can

contribute to our sense of belonging.

We may feel various forms of connection or belonging to our family, friends,

workplace, or community depending on the context. However, the need for relatedness,

according to Deci and Ryan, "includes a person's striving to relate to and care for others, to

feel that those others are relating authentically to oneself, and to feel a satisfying and

coherent involvement with the social world more generally" (243). It is a basic need related

to shelter and safety as expressed by Dr. Kenneth Pelletier of the Stanford Center for

Research and Disease Prevention. In fact, social support and security may be crucial factors

in the distinction between those who stay healthy and those who fall ill (Messaoudi 12).

Additionally, according to a Michigan University study, "people with more social support and

a stronger sense of belonging report less depressive symptoms" (Ubani 15). So, a human

being without roots or a sense of belonging will suffer for the rest of his life and feel

neglected wherever he goes or travels. In this sense, a sense of belonging is very important

and one of the most important human needs. The goal of identity and belonging is to help

people discover who they really are while also giving them a sense that they are valued and

supported as prominent members of their families and communities.

People form a sense of who they are from birth. Their interactions with their

families, friends, and neighbors help to shape who they are as people. In actuality, a

person's identity is shaped by their traits, behavior, actions, and perception of others. So,

belonging refers to forming a safe bond with a specific group of people. They can be
 25

emotionally strong, confident, and able to handle challenges and difficulties when they feel

a sense of belonging and pride in their families, their communities, and themselves. This

establishes a crucial framework for their growth. Therefore, having a sense of belonging

simply refers to having a positive and satisfying sense of being a part of something, such as

family, a social club, or a group of friends. More importantly, in his essay "A Theory of

Human Motivation," the American psychologist Abraham Maslow ranked the need for

belonging third in his hierarchy of needs, behind only the needs for safety and physiology.

Maslow considers a sense of belonging a very important need for human growth and he

always comes up in conversations about it (Ubani15). The hierarchy of needs theory

developed in his book Motivation and Personality (1954) is well known. It is a vivid

illustration of the particular set of needs that people aspire to accomplish in their lives. The

most fundamental of these needs, physiological needs, are followed by needs for safety,

then for love and belonging, self-esteem, and finally needs for actualization. However, the

need to belong is something so important in the context of the Caribbean fiction work.

A subdivision of this hierarchical scale can classify the needs into two ranges: basic

needs (physiological, safety, love, and esteem) and growth needs. Maslow's hierarchy of

needs is often shaped in a pyramid (self – actualization). The highest level of all needs is self-

actualization, and to get there, one should first fairly satisfy their most basic needs before

focusing on their growth needs. One may come across several obstacles on the path to self-

actualization that would force him to break up such as divorce or unemployment. It would

prevent the person from satisfying lower-level needs and indicate an unanticipated end.

Because our society rewards motivation primarily based on esteem, love, and other social

needs (Mcleod) 6, Maslow observes that the percentage of people who fully attained self-

actualization doesn't exceed 1%. The belonging needs, according to Maslow, are the hardest

to satisfy and the ones that cause the most problems for people.
 26

The main goal of the definitions presented above has been to demonstrate how

participation in social groups generally contributes to the development and enhancement of

a person's sense of belonging. People's lives depend on this sense of belonging because it is

the source of information about who and what they are. People clearly need to feel like they

belong to different groups because they derive a sense of identity from these groups. This

need to belong is important because it is a feature of social beings and a kernel of identity

formation. Consequently, these social connections and emotional affiliations are symbolized

in the keen attachment between the self and place.

Belonging contributes to the formation of identity, yet it is not synonymous with the

latter (Novak 12). In a more globalized and postcolonial world, the question of what it

means to be rooted in a particular place and to identify with it has greater importance.

Although the sense of place writings that consider how geography affects culture are among

the oldest threads, it is important to note that the idea of a sense of place has recently

gained popularity and received critical attention in almost all fields. One should first be

familiar with the definitions of space and place as well as the distinctions between the

concepts to respond to this question. Different thinkers and experts in various fields have

defined space and place. The physical or geographic location that appears to be an

authentic, abstract, and limitless entity is defined as space by the philosopher Yi-Fi Tuan7

(6).

On the other hand, space can be characterized as a place where people have no

social connections. As noted by Tuan, space might be “open”, yet it is "marked off and

defended against intruders" (4). It is “abstract” because it does not require creativity to defy

its boundaries (6). Therefore, space can be characterized in this context as an area with no

strong identification or authentic value, an area with no social connection or real meaning

because it "tends to be generic and moveable, more a matter of enclosure than rootedness"
 27

(Siverly and McDowell 44).

Tuan further asserts that a place can only be defined by people through their

experiences, memories, and the meaning that is assigned to it (149). To illustrate, every city,

river, and forest was thought to be the embodiment of a spirit that "gave identity to that

place by its presence and its actions," according to the Romans (Relph 18). The word "place"

has been around since the beginning of time, but it was not until the 1970s that it started to

be understood as a place with a real meaning and strong associations. According to

renowned philosopher Malpus, "there is no possibility of understanding human existence

other than through an understanding of place" (15- 16). Within the same vein, Tuan

explains: "centers of felt value where biological needs, such as those for food, water, rest,

and procreation, are satisfied" are places (4). While both space and place can satisfy

biological needs, the place is special due to its significance, moral guidance, and emotional

support (4). In this respect, place as Tuan puts it "is more than just a place; it involves

human experiences, emotions, and meanings attached to the lived environment" (4). Even

though places have different meanings for different subjectivities, the most significant place

for everyone is their country for it signifies a reservoir of social connections and emotional

affiliations that provide one with a sense of belonging.

Conclusion

In conclusion, living in Dischronotopicality has an impact on Afro-Caribbean diasporic

subjectivity by refuting ideas of displacement, promoting cultural hybridity, establishing ties

to memory and history, opposing hegemonic structures, and forging diasporic solidarity. It

provides a framework for comprehending and navigating the intricate and varied

experiences of people in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora.

 28

Chapter Two: The Borderline of Nowhere between Racial Order and Self-denigration

Introduction

Understanding and defining who we are and what everyone needs requires an

understanding of identity and belonging. Building a strong identity and a sense of belonging

requires having relationships that are respectful and considerate. A person's sense of

belonging may be directly influenced by their personality, family, and culture. Particularly,

family, religion, and race serve as important foundational elements of identity and a sense of

belonging. Additionally, Identity is a fundamental human right that is frequently linked to a

sense of belonging. Individual characteristics make up the human character, and the

instinctive human sense of self begins at birth. People's identities are influenced by their

personal characteristics and the cultural environment in which they live. People's

knowledge, experiences, and perception of who they are influence their sense of belonging

to some extent. A person's experience and the degree to which they feel they belong to

something usually directly affect their identities and sense of belonging (Clarke 513). Since
 29

we constantly ask ourselves, "Who are we?" developing an effective sense of identity and

belonging may be challenging. What do people expect us to be? Where do we fit in? What

role do we play? At this time in our lives, individualism is at its height; decisions are

influenced by our unique perspectives. Human generations have long struggled with the

issue of identity and belonging. This present chapter focuses mainly on how the echoes of

nowhere are demonstrated in Joan Riley’s The Unbelonging through the lenses of the border

and homing space.

I. Female Identities Living in the Borderline

Since the 1980s, migrations have risen sharply throughout the world. The

widespread mass migration movements have occurred in all directions. Migration to

Australia, North America, and Western Europe has increased. Large-scale population

movements have also occurred within and between "Southern" countries. Recent

developments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have sparked large-scale

population movements. In some areas that were economic disparities within and between

regions, growing capital mobility, the desire of people to seek opportunities that may

increase their chances of success in life, political unrest, wars, and famine are some of the

factors that continue to be at the core of the motivation behind these migrations. People

who are relocating may include labor migrants (both 'documented' and 'undocumented'),

highly qualified professionals, entrepreneurs, students, refugees, and asylum seekers, as

well as previous migrants. Over 80 million of these so-called "migrants" were thought to

exist in 1990, according to the International Organization for Migration. Of these, 15 million

were refugees or asylum seekers, and about 30 million were said to be in "irregular

situations." According to some estimates, there were 100 million migrants worldwide in

1992, of whom 20 million were refugees (avatar brah 176). These new migrations call this
 30

construct even more seriously into question as global events increasingly make distinctions

like those held between the so-called "polyglot" and "economic migrants" untenable. New

displacements and diasporas are being produced by these recent migrations. The terms

"borders" and "diaspora" take on new meanings in the context of an increase in new border

crossings (Brah 177). This forges a borderline as a space of incongruity and ambivalence in

the British frontier.

These terms appear in the titles of numerous recent scholarly journals. Surprisingly,

though, there have not been many attempts to theorize these terms. This is partially due to

the difficulty in avoiding the blurring between diaspora as a theoretical concept, diasporic

"discourses," and distinct historical "experiences" of diaspora, as correctly noted by James

Clifford. In this sense, he describes continues, "They seem to invite a kind of 'theorizing' that

is always embedded in specific maps and histories. The conceptual terrain that these words

construct and traverse, however, may be precisely why it becomes necessary to mark it out

if they are to serve as theoretical tools (178). Brah suggests that the term "diaspora" should

be understood in terms of historically contingent "genealogies" in the Foucauldian sense;

that is, as an ensemble of investigative technologies that historicize trajectories of various

diasporas and analyze their relationality across fields of social relations, subjectivity, and

identity. He contends that the idea of diaspora offers a critique of discourses about fixed

origins while also taking into account a homing desire that is distinct from a desire for a

"homeland”.

This distinction is crucial, not the least because not all diasporas uphold a "return"

ideology. He analyzes the problematic 'indigene' subject position and its precarious

relationship to the idea of 'home' that the concept of diaspora embodies the nativist

discourse (179). Moreover, Brah discusses border as a political construct as well as an

analytical category and looks at some of the advantages and disadvantages of the concept
 31

of "border theory," particularly as it has been mobilized by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari

concept of "deterritorialization" and applied to the analysis of literary texts. The border is

inscribed within the idea of diaspora (177). However, the Border and diaspora are both

references to the geographical theme. This point needs to be emphasized because the

experience of location can easily blur due to the very strong association between notions of

diaspora and displacement and dislocation. Brah begins by drawing on the lengthy feminist

discussion surrounding questions of place, displacement, and dislocation, which gave rise to

the idea of a "politics of location" as locationality in contradiction.

Self-reflective autobiographical accounts frequently offer important perspectives on

the politics of place. He uses two of these accounts—a Minnie Bruce Pratt essay and Angela

Davis' autobiography—as narratives articulating a white woman's and a black woman's

feminist subject position. They accomplish this through a complex unraveling of the various

power operations that have the effect of naturalizing identities and the various costs

associated with maintaining or renunciation lived certainties attached to such identities. The

way in which these autobiographical accounts illustrate how the same physical and

psychological space comes to articulate various "histories" and how "home" can

simultaneously be a place of safety and terror is also of utmost significance for the topic at

hand. In the diasporic imagination, "home" is a mythical place of desire. Even though it is

possible to travel to the area considered the "place of origin," in this sense, it is a place from

which one can never return. On the other hand, home is also the lived experience in the

sense that the variety of feelings such as pleasures and pains, terrors and contentment, or

highs and humdrum of everyday lived culture (Diaspora, Border and Transnational

Identities, 188).

Routes shape roots and by inscribing a desire for home while simultaneously

criticizing discourses of fixed origins, the concept of diaspora creates a creative tension
 32

between the discourses of home and dispersion. The issues surrounding "home" and

"belonging" may be central to the diasporic condition, but how these issues are raised

depends on the history of the particular diaspora in question. In a scene from Joan Riley's

The Unbelonging, the main character, Hyacinth, goes back to the Highfields neighborhood

where she used to live with her father and stepmother. Her re-acquaintance with “the

shabby streets…the poverty smells, the old familiar dread” collapses into memories of her

abusive father “returned to haunt her” (89). She is so consumed by the memories of the

past that it takes her some time to notice the changes that have occurred: West Indian

smells were being replaced by Indian smells, and Jamaican inflections by accents from

Eastern Caribbean (89). Still, poverty and neglect are constant: “The streets looked seedy

and blighted as she wandered along, and there was something eerie about the silent rows of

condemned and boarded up houses, doors hanging off their hinges where vandals had

forced their way in” (89). The disparity between Caribbean immigrants' desires and their

actual daily lived experiences is captured by “Riley's verisimilitudinous portrayal of both the

stagnation and evolution of the Highfields neighborhood, exacerbating Hyacinth's feelings of

cultural estrangement and bolstering her resolve “to never end up here again” (Davis 28).

Thus, the social, cultural, and physical spaces they occupied made explicit the sharp

contradictions of Caribbean life in England—the unexpected gap between the imagined and

actual circumstances of Black migrant workers. so, Hyacinth, who was adopted by a father

she doesn't know and who was cut off from her nurturing past as a child, experiences her

arrival in London as follows (28): “There had been a sea of white faces everywhere, all

hostile. She had known they hated her, and she had felt small, lost and afraid, and ashamed

of her plaited hair as she looked enviously at the smooth straightness of theirs” (Riley 13).

Similar to Riley, migrants and their children experienced a harsh daily environment where

their Black bodies, skin, and hair stood out as abnormal and out of place. These alienating
 33

bodies had to be carefully managed and contained by isolating them into specific

communities. However, as explained, in the early years of migrant resettlement, Asian and

Caribbean communities also relied heavily on the sense of familiar community and mutual

dependence made possible in impoverished, segregated neighborhoods (Davis 28).

Cities, however, are not just places where newcomers congregate for the alleged

benefits of labor and the desired "safety" of the community, regardless of their physical

conditions. However, it is also the locations to which they are forced or voluntarily driven in

search of identity, home, and most importantly, a warm place to belong, as well as to which

they purposefully flee the past and re/imagine a future under the shadow of loss. The

narrator describes: “It had been at the airport in London. She had been feeling lonely and

small, wishing for Aunt Joyce, for Jamaica and her friends, hating the father who insisted on

sending for her’’ (13). So, presented Hyacinth's sense of un/belonging is further cemented

by her first being in London, when she first reckoned that she had left her mother country

with a heavy heart of disappointment.

Although many Jamaicans have found ways to improve their lives in Britain, they still

find it difficult to feel a sense of belonging there. Jamaicans in Britain are "othered" and

racialized as a result of stereotypes about their national identities. To cope with their

marginalization and exclusion in British society, they find comfort in their Jamaican identity.

This site of ambivalence and duality of experience forged the borderline experience in

Britain. This duality of experience has been clearly depicted in the discourse of a lot of

immigrants. As the example highlight: “I am both Jamaican and British but Jamaican first and

British second. I am loyal to two places, I have two flags in my heart, and I have a right to

participate in these places” (I Have Two Flags in my Heart 194). This suggests that many

Jamaicans in the diaspora do not have fixed identities or allegiances to one particular

location. No matter where they live, a nation's citizens serve as its most important assets
 34

and pillars of society. Transnational Caribbean immigrants establish multiple sites of loyalty

by seeing themselves as both "here" and "there." (195). At times, they cannot find

themselves either here or there, they belong nowhere. Subsequently, these individuals

“remain socially, politically, culturally and economically part of the nation states from which

they migrated” (Cohen 136). The effects of this duality or "in-betweenness" can be seen in

how they interact with both their host country and their country of origin (Smith 195). Gilroy

explains how diasporic subjectivity “operates within the parameters of a double

consciousness, active in an individual no longer in her/his country of origin” (126). Hall

describes identity, for diaspora populations as a ‘moveable feast’ which means that it is fluid

and continuously altered (277). Thus, the borderline within Britain is ambivalent, plural, and

transformative.

To negotiate citizenship and build ties to their idealized homeland and place of

residence in the diaspora, diasporic subjectivities employ sophisticated strategies. Although

they value both their British and Jamaican citizenship, many of them feel excluded from

British society as a whole. This results from their exposure to various forms of prejudice,

racism, and unfavorable stereotypes, which make it more difficult for them to feel at home

in Britain and limit their ability to exercise (Smith 195). “You blacks had better learn that you

are in our country now” (Riley, 17). Therefore, considering how these forgotten female

characters deal with the changing and unexpected anti-blackness climate in metropolitan

cities such as London in the middle of the 20th century and practice "changeability and

improvisation" (Sharp,106), they continue to exist fearlessly and achieve a sense of being

that goes beyond loss and alienation.

II. The Traumatic Home of Nowhere

As a result of the institutionalization of apartheid in 1948 and the population

registration act of 1950, the South African space became a network of racial boundaries
 35

where whites, Indians, coloreds, and blacks—these were the formalized racial groups—had

to paradoxically, cohabit separately (Serif 107). He asserts that the nation that resulted from

internal colonialism was imagined as essentially white, simultaneously instituting whiteness

as the norm and relegating the non-white to the category of deviations. He calls this "border

space" the national territory that is configured as a result of internal colonialism (107). As a

result, non-white ethnicities will naturally be labeled "other" if "white" is considered to be

the self, but internal colonialism also makes this ironically a fundamental and integral part of

the nation. As noted by Brah, borders generally have an underlying sense of contradiction

because their agonizing desire to prohibit conceals, in reality, an appetite for transgression

where the fear of the other still exists alongside the fear of the self (2).

The world in Riley's novel, The Unbelonging, is a collection of experiences she had

while she was first in London. Riley is a Jamaican and was raised in the city. The novel is

conceived as an act of memory. This collides with Brah's diaspora space or the border space

concept that was previously established. This is a space where multiple journeys combine

into a single trip. The idea of strangers is essential to the specific history and, consequently,

the narrative of the Caribbean diaspora. Considering how, as Brah suggests, the concepts of

“border and diaspora reference a politics of location” (5). Postcolonial Caribbean women

writers attempt to paint a vivid picture of the female character who experiences social and

gender subalternity at home in her native land by focusing on the postcolonial subject, not

only the male but the female subject suffers difficulties of representation and subalternity.

In the diaspora, she also experiences rejection and alienation. This woman does not belong

here and does not fit into the society. In The Unbelonging, the protagonist Hyacinth travels

to Britain against her will even though, as the title suggests, she belongs nowhere. Hyacinth

used to live in a small village in Jamaica with her aunt Joyce; despite being impoverished,

she is content with the cozy environment around her.

 36

Hyacinth's disintegration and cultural displacement brought on by racial

discrimination and gender issues started when her father decided to move to London. At the

age of eleven, Hyacinth leaves Jamaica and travels to the former colonial power, Britain. She

struggles with internal and external issues in Britain that stand in the way of her efforts to

create a diasporic identity that is both balanced and hybrid and is mediated by both Jamaica

and Britain. Moreover, the feeling of not belonging is a roadmap that guides Hyacinth

through the critical phases of her life. This explores "mental breakdown" as another

important theme. Due to the label of "Othering," which stands for deviation, savagery, and

disorder, Hyacinth is unaware that she suffers from a mental illness. Hyacinth learns that

immigration, despite being perceived as a liberating and empowering act, actually fosters

pain and alienation that lead to mental illness.

In addition to being caused by a series of racial and sexual traumas, Hyacinth's

mental disorder is also a result of the Other's curse, an internal psychological breakdown

brought on by her Blackness, gender subordination, and exploited innocence. As a result,

Hyacinth's journey is more difficult because she must cross borders to travel from the

outside to the inside. She continues to be a citizen of a commonwealth country, which was

once a colonized nation. This country still has stigmas associated with colonizers who exploit

and degrade formerly colonized people. The Caribbean immigrant is placed in a precarious

situation in the colonizer's country, where he or she is forced to negotiate racist stereotypes

and colonial ideologies while reshaping his or her identity abroad.

Further reading of The Unbelonging reveals that Hyacinth suffers from displacement,

disorientation, and uprooting as if her tranquil sense of belonging to her aunt and to

Jamaica were taken away when she set foot on English soil. When Hyacinth encounters

unwelcoming, despising, and racialized looks from passengers in the airport during her first

encounter with the West, she feels distressed and ashamed of her Blackness and ugliness.
 37

The narrator comments, “the shame of being made to feel different; in Jamaica, her color

didn't matter, for everyone else was the same” (Riley 81). Hyacinth begins to experience

diasporic consciousness and realizes she is an outsider and feels deeply ashamed of evoking

the colonial idea of the Other. Riley describes: “There had been a sea of white faces

everywhere, all hostile. She had known they hated her, and she had felt small, lost and

afraid, and ashamed of her plaited hair” (Riley 13). In terms of psychology, Hyacinth's first

encounter with White people is sufficient to make her aware of her difference and fill her

with fear and shame of being in a situation that prompts her urgent need to become

invisible to overcome her deep shame of being Black. Hyacinth hates herself and hates her

race, color, and body because of the rejection and hatred she still feels toward the racist

appearances of White people. Riley describes Hyacinth’s self-contempt as follows: “How

much she hated her brittle hair, the thickness of her lips…she had always wanted long hair,

would have given anything for it, and she wished with all her might that her prayers would

be answered and would become like them” (78). The borderline within England has

depicted its racial boundaries, which make the protagonist aware of her racially constructed

blackness. In this racial space, home in the host country is nothing more than a site of

denigration and contempt.

Hyacinth's hatred of her race makes the writer think of Toni Morrison's The Bluest

Eye, in which the female protagonist, Pecola, explores the connection between ugly and

Blackness. She ponders why White Western fixed ideological standards and norms

correspond with the standards of beauty that the White Barbie doll represents. This also

makes us think of Bhabha's mimicry, which he used to mask the shame and humbling nature

of the native part of his identity. When the inferiority of the Other and the superiority of the

Self collide, the Other tries to emulate the Self in order to accept and get over the feelings

of shame. Hyacinth makes an effort to avoid the White gaze, which is the same gaze that
 38

used to humiliate and bother her colonized ancestors (Fali 121). This incident is merely the

beginning of a painful series of racist abuse that drastically altered Hyacinth's process of

forming her identity in an alien environment (122).

Regardless, Hyacinth travels to London and her encounter with the White West is

tragic and full of disillusionment. She remembers only the female community in Jamaica,

including her adoring Aunt Joyce and friends Cynthia and Florence where she never

experienced prejudice or discrimination. However, Hyacinth's migration from Jamaica to

Britain represents a psychological shift in that she is cut off from the realm of the mother

figure, including her mother country and her aunt (122). She then enters the fatherhood

realm, which is the antithesis of what Clarisse Zimra describes as "the Logos of the Father"

and "The Silence Song of the Mother" (156). This brings to mind Julia Kristeva’s semiotic and

her parallel interpretations of Lacan's semiotic and symbolic in the stage of the child's mirror

(122). A mirror stage is being experienced by Hyacinth when she is separated from the

mother figure and placed in front of the symbolic, world of the father, which represents

order and occasionally cruelty. So, If a woman is able to claim a connection between both,

she is well prepared for the journey toward self-identity and fulfillment. According to

Morris and Dunn, in "Caribbean female literature the land and one's mother are co-joined"

(219). From this perspective, the trajectory of migration is considered an act of cordial

disconnection with the motherhood space. Thus, home is not be found in a location of

nowhere.

Zimra argues that the mother's presence, which represents the native culture and

sense of belonging, is ignored and silenced by colonial historiography and the Western

sphere (156). She contends that the challenges posed by the father's colonial authority,

which seeks to transform her, make it difficult for the postcolonial female subject, such as

Hyacinth, to recognize and cling to the realm of the mother's “native culture” (157).
 39

Therefore, female identity develops through early and ongoing connections with the

mother, contrary to the male identity, which marks the massive separation from the realm

of the mother figure according to many feminist theorists. They assert that a female identity

cannot be constructed without mother-daughter relationships (Morris and Dunn 220). As a

result, Hyacinth is caught between the harsh authoritative behavior of men and the realms

of female nurturing and intimacy. Is it possible for Hyacinth to create a new identity in these

circumstances? That brings us back to Spivak's original query: Is the subaltern able to speak?

Hyacinth seeks solace in her memories, dreams of her home country, and her loving aunt,

who despite being poor, provides her with female nurture and intimacy as a way to escape

her abusive and authoritarian father. These dreams help her overcome her sense of loss and

oppression by taking her back to Jamaica and her mother figure. Isabel Carrera Suarez

contends in "Absent (Mother) Lands" that Riley's novels are "shaped by a literal and

metaphoric absence: the absence of a mother, a mother tongue, and thus the self-female

and black-can only be reconstructed when this gap is bridged" (295).

Her mind struggled in confusion, unable to grasp the change for a few, endless

seconds. ‘You wet the bed again!’ (Riley 10). Hyacinth misses her early years in Jamaica

because the welcoming environment her aunt symbolizes makes her feel powerless. She

idealizes Jamaica as a way to escape the hardships of reality on foreign soil because she is

obsessed with the mother images there and with her aunt (124). However, the sentimental

notion of home has been shattered. As their relationship is built on exclusion, she

understands that British culture and Jamaican and Caribbean culture cannot coexist. She

comes to understand that the world she enters each night is unrelated to reality. The

gloomy weather in London serves to amplify how bitter and depressing she feels toward a

nation to which she has no desire to belong. Hyacinth rather carries a dual awareness of her

sense of self while negotiating her identity.

 40

Hyacinth needs to comprehend the significance that race and gender add to the

process of negotiating her identity, as the quotation suggests (126). She resides in a hostile

and cruel home where she is mistreated because she is a black woman. Additionally, she

encounters racist behaviors at a school where racialized prejudices follow her everywhere.

How can she then advance her identity negotiation to a sociocultural level in the midst of all

those limitations that reject her femaleness and Blackness? In this regard, home for

diasporic female black subjectivity is deemed to be traumatic and disrupted with

experiences that forge self-denigration and loss.

Conclusion

The novel illustrates how trauma continues to shape Hyacinth who, haunted by her

otherness, continues to be open to racial oppression and sexist abuse. When she begins

studying at school, she internalizes her hatred of herself and her Blackness. She feels the

same sense of alienation and hostility she did at the airport. Hyacinth's self-hatred and

denigration extend to her hatred of the school, which she despises because of the constant

taunting and labeling of "a monster" and "nigger" by other students who constantly serve as

reminders of her marginal status. In this sense, Riley writes: “You blacks had better learn

that you are in our country now! (17). Hyacinth also finds it difficult to put up with the

teachers' constant watchfulness because they see her as a potential threat and source of

illness. Riley explains how Hyacinth perceives the school as a place of racial and ethnic

oppression in this passage: “Hyacinth hates Beacon Girl school, and the thought that she was

sentenced there for another four years was hard to bear” (15). So, instead of being an

academic setting where students learn how to interact and socialize with others, the school

represents a jail cell, which exacerbates Hyacinth's victimization. She is warned by the

teachers not to exhibit any savage or barbaric behavior in the classroom; otherwise, they will
 41

send her “back to the jungle where you come from” (Riley 16). These phrases highlight how

racism and colonialism still affect her diasporic consciousness. Thus, the borderline within

Britain continues to inform her state of unbelonging as much as fatherhood symbolizes

abuse and threat to her identity. Home is no way to be found in the diasporic consciousness

because it is ambivalent and filled with trauma and prejudice.

Chapter Three: Female Domesticity between Romantic Nationalism and

Dischronotopicality

Introduction

There are many different experiences, narratives, and characters that represent Afro-

Caribbean female identity in fiction. The diverse experiences, hardships, victories, and

complexity of women of African descent with ties to the Caribbean are explored in Afro-

Caribbean fiction. These stories frequently explore issues of race, gender, identity, culture,

and how different social factors interact. Moreover, In Caribbean literature, time and space

are significant themes. The complex connections between the past and the present, as well

as the connections between various spaces both within and outside of the region, are

frequently explored in Caribbean literature. These themes are influenced by the Caribbean's

historical, social, and cultural context, which includes the legacies of slavery and colonialism

as well as the ongoing fight for independence and identity. This present chapter focuses on

Bakhtin's concept of “the chronotope” and “dwelling in dischronotopicality” in Joan Riley’s

unbelonging.

I. Jamaica of the Female Mind as a Romantic Non-Racial Home

 42

The literary traditions' emphasis on migrants' capacity to build homes by creating a

communal diasporic home, which frequently depends upon domestic spaces or the capacity

to a symbolic claim of the nation, is what drives the emphasis on the imagery of domesticity

in Caribbean diaspora literature. The nation is conceptual and supported by nationalist

practices and discourse (Evelyne 5). Legal borders and identity documents are not the only

things that define a nation; rather, they serve to enforce it through the dichotomy of

inclusivity and exclusivity (5). Nations are imagined communities based on their citizens'

capacity to envision their shared identity and common national narrative—basically, a

collective project of imagining and telling their nationalism, as Benedict Anderson

demonstrated in Imagined Communities. The Unbelonging by Joan Riley examines issues

with nationalism, the concept of home, and inclusiveness/exclusiveness. Authenticity, the

idea of the immigrant writer as a privileged intellectual abroad, the rift between emigrants

and their communities of origin, the unease of emigrants in new countries, the sense of

rupture or fragmentation for communities, families, and individuals, as well as the more

autobiographical idea of West Indian writers fictionalizing their lives in Britain in order to

depict West India are just a few of the important issues it brings together in Caribbean

literary studies (6). Moreover, we all occupy bordered, physical spaces—both domestic and

international—but for any form of habitation to feel like home, a conceptual leap and

imaginative act are required. Literature, in particular, captures this imaginative act through

both its form as a story and its content, which features characters who narratively describe

their identities and experiences. This project challenges conventional understandings of

diaspora and displacement. Instead of emphasizing cultural estrangement or giving authors'

experiences and ideologies more weight, I examine the complications caused by diasporic

connections, which complicate our understanding of displacement (7). However, according

to Anderson, for the concept of nationalism to be effective, the nation must also be
 43

imagined as "'historical,' [looming] out of an immemorial past" (11). This is because the

meaning of nationalism depends on the construction of antiquity that underlies a narrative

of the nation that goes as far back as possible (7). This is what Bhabha refers to as being

"poised on the fissures of the present becoming the rhetorical figures of a national past" in

his essay "Dissemination " (294). The nation's story of overcoming its problems and the

story that characterizes its people and their sense of nationalism and collectivism are

shaped by the struggles and tensions of the present. Literature speaks to the expression of

national identity, making it incredibly valuable for understanding concepts of home, nation,

and diaspora. (7) Moreover, Stuart Hall emphasizes the significance of this statement by

saying that "identity is always a question of producing in the future an account of the past,

that is, it is always about narrative" ("Negotiating" 5). With reference to the novel under

study, Hyacinth wants to talk because she needed someone to whom she can confide all the

pain she had felt since coming to England and from her psychotic father: “At the same time

there was an emptiness about her life, in her half-real world. Often, she would lie awake in

the silence of the night, perfectly still, the combined breathing of the other five girls in the

room underlining her isolation. She would lie there staring into the impenetrable darkness,

silent tears trickling from the corners of her eyes. She would have given anything for

someone to talk to, someone to confide in” (Riley 77). She wanted to share her story in

order to forge an identity, as I previously stated. But how would her identity and sense of

belonging change if she was not willing to tell strangers her story?

In the second half of the novel, Hyacinth has gone through a traumatic experience

when her father bit her after her stepmother, Maureen, had taken her kids and left the

house. Hyacinth's father turns all of his rage and physical abuse against her when she is left

home alone. The attempt at sexual abuse signifies the peak of this crisis. After experiencing

a psychic shock, Hyacinth immediately left the house. She stepped out of the house knowing
 44

that Jamaica could never produce a deviant, dishonest man like her father. She suddenly

understands the rationale behind White racism and starts to defend colonial discourses.

Because they are aware of Black people's violent, abusive, and savage behavior, the authors

use it to justify their otherness (Fali 127). She comprehends White people's racial

stereotypes and the constructed image of the "Other" due to her father's violent attitudes.

She decides to adopt it and follow the White racial order in order to reject and deny the

guilt and shame that her race as Black implies (127).

When she reports her father's abuse to the police, they presume that it is part of his

Black Other self and is neither surprising nor extraordinary for a Black person. The police

promise never to return her home and express no sympathy or compassion for her

predicament. Eventually, Hyacinth is sent to a Youth Reception Centre in Leicester for

children “where she stays in limbo, waiting to be placed in a more permanent youth home”

(Riley 26). Because she was convinced that white people didn't like “neaga”, she was almost

as terrified of calling the police after she ran away from her father's house. Stepping back

and deciding whether or not to call that she is unable to find anyone to confide in and has

not done so. And eventually, This is a component of developing one's identity in a foreign

country that Hyacinth was unable to achieve. “They don't like neaga here” (Riley 64).

The 1948 act in particular seemed to confirm the emigrants' status as British subjects

by granting them British nationality in several later British Nationality Acts. Colonial West

Indians were encouraged to take an interest in the nationalism of the European nation(s) to

which they were connected and, especially in situations like Britain's, where colonial people

were British subjects, to understand European national histories as their own and to think of

the colonial state as their national state. Colonial West Indians had a dual, legal condition of

belonging—the island and the metropole. Through its hegemonic policies, the British

nationality it granted to its empire's subjects, and the encouragement of its subjects to view
 45

Britain as a source of identity outside of the United Kingdom, Britain offered the promise of

belonging when the Black British subjects discovered that they were socially, but not legally,

excluded. (Evelyn 8). Motherland is typically thought of as the country, land, or nation of

origin, i.e. the place where the diaspora originated. What a paradox it would be for West

Indians to arrive in their motherland, which they know well but that only a small number of

people—mostly former students or Royal Air Force (RAF) servicemen—had ever seen, as

British cultural hegemony had taught them that Britain was their motherland. West Indians

who identified as British (both legally and conceptually) were then demonized by the nation-

state of Britain as immigrants or aliens. The risk here is a breakdown in identity(9). As Hall

clarifies:

Identity is not only a story, a narrative which we tell ourselves about ourselves,

but it is also stories which change with historical circumstances…Far from only

coming from the still small point of truth inside us, identities actually come from

outside, they are the way in which we are recognized and then come to step into

the place of the recognitions others give us. Without the others there is no self,

there is no self-recognition. (“Negotiating” 8)

The British perception of Black immigrants as different or alien poses a threat to

self-recognition, but the idea of diasporic identity—an alternative narrative that offers a

communal recognition to step into—holds promise. Senses of belonging are essential if

identities are formed in part through memberships in groups of people who share similar

identities (Evelyn 10). Hyacinth finds it easier to put up with the White gaze than the

physical abuse she experiences at home because she is freed from one level of oppression—

sexist abuse. She becomes accustomed to their racist, unwelcoming, and despising

appearances. She chooses to deal with the situation to transcend sexist patriarchal

boundaries as a first step in rejecting or, more accurately, moving past cultural and racial
 46

limitations. As she frequently does whenever she interacts with White people, Hyacinth

"always has to remind herself that they had not hurt her yet" in order to avoid getting hurt

(Fali 128). But “of course, they let her know she was not wanted, did not belong, but at least

they were not violent like black people” (Riley 69). Hyacinth chooses to keep everything

inside of her rather than trusting or telling anyone her story because she believes it to be

shameful. She is fully aware of how unwelcome she was as a black immigrant in British

society. She also knows that no one would try to listen to her about her father's abuse and

discrimination. “ She wished she could tell the teacher what it was really being in England,

but shrugged off the idea. She was probably like all the rest anyway, deep down underneath

it all” (Riley 50). Riley also states: “Hyacinth wanted to die of shame. She looked everywhere

but at the woman, feeling sick with embarrassment. Mrs Maxwell knew what her father was

like. How? how had she found out? who had told her? The questions tumbled through her

mind and her palms felt clammy. She had to struggle to keep her face blank, to stop the

tears of shame from falling” (50).

Moreover, Hyacinth was able to interact with African and Afro-Caribbean students

thanks to her university studies. In the process of reinventing her identity, this contact

brings out perspectives on origins, (be)longing, and the pain of gender- and racial-related

prejudices. Her early years and teenage years in Britain were marred by violent incidents of

racism and oppression. Hyacinth's feelings of cultural marginalization and anti-Blackness

hatred grow as a result of violent incidents (Fali 129). Hyacinth switches from interacting

with a monolithic White society to reaching out to Black people who are similar to her. As

she positions herself in relation to the other African Caribbean and African students,

Hyacinth develops a new perspective of her cultural identity in relation to the social and

cultural paradigm. Readers might occasionally believe that Hyacinth disregards Black

students (129).
 47

Hyacinth has disdain and prejudice against Black people with African ancestry. Over

her own race, she reenacts a second level of racism. Hyacinth's hatred of Black people,

especially Black men, can be explained by the fact that she came to believe that their

presence denotes curses, otherness, and violence. As a result, she makes an effort to avoid

them. She may have accumulated hatred for Black men in particular and Blackness in

general because her father, who is supposed to be her protector, was the first to oppress

her and suppress her sense of self. “God, she hated black men, she thought with revulsion,

tears slipping from under her closed lids” (Riley 93).

She also endorses the notion that African-Americans are perpetual outsiders and

belong to a lower social class. White people are at the top of the color classification

pyramid, followed by colored or Indian people, Black Caribbean people, and then Africans at

the bottom. Hyacinth always made it a point to ignore the Black students by arching her

nose in their direction (129). She must “show her difference in other people's minds,” as

Riley notes (81). Hyacinth found it difficult to work with others and forge an identity, as I

previously mentioned. If she does not belong to the black people, then where does she

belong?

At school, Margret White, an Indian girl, who used to despise Black students more

than White students is subjected to this double-racialized action of rejecting and despising

African roots. This is because other racialized actions that Hyacinth experiences are also

produced by the same racial paradigms. Hyacinth can now comprehend her peer's decision

to avoid making friends with Black people in order to avoid claiming and accepting her

Blackness. To feel more secure and confident, she prefers to interact with students who are

lighter in color. The fact that Hyacinth is of African descent escapes her consciousness. She

believes—or rather, she imagines—that Jamaica is a more democratic and organized

country than Africa, which is still racked by military coups and economic upheavals. She
 48

makes an effort to persuade herself that there are two different levels of blackness and that

the Caribbean level comes before the African one. In rejecting her otherness, (Fali 130) she

equates Africa with being “tribal, primitive, and uncivilized” (Riley 82). Hyacinth never stops

idealizing Jamaica whenever she speaks about the national concerns of the African and

Caribbean nations, holding on to childhood fantasies and memories from her native country.

African and Caribbean students draw attention to the fact that "the Jamaica" she describes

or imagines is wholly at odds with what she says. They claim that political unrest,

corruption, and violence are rife in Jamaica. Hyacinth rejects these presumptions because

she wants to rid her motherland and dreamland of the oppression, racism, and violence that

define her life in Britain.

That realization shocks her back to reality for a brief moment. Her refusal is a result

of her determination to leave homelessness behind and Riley's desire to emphasize her

sense of alienation from her motherland once more. She recognizes that feeling like she

belongs nowhere is an affront to her identity (130). Riley writes: "Hyacinth herself could

remember Jamaica with absolute clarity, and the one thing she had to say about it was that

racism did not exist there”. She speculated that some of the more illiterate individuals might

harbor some prejudice, but it would be nothing compared to Britain, and Jamaicans would

never harm anyone” (117). She gradually realizes that her identity is no longer fixed or

limited to the nation that colonialism had predetermined. Instead, it reflects a complex,

multi-layered identity that resists fixity in favor of fluidity and openness to transnational

transformation (Fali 132)). All in all, the romanticized vision of Jamaica that Hyacinth has is

less considered a form of nationalism than a trope of absent motherhood that she longs to

have to face the cruelty of the borderline.

II. Dwelling in Dischronotopicality

The concept of identity is understood as "social constructs, culturally and

 49

interactionally defined meanings and expectations, and as aspects of self-processes and

structures that represent who or what a person or set of persons is believed to be" (Vryan

2216). Vryan focuses on three different types of identities in his chapter Identity: Social

Psychological Aspects. One's perception of oneself as a member of a socially constructed

group is referred to as social identity or role identity. Sex and gender, family, race and

ethnicity, nationality, religion, occupation, sexual orientation, age, and voluntary subcultural

memberships are the main factors associated with this type (2216). Social identity is a

concept used by sociologists to explain how people comprehend who they are and the

reasons behind their actions. People categorize and identify as belonging to a particular

group in contrast to others. For instance, a Jew may identify as Jewish and see themselves

as distinct from Christians and Muslims as a result. According to sociologists, belonging to a

particular group can, in some cases, lead to different expectations about the person who

bears that identity; as a result, identity can be used to explain behavior in a variety of ways.

The ability to "possess many social identities, but those identities will vary in their

importance, centrality, or salience within different contexts, in turn affecting behavior

differentially" (2216).

As previously stated, the cooperative nationalism that Hyacinth was unable to

accomplish is the attempt by which she aspires to achieve belonging. Identity, then, is a

component of nationalism, which is reconfigured by the experience of diaspora in Britain.

More importantly, Esther Peeren investigates how Mikhail Bakhtin's idea of the chronotope

helped to explain how space and time are inextricably linked in the creation and

transmission of diaspora consciousness. He emphasizes that the chronotope encourages a

view of diaspora identities as based on removal from a specific place in time and space as

well as from the specific social practice of a given time-space. Diaspora, then, appears as a

specific type of dwelling-in-dischronotopicality, or doubled chronotopical interpellation

 50

(Peeren 67). This theoretical insight will explain how the diasporic experience becomes very

meaningful in the disruption of enclosed spatiality and well-defined temporality.

The majority of the time, in diaspora studies, the temporal aspect of diaspora is still

seen as the result of, and consequently subordinate to, an original displacement in space.

Attempts to define diaspora, where physical removal from a homeland remains the first

criterion and issues of temporality are glossed over, make it especially clear that space

continues to be the primary measure of diaspora (67). Riley even uses markers to describe

this disrupted temporality as follows: “It had been at the airport in London” (13). Moreover,

the Diaspora theory is correctly viewed by Anne-Marie Fortier as a component of a larger

movement "where the spatial takes precedence over the temporal in understanding social

change" (Fortier 182). Fortier's fusion of time and space into "time-space" replaces their

usual reduction to cause and effect (spatial displacement leading to temporal disorientation)

and signals their inextricable linkage in the creation and replication of diaspora

consciousness with specific places and times. However, it also bears on the constructions of

time-space that are so fundamental to diasporic living and diasporic memory (182).

To propose a view of communal diaspora identity as based on enforced mobility

from a specific location or a place in space and time, and also rather from the specific

construction of time and space, through which a community conceptualizes its surroundings

and its place in them, Peeren wanted to develop Mikhail Bukhtain's concept of the

chronotope as a social practice and tool of diasporic analysis. The chronotope's main point is

that space and time are inextricably linked; time becomes space's fourth dimension and

space is time's dimension. Space is temporal in the sense that movement in space is always

also movement in time, and time is spatial in the sense that the passing of time can only be

perceived and given meaning in space. Bakhtin elevates the chronotope to the primary

organizing principle of all human life because all behaviors, ideas, and experiences take
 51

place in time-space and are initially understood in spatiotemporal terms. Meaning itself

becomes chronotopic because all signs must be audibly, visibly, or haptically inscribed into

space and time to have any sense of meaning (68).

Hyacinth begins to seriously consider returning to Jamaica, her native country and

the place where her goals and aspirations are rooted. Charles cautions her against traveling

there because of the violence and corruption there, but she ignores his advice and clings to

her indulgence for her home country. While her fellow countrymen insist on embracing the

macrocosmic African identity that makes her unique, Hyacinth restricts her identity and

sense of belonging to a specific geographic area. To move past them, she wants to

acknowledge her experiences of exile, a constant state of fear, and alienation in Britain's

geographic boundaries, cultural restrictions, and socio-political limitations. Despite Charles'

repeated warnings to "watch that when you go back to your island, you are not

disappointed" (Riley 89), Hyacinth never changes her opinion of Jamaica (Fali 133). The

construction of Jamaica in Hyacinth’s mind has to do with the first model of home as a fixed

entity in the imagination of diasporic subjectivity. Her disappointment lies in the fact that

her inability to realize that her displacement “in time” has only made Jamaica changeable.

In Louis Althusser's model of ideology, the chronotope can be rephrased as an

ideology of time-space that imposes certain spatial and temporal norms on people to

compel them to participate as subjects in collective space and time. This interpellation is

doubled for diasporic subjects, who experience simultaneous interpellation from multiple

chronotopes. Subjected to home chronotope, host chronotope, and the third space

chronotope of the journey between these, as used by Judith Butler in The Psychic Life of

Power (Peeren 71).

To continue, as an "axiological category," the chronotope serves as a producer of

what Bakhtin refers to as “chronotopic values” (243). Time and space are “colored by
 52

emotions and values.” Since these values “mediate observation, measurement, and their

results” (Aronowitz 126). They become “part and parcel of every perception, every

awareness of a series of events” (Scholz 155). The affective aspect of the chronotope is

pertinent to the lived diaspora, where the affective associations or memories attributed to

the lost time-space of the home mix with the frequently opposing affective associations and

memories of the time-space of displacement. So, Jamaica stands for the motherly figure

that is still ingrained in Hyacinth's soul and any effort to remove it from her life poses a risk

of uncertainty and loss. To maintain her sense of self, Hyacinth actually fears losing Jamaica.

She decides to return home to her native country, viewing this move as a celebration of her

reconnection to her roots and a source of comfort. Hyacinth, who is seeking a warm, healing

connection with the Semiotic, the world of the mother figure, does indeed travel to Jamaica.

As soon as she set foot on Jamaican soil, she realized that the Jamaica of her dreams and

childhood did not match the Jamaica that she returned to.

When she returned to Jamaica, she did not find what she was looking for there. The

fantasies she had once entertained about Jamaica were now nightmares. This is the time

and space that Bakhtin described as colored emotions and values, and these values

eventually became ingrained in one's perception that everything changes over time,

including space and time. however, the initial encounter is sufficient to prevent Hyacinth

from identifying with her native country. The disorganized environment is overshadowed by

a chilling disappointment. Her identification with and longing for London changed from that

of her former village in Jamaica: “She thought longing of…England, so far away and safe.

God how civilized England seems now” (Riley 138). She learns that the fantasies she once

had and the pictures that once helped her cope with the stress of racism and violence were

just that—fantasies—while the reality is terrible. Hyacinth briefly believes she has lost a

place and her memories there. The second place she goes is to Aunt Joyce. As she made her
 53

way to the old "shak," she ran into Florence, a friend of hers. She found her sick and

decrepit. She told Hyacinth that Aunt Joyce passed away a long time ago.

By losing the mother figure she relies on, Hyacinth senses that she is on the verge of

ending her journey. Florence says: “ ‘Yu is a different person wid you speakey spokey ways.

You noh belong ya soh…go back whe you come fram.’ The words whirled about inside her.

How many times had she heard this since coming to Jamaica, or was it since she had gone to

England? She felt rejected, unbelonging. It was all so pointless, all for nothing…If it was not

Jamaica, where did she belong?” (Riley 141-142). However, Peeren thinks of the diaspora

experience as having a chronotopic influence. Even the same diaspora, which originated in a

common homeland's time-space, is lived differently by its various communities in their

scattered locations. The existence of such chronotopical variants suggests that each time-

space calls for a unique examination of how collective identities and memories are produced

performatively and possibly subverted there. So, Diasporic subjects will come up with

different adaptive or resistive strategies in different chronotopical environments because

what works in one time-space may not work in another (72).

Conclusion

Black counter-cultures, according to Paul Gilroy, injected modernity with a

"syncopated temporality - a different rhythm of living and being" (281). James Clifford also

describes diasporic consciousness as "a sense of rupture, of living a radically different

temporality" and as "a sense of attachment elsewhere, to a different temporality and vision"

(312, 318). The "ambivalent temporalities of the nation-space" have been described by

Homi Bhabha as a result of the various temporalities diasporic communities bring into (or

reject) the linear historical time of the host nation (Bhabha 294). However, discussions of

the temporal aspect of diaspora frequently do not overlap with those of its spatial aspect.

As time and space are fundamentally intertwined in the production of diaspora subjectivity,
 54

a fully chronotopical analysis of diaspora would change it from a "dwelling-in-displacement"

(Clifford 310) to a dwelling-in-dischronotopicality. Community and subjectivity would be

constructed in this way based on its shared particular practice of conceptualizing time-space

and subjectivity within it through performative enactment, rather than just (or primarily)

based on concrete spatial and temporal situations (where and when a community is located

in objective space and historical time) (Pereen 72-73). In this regard, Hyacinth does not

recover a fixed home that is “frozen in time and space” in Jamaica, but she discovers that

her identity “and home are constantly changeable along with her emotions and values. The

past after all is as equal in importance as “yet to be futurity”.

 55

General Conclusion

The concept of "unbelonging" describes the sensation of not fitting in or feeling

unwelcome in a certain setting, group, or culture. It includes the idea of feeling cut off from

or alienated from one's surroundings, whether those surroundings be a physical location, a

social group, or a cultural context. Unbelonging can result from a number of things,

including dissimilarities in one's values, beliefs, hobbies, or experiences from others.

Moreover, being out of place frequently results in a feeling of loneliness because people

may find it difficult to find acceptance or understanding in their immediate surroundings.

They may feel alienated or outcasts, and this strong sense of isolation may have an effect on

their emotional health and sense of self. People who recently immigrated to a foreign

nation, who are members of minority groups, or who have unique viewpoints that go

against societal standards or mainstream culture may experience this emotion more than

others. Feelings of unbelonging might generate feelings of loss, alienation, and self-

denigration. But they also can generate drives toward personal growth and self-

transformation.

In Afro-Caribbean fiction, the complexity of unbelonging and the emotions that

generate are thoroughly explored by the metaphor of "nowhere” in Joan Riley's The

Unbelonging. The novel digs into the topics of identity, belonging, and displacement while

examining the experiences of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the United Kingdom in the

1950s and 1960s. In The Unbelonging, nowhere is portrayed as a liminal space or a

 56

borderline where characters are caught between two opposing and confusing realities. The

traumatic home of nowhere is a metaphor that describes the feeling of not being fully at

home in one's native country nor fully accepted in one's host country. This sense of being in

the middle of nowhere frequently causes alienation, self-denigration, and a desire to

recreate home on the borderline of diasporic experience. Additionally, the difficulties that

Afro-Caribbean immigrants face as they negotiate racial prejudices and cultural differences

in the United Kingdom are depicted in Riley's novel. The story's characters frequently

experience marginalization, a loss of cultural identity, and difficulty establishing a sense of

place and belonging. They face the reality of being treated unfairly, dealing with

discrimination, and dealing with the challenges of daily life. Worse are the layers of

denigration and oppression that diasporic black femininity experienced in England. The

protagonist of the novel, Hyacinth, has been subject to racial prejudice and sexual abuse by

her father, which made her oppressed at the level of race and gender. This echoes the

traumatic home of nowhere where racial boundaries and violent abuse are the common

experiences that tear diasporic Afro-Caribbean female subjectivity.

All in all, Riley highlights the complexities of the female immigrant experience and

investigates the psychological and emotional impacts it can have on people and

communities in her portrayal of nowhere. She perfectly expresses the feelings of being

dislocated, the yearning for home, and the need for acceptance. Nowhere turns into a

symbolic location that stands in for losing one's roots and the difficulties associated with

adjusting to a new environment. It is portrayed as a state of in-betweenness, a place where

people struggle with their cultural heritage, deal with racial tensions, and seek a sense of

belonging in a foreign and unfamiliar land. It also can be presented as an ambivalent site,

which is forged by a doubled chronotopic interpellation where diasporic fiction in general

 57

and Joan Riley's The Unbelonging in specific are deemed to reconstitute an imaginary home

in the borderline.

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