Helsingin yliopisto - Englantilainen filologia

Cross-Cultural Contacts: Diaspora Writing in English

A Literary Research Project Conducted Under the Auspices of the Department of English, University of Helsinki.

This research project was launched in 1998 to investigate the wealth of experiences and expression arising from cross-cultural contacts around the world. It is focused on cultural interaction between races and ethnic groupings in the English-speaking world and it will study the processes whereby reciprocal interaction between races and cultures leads to the construction of cross-cultural identity. We presume that a close comparative study of the literary production which arises from the border zones of diaspora will illuminate the processes whereby acculturation takes place or breaks down.

The broad aims of the project are

• To explore the diasporic border zones of cross-cultural contact in four English-speaking countries (Great Britain, Canada, Australia, the USA).
• To study the acculturation and/or ghettoization processes within these border areas.
• To investigate questions of 1) location, 2) identity, and 3) society as they are illustrated in diaspora literature.
• To postulate a coherent theory of a ‘transcultural diaspora literature’ which arises from and reflects those spaces where ethnocultural realities interact and affect each other. To conduct specific case studies which test this theory.

Director
Mark Shackleton FT, Docent

Researchers
Verna Heikkilä (FM)
Kristina Henriksson (FM)
Jenni Valjento (FM)
Tiina Wickström (FM)
Maija-Liisa Helenius (FM)

Contact address
Mark Shackleton – Department of English, University of Helsinki, Finland.
mark.shackleton(at)helsinki.fi
Fax +358 9 19123072