Quote by Velma Pollard: “We carried the scent of home in our hair.”

This line evokes the powerful sensory memories of homeland that migrants carry with them. It suggests that identity and belonging are deeply ingrained, physically and emotionally, even when far away, connecting to tradition.

The early 21st century continued discussions around the sensory and embodied experiences of diaspora, especially for women writers recalling their origins. This period highlighted how everyday details, like food and smells, carry profound cultural memory across generations and geographies.

Jamaican poet, novelist, and scholar whose work explores Caribbean women's lives, language, and spiritual experience. Her fiction and poetry draw on Jamaican oral traditions and Rastafarian thought to articulate a distinctly Caribbean feminist voice.