Notes

In works of literature, themes like diaspora, assimilation and displacement are often discussed, and those very same topics often overlap and coincide with other works of literature. Those themes are very powerful and are bound to have similarities with other works, even if they aren’t intended to. The works of literature such as “Bans O’ Killing” by Miss Lou and “Dis Poem” by Mutabaruka, prove to exemplify those themes in the “History of the Voice” by Kamu Brathwaite and “Minute of Indian Education” by Thomas Macaulay
When looking for examples of diaspora and displacement, “Dis Poem” shows multiple great examples. Within the first few lines of the work, Mutabaruka says “ Dis poem shall speak of the wretched sea That washed ships to these shores Of mothers cryin for their young Swallowed up by the sea”. Those lines state clear displacement and diaspora, as Africans were taking from their homelands, often separated from their families, to be used in the slave trade. The same could be said in “Bans o Killing”, in the first stanza, it states “So yuh a de man, me hear bout, Ah yuh dem sey dah-teck Whole heap o’English oat sey dat Yuh gwine kill dialect”. Those words mean something along the lines of “You’re the man they talk about, the one who is going to kill our dialect” Although this clearly doesn’t state any displacement or diaspora, by taking away someone dialect, you’re taking everything they stand for and their dialect is their culture. It does though, clearly show assimilation in wanting to get rid of one culture and replacing it with another.
In “The History of Voice”, there were talks about how the Caribbean natives had a language long before the English, French, Spaniards and Dutch arrived. It had existed for a long