ABSTRACT
A “homeland” is imbued with a sentimental pathos that seems to be almost universal. Motherland, fatherland, native land, natal land, Heimat, the ancestral land, the search for “roots” – all these cognate notions invest homelands with “an emotional, almost reverential dimension” (Conner 1986: 16). Often, there is a complex interplay between the feminine and masculine versions of homeland. In the feminine rendition, the motherland is seen as a warm, cornucopian breast from which the people collectively suck their nourishment. One Kirgiz poet (cited Conner 1986: 17) suggested that the relationship between homeland and human preceded birth itself: “Remember, even before your mother’s milk, you drank the milk of your homeland,” he wrote. Similarly, the biblical promised land was said to be “flowing with milk and honey”.
