Mobility Identity and Transculturalism A Study of Select Fictional Works

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to explore the interconnections of mobility, identity, and transculturalism as portrayed in the fictional works selected for the study. The focus is on the patterns of mobility and their implications on the shaping of identity in the contemporary transcultural world. While examining the changing notions of home, territory, and nation, due to the increase in the movement of people across boundaries, the focus remains on the literary portrayal of such experiences in the works of selected writers. This study analyzes the encounter of cultures, nations and identities experienced firsthand by the selected migratory writers. The focus of the study is on seven literary texts Michael Ondaatje s Anil s Ghost (2000), Kiran Desai s The Inheritance of Loss (2006), M.G. Vassanji s The Assassin s Song (2007), Kamila Shamsie s Burnt Shadows (2009), Salman Rushdie s Joseph Anton: A Memoir (2012), Sunjeev Sahota s The Year of the Runaways (2015) and Mohsin Hamid s Exit West (2017). The selected writers are award winning personalities writing across cultural and national boundaries. All of them have firsthand experience of the impact of mobility as they themselves left the country of their origin to settle in a new country. They, however, are constantly on the move maintaining their bonds with their own country as well as with the adopted one. The plot lines and characters of their narratives present a model to understand changes in the cultures and identity of migrants because of mobility. In addition, they represent different continents and genders, (two being women), and present their viewpoint about the three concepts in their narratives. The present thesis thus traces the journey of migrants from their initial period of mobility to the stage they go on to achieve their transcultural identity. While every one of the selected writers and their works presents a distinct portrayal, they collectively convey mobility s profound impact on identity in the transcultural world. newline