The Research Dialogue

Author : Dr. Alka Singh

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64880/theresearchdialogue.v4i4.30

Abstract

This paper aims to address the issues of identity crisis and cultural hybridity in the works of three renowned Indian diasporic writers – Jhumpa Lahiri, Bharati Mukherjee and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Lahiri’s The Namesake , Mukherjee’s Jasmine and Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices are examples of narratives about migration and acculturation which reveal how protagonists deal with the challenges of negotiating their cultural identities in the host community. The paper attempts to demonstrate the significance of post colonialism and diaspora studies perspectives in reading the conflict between the cultural traditions and multiple identities in the selected works. The present study employs the theories of cultural hybridity by Homi K. Bhabha and Stuart Hall, as well as the diaspora discourse of Avtar Brah to interpret the migrant experiences and the construction of the selfhood in Lahiri’s, Mukherjee’s and Divakaruni’s novels. The analysis will demonstrate that the sense of self is not a stable entity but a fluid concept, a dynamic structure which is negotiated between the migrant and the host culture. The writers’ attitudes to self and hybridity differ, as reflected in the protagonists’ choices and struggles. Lahiri depicts the emotional difficulties of second generation immigrants, while Mukherjee’s characters are constantly changing and reinventing themselves, and Divakaruni’s protagonists are struggling to negotiate their gender and cultural identities. The paper will argue that the themes of hybridity and identity crisis play an important role in the continuing discourse of Indian English literature about migration and acculturation in the post colonial period.

Keywords: Identity Crisis, cultural Hybridity, Diaspora, Indian English Literature, Post colonialism, Migration, selfhood.