“‘The Fiction of Belonging’: On Second-Generation Black Writing in Canada” in Callaloo, 30 (3), 818-829

Black Canadian writing has been in existence for over two hundred years, and, as such, second-generation writing is not really a new phenomenon. Moreover, in perhaps only the past fifteen or twenty years, black Canadian writing in general has grown from a small press and community-based phenomenon into something of significant, albeit precarious, national attention, institutional recognition, and academic legitimacy. Here, Chariandy presents a historical and literary criticism of Canadian writing of black authorship, in relation to multiculturalism. Among other things, the idea of second-generation black writing in Canada may also afford one with a valuable critical perspective on current efforts to establish black Canadian literature as a legitimate field of concern in the Canadian cultural landscape. Moreover, much of the excitement in the idea of second-generation black writing in Canada lies not only in the particular insights that this emergent field may offer, but in the new routes or diacritical conversations it may enable with respect to other texts and contexts of the African Diaspora.

About the Author