Spatial Hybridity and Cultural Memory in Contemporary Third-Generation Diasporic Literature

This paper examines the intersecting phenomena of spatial hybridity and cultural memory as they surface in contemporary third-generation diasporic literature. Drawing on Homi K. Bhabha's theorisation of the 'Third Space' as an interstitial zone of cultural negotiation, the study argues that third-generation immigrant writers occupy a distinctive position within diaspora studies: unlike first-generation migrants, whose narratives are structured around rupture and nostalgia, or second-generation writers, who negotiate visible bicultural tension, third-generation authors inherit identity, memory, and belonging as mediated, often fragmentary, cultural inheritances. Using illustrative readings of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the paper explores how physical and imagined landscapes merge to produce hybrid spatial identities, and how cultural memory is transmitted, reconstructed, and re-imagined across generations through objects, rituals, language, and storytelling. The paper concludes that third-generation diasporic writing reconfigures conventional notions of 'home' and 'belonging', offering significant implications for postcolonial theory, diaspora studies, and the broader sociology of migration. The discussion is supported by a conceptual infographic summarising the study's core themes and connecting concepts.