LAUSR

In this essay, Isis Semaj-Hall explores the intersections of being Jamaican, American, black, woman, and mother. Using what she terms a dub aesthetic, Semaj-Hall juxtaposes her circular migration with the Dominican characters in Junot Diaz’s fiction as well as the autobiographical story told by Jamaican author Anthony Winkler. Using Trinidadian-Canadian author Ramabai Espinet as a literary anchor, Semaj-Hall questions how the familiar memory becomes unfamiliar in the moment that it collides with present reality. Finally, Claudia Rankine is brought in as a way for the author to honor the impact that her black American experience with racism shades her perspective on Jamaican colorism. This article takes readers on an unexpected walk through Kingston, Jamaica, revealing Semaj-Hall’s daily negotiations with what it means to be “Back Home” in the place she had for so long nostalgiaized.