Our topic emerges from ongoing dialogues in postcolonial and diaspora studies, which illuminate the fluidity of national boundaries. Aligning with the MLA’s 2026 presidential theme, we foreground these overlapping structures of diaspora to reveal how, in Wittgenstein’s terms, a “complicated network of similarities” can unify seemingly disparate global contexts. Scholars such as Achille Mbembe and Arjun Appadurai highlight how transnational “scapes” of labor and capital often foster exploitation. Yet questions remain about the ethical and aesthetic ramifications of displacement: What strategies do authors employ to articulate new forms of identity? How are migrant laborers written into (or erased from) dominant narratives? The panelists address these concerns by combining literary analysis, critical theory, and empirical data.
Saraswoti Lamichhane demonstrates how Nepali poets abroad complicate inherited notions of “Nepali English literature.” Their works intertwine local histories with global contexts, troubling static ideas of belonging. Drawing on diaspora studies and comparative literary approaches, Lamichhane reveals how hybrid poetics simultaneously contests and reconfigures national identity. Rather than simply importing Western aesthetic frameworks, Nepali diasporic authors reimagine cultural memory, forging new modes of self-expression that reflect the fluidity of migration.
Analyzing Deepak Unnikrishnan’s Temporary People and citing statistics on worker fatalities, Megha Adhikari investigates the perilous conditions of South Asian migrant labor under the Gulf Cooperation Council’s kafala system. Synthesizing Marxist theory, postcolonial critiques, and Mbembe’s Necropolitics, Adhikari argues that Gulf infrastructure emerges from a morally fraught nexus of global capitalism and colonial-era labor practices. He underscores the urgent need to recognize migrant bodies as neither invisible nor disposable. His paper calls for a rigorous examination of policy, power, and profit in shaping the precarious realities of migrant communities.
Pushpa Acharya brings attention back to post-9/11 America in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which has become relevant to current debates of 2025 again. Grounding her reading in the study of topos, Acharya charts Changez’s unraveling sense of affinity for New York amid growing racial profiling and security anxieties. He posits that Hamid juxtaposes religious and capitalist “fundamentalisms” to reveal parallel structures of coercion. Acharya’s paper illustrates how literature can expose systemic tensions that transform metropolitan life into a charged landscape of suspicion.
Collectively, these presentations illuminate how global networks govern both daily survival and creative production. Whether examining the forging of new literary canons in diaspora, the systematic exploitation of migrant workers in the Gulf, or the erosion of trust in American cities, each paper underscores the ethical weight and emotional toll of transnational existence. Rather than romanticize border-crossings, the panel foregrounds the contradictions and anxieties that accompany life between worlds.
This session seeks to enhance our understanding of transnational mobility and its uneven effects. We highlight how cultural, economic, and political forces converge to shape who speaks, who listens, and who is rendered mute. By foregrounding our panelists’ interwoven perspectives, we hope to spark a broader conversation about the “family resemblances” that connect diverse diasporic experiences in an increasingly interconnected planet.