Hoda Shabrang; Bahare Tajik
Abstract
IntroductionNowadays, speaking about immigration and its consequences is a controversial topic of many academic groups. The rise of postcolonialism and immigration has led to indescribable changes in world public affairs. In the field of immigration studies, the individual experiences of women in the ...
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IntroductionNowadays, speaking about immigration and its consequences is a controversial topic of many academic groups. The rise of postcolonialism and immigration has led to indescribable changes in world public affairs. In the field of immigration studies, the individual experiences of women in the diaspora are not significantly considered as the dominant experiences of immigrant men who are still claimed to represent all immigrants. Thus, it can become challenging to examine female migration experiences and it consequences which are ignored and overlooked. For this reason the eminent novel of Mohsin Hamid, Exit West, is chosen. This article carefully examines the consequences of assimilation of female characters in the hybridized Space.Background of the StudyAlthough assimilation to the host cultures in hybridized spaces situates migrant women in impossible situation or inbetween, the transformation of the migrant women’s identities can also become a tool to deconstruct stereotypes of third world women and patriarchal hegemonic discourse. In Exit West the main character, Nadia, is presented as the migrant woman with hybridized identity. The migrant woman is not obliged to choose between two identities, particularly between the cultural identity of the country where she comes from and that where she finds herself. In other words, both identities can co-exist in the same person, dialoguing and promoting cultural understanding. In this way immigrant woman in hybridized space is empowered to move freely between cultures and establish a sense of home and belonging even in her new places. These ideas of identity transformation and identity creation are very evident in Nadia at Exit West, portrayed as a key example of an immigrant woman whose identity is influenced by the places and cultures she encounters around the world. She feels like “vermin” at first in the host culture yet she turns to a beautiful butterfly at the end of the story.MethodologyThe present article explores the ignored parts of female experiences as subalterns in migration and it focuses on the process of their assimilation in the host countries in accordance with the Gayatri Spivak’s theories. Her intention to illustrate that the level where the subaltern could be heard or read cannot be reached because what is said is either ignored, forgotten or it simply disappears from the official, male-centered historical. As the migrant woman’s identity transforms from “somebody” to “nobody”, she further more hopelessly agonizes as she also turns from a former member of a society to someone who is just “the Other”. This predicament of otherness is a universal reality among migrant women as they do not only experience it from people whose nationalities are different from them but also from men with whom they share similar race or background.ConclusionThe idea that female migrants consider their identities as multiple or fluid is a key theme in literary representations of the female migrant experiences in the novel, Exit West. The key point to consider is that such representations of the experience of the migrant woman underlines how this shift in identity does not only come in the form of a physical alteration of her body and geographical crossing of borders but, more so, in her symbolical and psychological being. Despite the number of challenging experiences for migrant women in Exit West, it does overall emphasizes on the positive impact of such migration experiences. In fact, migration is also depicted as an opportunity that opens doors for the migrant woman to be exposed to a multicultural life and to improve her quality of life.
Alireza Farahbakhsh; Rezvaneh Ranjbar Sheykhani
Abstract
This article aims to investigate the different effects of the concept of the subaltern in the major characters of Lahiri’s The Namesake in terms of Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha’s theories. One of the important and central issues in cultural studies and postcolonial literature, which has ...
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This article aims to investigate the different effects of the concept of the subaltern in the major characters of Lahiri’s The Namesake in terms of Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha’s theories. One of the important and central issues in cultural studies and postcolonial literature, which has received much attention in the recent decades, is the notion of the subaltern. The central questions of the article are: Can the components associated with the concept of the subaltern be traced in The Namesake? How do the main characters react to their portrayal as ‘the other’ and ‘the inferior’? Do they manage to ‘speak’ and construct an identity that negates ‘otherness’ and ‘inferiority’? To answer the questions, manifestations of the concept of the subaltern are analyzed in the demeanor, identity and social interactions of Ashima (the main character of the first generation) and Gogol (the main character of the second generation). Ashima and Gogol’s conscious and unconscious strategies for liberation from subalternity and creation of a socially equal identity are also explored. The article shows that in The Namesake, immigration affects not only the identity of the first generation immigrants but also the identity of their children. Subalternity is discernible in Ashima’s arranged marriage, her sheer dependence on her family and husband, pregnancy, immigration and also in Gogol’s name and his relationships with white Americans. Ashima, who initially rejects the Western culture, gradually comes to appreciate it and adapt herself to it. Also, Gogol who always shunned his true identity and cultural roots, in time takes interest in Indian culture. The article also indicates that hybrid and ambivalent identities create a voice for subalterns and give them a sense of power and belonging, so much so that they become ‘the self’ (in contrast with ‘the other’) in the new cultural context.
Hoda Shabrang
Abstract
Immigration experience is always accompanied by tension and conflict. In other words, the immigrant is always under a double paradoxical command. The host asks the immigrant to assimilate into its culture, yet simultaneously it orders him to keep a distance which results in the “paradox of assimilation ...
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Immigration experience is always accompanied by tension and conflict. In other words, the immigrant is always under a double paradoxical command. The host asks the immigrant to assimilate into its culture, yet simultaneously it orders him to keep a distance which results in the “paradox of assimilation and difference”. Therefore, the immigrant will be in an impossible situation: on the one hand he has to actively participate in the assimilation process; on the other hand, he should keep his distance from the host culture. The Immigrant artist is not allowed to create a kind of art which is completely related to his culture because it is not readable and understandable in the host country, neither is he allowed to create some kind of art which is completely related to the host culture since that place is reserved for the artists of the host country. In this article, first the “paradox of assimilation and difference” and its consequences will be discussed, then the movie A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by Ana Lily Amirpour, who is an immigrant Iranian-American director, will be analyzed. The aim is to show how her shattered identity as an immigrant artist is represented in her art. Although this impossible situation seems very painful at first glance, it is beneficial for the immigrant artist. In this hybridized space, she creates a kind of art which is innovative and unique, because she is not completely preoccupied with the hollywoodian clichés imposed by the host culture.