This thesis examines the interface between migration and identity, and more specifically the impact of the migration experience on the subjectivity and identity of migrant women in Lucia Berlin’s...Show moreThis thesis examines the interface between migration and identity, and more specifically the impact of the migration experience on the subjectivity and identity of migrant women in Lucia Berlin’s short story collection A Manual for Cleaning Women (2015). By close reading a selection of stories that addresses both the issues of mobility and relocation and the subjective effects of migration, I study if and how the experience of migrating and living in the borderlands leads to the configuration of a border identity –that is, a decentered and multiple subjectivity– in a multilingual and intercultural context. Essentially, I argue that Berlin’s stories not only depict different individual experiences of migration and life at the borderlands, but also their impact on the protagonists’ sense of self. Furthermore, I contend that the borderlands are not just a physical place; they are also a state of in-betweenness where transformation of identity takes place and a new self emerges. Using postcolonial and feminist theories and drawing primarily on migration studies and identity studies, this thesis is theoretically inspired by Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of the borderlands and, critically assessing some of its main concepts, seeks for additional meanings of what a borderland may be and what it is like to live there. In doing so, this thesis explores issues of culture shock, cultural and linguistic dislocation, belonging, and identity (trans)formation.Show less
