EXAMINING IDENTITY IN ASIAN-AMERICAN DIASPORIC FICTION: A STUDY OF DIVAKARUNI, HAJI AND NG

1. EXAMINING IDENTITY IN ASIAN-AMERICAN DIASPORIC
FICTION: A STUDY OF DIVAKARUNI, HAJI AND NG
Selected texts
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices (1997)
Nafisa Haji’s The Writing on My Forehead (2009)
Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone (2014)
LAKHYAJIT NATH
ROLL NO: EGE15050

2. Issues discussed in this dissertation
• The issue of Identity of the diasporic people
• The problems of assimilation
• Functions of memory in revisiting the past
• Juxtaposition of cultures
• Reshaping or reconstructing the present

3. Chapter One
Critiquing Identity in Diasporic Fiction
• Identity a matter of assimilation amongst
difference
• Multiculturalism and Hybridity
• Cultural hegemony
• Contentions of the Third space

4. Chapter Two
Fractured Identity in Chitra Benarjee Divakaruni’s
The Mistress of Spices
• Fractured identity in Indian American fiction
• Quest for identity
• Culturally fractured identity
• Physically fractured identity
• Linguistically fractured identity
• Racism and violence

5. Chapter Three
Layered Identity in Nafisa Haji’s The Writing on My
Forehead
• Layered identity in Pakistani American fiction
• Differences in customs and traditions between
two generations
• Negotiating Islamophobia
• Critiquing multiculturalism

6. Chapter Four
Clash of Identities in Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone
• Clash of Identities in Chinese American
Fiction
• Clash between cultures
• Factors responsible for the clashes
• Fragile relationship (paper son)

7. Conclusion
• Identity is not static and rigid rather fluid
• Shaped by the environment which people
belong to.
• Influence of the Asian past and the American
present
• Towards a hybrid identity: something that is
necessary, art artificial

8. Works cited
• Bala, Poonam. Diaspora, Culture and Identity, Jaipur: Rawat Publications,
2015. Print
• Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 2004. Print
• Divakaruni, Chitra Benarjee. The Mistress of Spice. London: A black Swan
Book, 2005. Print
• Haji, Nafisa. The Writing on My forehead. New York: Arrow Books, 2009.
Print
• Korostelina, Karina V. Social Conflict and Identity, Hampshire: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2007. Print
• Karl, Francoise. Critical Identities in Contemporary Anglophone Diasporic
Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print
• Lahiri, Himadri. Asians in America: Diasporic Perspectives in Literature.
Kolkata: The Book World, 2011. Print
• Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. New York: Routledge, 2005.
Print
• Morrison, Toni. Beloved. London: Vintage, 2005. Print
• Ng, Fae Myenne. Bone. America: Hachette Books, 2014. Print

9. Thank You