Post-Diaspora and the Poetics of "What?" in Fred Wah's Diamond Grill

Abstract

Fred Wah's auto-/bio-fictional Diamond Grill (1996) is an accretion of narrative fragments with which Wah tells the story of his compound, multiethnic identity. Employing an interrogative strategy or a poetics of "What?" he raises a number of difficult questions regarding the contested nature of diasporas and diasporans. This paper examines the problems of identity foregrounded in Diamond Grill and outlines the advantages and liabilities of diaspora as a critical framework with which to address the slippery indeterminacy of Wah's narrative. This study concludes by proposing the inclusive, open-ended term "post-diaspora" as a useful alternative approach to the variety of identities that Wah explores in his writing.