The Melancholic Yet Grateful Migrant

[waahiba_siddiqui]

Melancholia due to migration is often attributed to the inability to move on from what is lost. This is false, as migrants of colour often have to contend with racism and the effects of imperialism, leading them to not want to integrate into their host countries in the West, which is why they seem melancholic. Mr. Bhamra from Bend it Like Beckham, is an example of this. He initially discourages his daughter Jess from playing football because of his own experiences with racism in the English cricket scene which demotivates him from playing the game he loves. He wants Jess to be shielded from that experience and the grief it causes. Mr. Bhamra has to let go of his experiences with racism to overcome his melancholia. He has to abandon the sentiments he feels towards the English for treating him as inferior, and integrate into English society in order to be a “happy citizen”. This view is extremely problematic as it suggests that “whether racism hurts depends upon individual choice and capacity” (Ahmad, 144). It also attributes getting over racism to skill, when you are good enough at something you don’t have to worry about the racism you may face. In this way, it removes accountability from racist Western societies and places blame on migrants for their inability to move on from racism. This approach represents an explicitly white desire to get over melancholia, for migrants to integrate into the national environment, for them to rushedly get over the trauma, grief and displacement that comes with migration, and become happy citizens, and show gratitude to the countries that they now call home. This sentiment is also expressed by Nitin Sawhney’s parents when they speak about their experience of migration. They express grief at leaving their homeland and longing to return to it one day and show it to their children but they are also grateful for where they are now, despite having struggled a lot initially, because they get to see their children grow up happy and with better opportunities than they themselves had.