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Articles

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2026): ILN Journal: Indian Literary Narratives

Remembering Homeland: Negotiating Migration Through Dual Belonging in Roma Tearne’s Brixton Beach

Submitted
15 May 2026
Published
2026-06-30

Abstract

Migration may lead to emotional, psychological, and cultural dislocation for individuals who are living between their homeland and host nation but this does not always result in a loss of belonging. Migrants frequently develop simultaneous attachments to both the homeland and the host nation. The article conceptualizes migration as a condition of dual belonging in which identity is constructed by overlapping cultural, emotional, and imaginative affiliations with both spaces. The article examines Roma Tearne’s Brixton Beach to analyse how characters in this work negotiate their connections between Sri Lanka and Britain. This research uses Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of the third space, Vertovec’s theory of transnationalism, and Levitt and Glick-Schiller’s notion of simultaneity to argue that Tearne represents dual belonging as a hybrid mode of existence rather than as a fractured one. The study further demonstrates how memory, cultural continuity, and transnational relationships enable migrants to sustain meaningful attachments across national boundaries.

References

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