Navigating Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Host Location[S] in Post 9/11 Context in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Authors

  • Zafar Iqbal NUML
  • Malik Ajmal Gulzar Allama Iqbal Open University
  • Rashida Imran Allama Iqbal Open University
  • Muhammad Mooneeb Ali Government College University Faisalabad

Keywords:

• Identity • Mimicry • Hybridity • Ambivalence • Racism • Diaspora • Othering, • 9/11

Abstract

This research attempts to explore in detail the issue of identity in contemporary Pakistani- American diasporic fiction. It throws light on how diasporic identity forms and transforms across cultural boundaries, especially in post-9/11 times when almost all South Asian Muslims living in American metropolises were suspects. Moreover, it seeks to appreciate how the phenomena of appropriation, acculturation, displacement, racialization, and alienation supported by the host state apparatus and its institutions affect diasporic mediations. The researchers have critically analyzed the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist (TRF) in the light of diasporic mediations between home and host. I use TRF instead of writing the complete name of the novel. This study calls attention to the issues of fragmented identities of the then Pakistani Americans whose lives have been painfully presented in the primary text selected for textual analysis. This reading invokes specific theoretical concepts of Homi K. Bhabha, Gyatri Chakravarty Spivak, and Frantz Fanon, and their critical assumptions serve as a theoretical framework for this exploration. This research finds that the protagonist (Changez) of the selected novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist strongly realizes that he needs to revisit his fancy notions of being Americanized in the backdrop of the 9 /11 upheaval.

 

 

Author Biographies

Zafar Iqbal, NUML

 

 

Malik Ajmal Gulzar, Allama Iqbal Open University

 

 

Rashida Imran, Allama Iqbal Open University

 

 

Muhammad Mooneeb Ali, Government College University Faisalabad

 

 

References

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Published

2021-01-13

How to Cite

Zafar Iqbal, Malik Ajmal Gulzar, Rashida Imran, & Muhammad Mooneeb Ali. (2021). Navigating Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Host Location[S] in Post 9/11 Context in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Erevna: Journal of Linguistics and Literature, 4(1), 14-29. Retrieved from https://journals.au.edu.pk/ojserevna/index.php/erevna/article/view/131