In her book Louisiana, Erma Brodber reflects on the alliances that should exist between the African American and Afro Caribbean peoples, symbolically repairing the fissures that exist between the two, while addressing an uncommon subject in Caribbean migrant literature. Brodber's literary themes toward the unification of the relationships shared amongst the black diaspora articulate the legal tensions and national differences that can impede these alliances. Although Brodber's novel approaches this by creating a reconnection of the African diaspora in a borderless and nationless transmigration, and sometimes through a spaceless spirit world, Page argues that in reality this reunification is affected by the rules of the state that simply cannot be ignored.;
The African diaspora's search for both a collective voice and a freedom of identity has led many writers to be liberated only at the expense of being marketed and made part of the publishing machine. Forbes compares this marketplace to the "trading post," referring to the contact points where African slaves were bought and sold. Searching for new targets, many times the African diaspora's voice is cut by sales driven marketing. In illustrating his points, Forbes focuses on five travel narratives in this essay, including books by such authors Mary Seacole, Marlene Nourbese Philip, Jamaica Kincaid, Terry McMillan, and John Edgar Wideman.;
