Due to the large-scale global transformations of the 20th century migration literature has
become a vibrant genre over the last decades. In these novels issues of transcultural identity
and belonging naturally feature prominently. This study takes a closer look at the ways in
which the idea of family informs processes of identity construction. It explores changing roles
and meanings of the diasporic family as well as intergenerational family relations in a
migration setting in order to identify the specific challenges problems and possibilities
that arise in this context. This book builds on insights from different fields of family
research (e.g. sociology psychology communication studies memory studies) to provide a
conceptual framework for the investigation of synchronic and diachronic family constellations
and connections. The approach developed in this study not only sheds new light on contemporary
British migration literature but can also prove fruitful for analyses of families in literature
more generally. By highlighting the relevance and multifaceted nature of doing family this
study also offers new perspectives for transcultural memory studies.
