Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist
For various reasons, Pakistani literature has remained at the periphery of academic enquiry and research. As an independent nation, Pakistan is relatively young, with less than 75 years of history. The partition of 1947 and the bloodshed and violence that ensued had a strong impact on the growth of...
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
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Angles
2022
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| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_5099 |
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| record_format |
openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
littérature assimilation identité identité nationale hybridité Pakistan fragmentation transnationalisme cosmopolitanisme identité religieuse 11 septembre islam Hamid Mohsin literature assimilation identity Islam hybridity Pakistan fragmentation transnationalism cosmopolitanism religious identity national identity 9/11 Hamid Mohsin |
| spellingShingle |
littérature assimilation identité identité nationale hybridité Pakistan fragmentation transnationalisme cosmopolitanisme identité religieuse 11 septembre islam Hamid Mohsin literature assimilation identity Islam hybridity Pakistan fragmentation transnationalism cosmopolitanism religious identity national identity 9/11 Hamid Mohsin A. K., Ajeesh Rukmini, S. Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
| description |
For various reasons, Pakistani literature has remained at the periphery of academic enquiry and research. As an independent nation, Pakistan is relatively young, with less than 75 years of history. The partition of 1947 and the bloodshed and violence that ensued had a strong impact on the growth of Pakistani literature and culture, as shown in the early writing of the nation which focused on the violence of partition and the sorrow of the nation. However, after 9/11, Pakistan and numerous other Muslim nations were brought into the limelight by the US. This focus had its obvious negative impacts on the perception of Pakistan as a fundamentalist nation and the base of religious extremism. Nevertheless, this unwarranted spotlight on the nation has also enabled its writers to respond to the West’s homogenous categorisation of their national, cultural and religious identity as merely fundamentalist and militant. During the last decade or so, Pakistani literature has thus been gaining momentum in the international literary sphere. Contemporary Pakistani diasporic writers have made significant contributions in shedding light on the culture, traditions, and complexities of Pakistan as a nation and the indifference of the West towards Pakistan as a mere hub of terrorism and religious extremism. Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) follows a similar train of thought and attempts to demystify the complex identity of a Pakistani Muslim migrant in America before and after 9/11. This paper explores Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist as a manifestation of the transnational voice in contemporary Pakistani literature. It also attempts to reconfigure the notion of identity beyond the boundaries of an isolated nation and culture through the inclusion of migrants embodying hybrid identities. The paper concludes by analyzing the tenability of transnationalism as an antidote to the fragmentation of identities resulting from migration. |
| author |
A. K., Ajeesh Rukmini, S. |
| author_facet |
A. K., Ajeesh Rukmini, S. |
| author_sort |
A. K., Ajeesh |
| title |
Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
| title_short |
Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
| title_full |
Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
| title_fullStr |
Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
| title_sort |
transnational voices in contemporary pakistani literature: an exploration of fragmented self and hybrid identity in mohsin hamid’s the reluctant fundamentalist |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.5099 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/5099 |
| _version_ |
1877293175634132992 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_5099 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.5099 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.5099 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/5099 2022-05-27T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9n1t https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Transnational Voices in Contemporary Pakistani Literature: An Exploration of Fragmented Self and Hybrid Identity in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles A. K., Ajeesh Rukmini, S. littérature assimilation identité identité nationale hybridité Pakistan fragmentation transnationalisme cosmopolitanisme identité religieuse 11 septembre islam Hamid Mohsin literature assimilation identity Islam hybridity Pakistan fragmentation transnationalism cosmopolitanism religious identity national identity 9/11 Hamid Mohsin For various reasons, Pakistani literature has remained at the periphery of academic enquiry and research. As an independent nation, Pakistan is relatively young, with less than 75 years of history. The partition of 1947 and the bloodshed and violence that ensued had a strong impact on the growth of Pakistani literature and culture, as shown in the early writing of the nation which focused on the violence of partition and the sorrow of the nation. However, after 9/11, Pakistan and numerous other Muslim nations were brought into the limelight by the US. This focus had its obvious negative impacts on the perception of Pakistan as a fundamentalist nation and the base of religious extremism. Nevertheless, this unwarranted spotlight on the nation has also enabled its writers to respond to the West’s homogenous categorisation of their national, cultural and religious identity as merely fundamentalist and militant. During the last decade or so, Pakistani literature has thus been gaining momentum in the international literary sphere. Contemporary Pakistani diasporic writers have made significant contributions in shedding light on the culture, traditions, and complexities of Pakistan as a nation and the indifference of the West towards Pakistan as a mere hub of terrorism and religious extremism. Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) follows a similar train of thought and attempts to demystify the complex identity of a Pakistani Muslim migrant in America before and after 9/11. This paper explores Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist as a manifestation of the transnational voice in contemporary Pakistani literature. It also attempts to reconfigure the notion of identity beyond the boundaries of an isolated nation and culture through the inclusion of migrants embodying hybrid identities. The paper concludes by analyzing the tenability of transnationalism as an antidote to the fragmentation of identities resulting from migration. La littérature pakistanaise est restée à la périphérie des recherches universitaires pour diverses raisons. En tant que nation indépendante, le Pakistan est relativement jeune, avec moins de 75 ans d'histoire. La partition de 1947, le bain de sang et la violence qui ont suivi ont eu un impact important sur le développement de la littérature et de la culture pakistanaises. D’ailleurs, les premiers écrits se sont concentrés sur la violence de la partition. Cependant, après le 11 septembre, le Pakistan et de nombreuses autres nations musulmanes ont été mis sous les feux de la rampe par les États-Unis. Cette attention a eu des effets négatifs évidents sur la perception du Pakistan en tant que nation fondamentaliste et base arrière de l'extrémisme religieux. Néanmoins, ce coup de projecteur injustifié a permis à ses écrivains de remettre en question la catégorisation occidentale de leur identité nationale, culturelle et religieuse, réduite à des caricatures. Par la suite, au cours de la dernière décennie, la littérature pakistanaise a pris de l'ampleur dans la sphère littéraire internationale. Les écrivains contemporains de la diaspora pakistanaise ont largement contribué à mettre en lumière la culture, les traditions et les complexités du Pakistan en tant que nation, ainsi que l'indifférence de l'Occident à l'égard du Pakistan, décrit comme simple plaque tournante du terrorisme et de l'extrémisme religieux. Le roman de Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), suit une ligne de pensée similaire et tente de démystifier l'identité complexe d'un migrant musulman pakistanais en Amérique avant et après le 11 septembre. En premier lieu, l'article explore The Reluctant Fundamentalist comme une manifestation de la voix transnationale dans la littérature pakistanaise contemporaine. Ensuite, l'article tente de reconfigurer la notion d'identité au-delà des frontières d'une nation et d'une culture isolées en incluant les migrants incarnant des identités hybrides. Et enfin, l'article analyse la validité du transnationalisme comme antidote à la fragmentation des identités résultant de la migration. |