ABSTRACT

The premise of the chapter is that the phenomenon of “displacement” may be understood through the theory of structuralism, through linguistics, along with other theoretical analyses which can provide the helping tools to a more pluralistic comprehension facilitated by people’s movements and struggles. Although there have been attempts to theorize the phenomenon of displacement in a linear way, we also need to understand that displacement is emerging to be a powerful and comprehensive movement. The very fact that people in displaced situations come from diverse cultural backgrounds itself could be an antidote to fragmentation and categorization created by the divisive forces to characterize the complexity of displacement. Despite the limited space available for such an attempt, efforts could still be made to explore why the presence of binary oppositions appear to add an interesting analysis, while dialogism and the concept of “difference” which have emerged from people’s struggle must equally be examined to provide theoretical grids to form a different kind of matrix. With this in view, there is this need to explore that emerging matrix.