Trauma, Displacement, and the Search for Identity in Anusree Roy's Post-Independence Diaspora Narratives

This paper explores the complex intersections of trauma, displacement, and identity in Anusree Roy’s post-Independence diaspora narratives Pyaasa, Brothel #9, and Letters to My Grandma. Drawing upon trauma theory, postcolonial feminism, and diaspora studies, it examines how Roy dramatizes the lingering wounds of Partition trauma, caste and gender oppression, and intergenerational memory within the Indian and Indian-Canadian contexts. Her plays reveal how marginalized women confront the psychological and social prisons constructed by patriarchy and history, transforming silence into survival through storytelling and performance. The paper argues that Roy’s work redefines diasporic identity as a continuous negotiation between memory and migration, where healing arises not from forgetting but from confronting inherited pain. Through hybrid language, cultural hybridity, and embodied resistance, Roy creates a powerful theatre of resistance that reimagines the diasporic identity formation of South Asian women in a globalized world.