Contextualization of Fluid identity: An Acculturalist study of Lahiri's The Namsake
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21015/vtess.v9i4.850Abstract
Jhumpa Lahiri's literary career has been inspired by the Indian as well as the American culture and background. She does a great job of capturing the immigrants’ perspective as well as she depicts the clash of the cultures. This multicultural way of living is fundamental to many of her works, which show the alienation and misery experienced by migrants stuck between starkly different cultures. Her novel, The Namesake (2003), is about the migration of the Indians and the Asians in the United States. Her writings throw light on the difficulties encountered by the Indians who have become acclimated to life in the United States. The conflict between sticking to the Indian culture and adapting to the American society, upholding family traditions and embracing at once-in-a-lifetime chance, and the awareness that one is outsider despite being born here are all brilliantly captured in her artwork.
Key words: Acculturation, Isolation, Fluid identity and Othering.
References
Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation, psycnet.apa.org
Huggan, G. (1997). The neocolonialism of postcolonialism: A cautionary note. Links
& Letters, 19-24.
Fludernik, M. (1998). Hybridity and Postcolonialism. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.
Kacerguis, M. A., & Adams, G. R. (1980). Erikson stage resolution: The relationship
between identity and intimacy. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 9(2), 117-126.
Rashid, A., Jabeen, S., & Shahbaz, S. (2020). Re-Writing Muslim Identity and Self
against Western Discourse of Terrorism in Naqvi’s Home Boy. sjesr, 3(2), 68-75.
Rudmin, F. (2009). Constructs, measurements and models of acculturation and
acculturative stress. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 33(2), 106-123.
Stonequist, E. V. (1935). The problem of the marginal man. American journal of
sociology, 41(1), 1-12.
Young, R. J. (2016). Postcolonialism: An historical introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Work Cited
Lahiri, J. (2003). The Namesake. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-By) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY