Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, associate professor of English and creative writing at Linfield College, will present a reading from her book The PostColonial Citizen: The Intellectual Migrant, Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Jereld R. Nicholson Library.
Dutt-Ballerstadt’s book explores what happens to intellectuals who move from former colonized countries to the West and how the idea of “home” is compromised through this process. She began her research on the topic when she migrated to the United States from Calcutta, India. She says her book describes the experience of an individual who lives neither here nor there, but rather in an in-between space. Dutt-Ballerstadt uses poetry and autobiographical prose, while incorporating literary and socio-political analysis, to appeal to the intellectual.
“On one hand, there is lightness to knowing that not having an anchor allows freedom of movement,” she said. “On the other hand, not to be rooted is to throw into question a part of yourself.”
Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt immigrated to the United States to pursue her intellectual dreams. This book started out as her graduate research, but after over a decade of experiences it morphed into the published work it is today. The book became the third part of a postcolonial series by Peter Lang Publishing that exposes the complexity of migration and postcolonial citizenship.
The reading, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Nicholson Library and the Linfield English Department. For more information, contact Susan Barnes Whyte, 503-883-2517, swhyte@linfield.edu.
