This document provides an overview and analysis of key concepts in the postcolonial study of Mohsin Hamid's novel "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". It discusses Changez's negotiation of a glocal identity as both Pakistani and American. It analyzes concepts like hybridity, diaspora, neo-liberalism, and East-West binaries that are explored in the novel through Changez's shifting identities and disillusionment with America after 9/11. The document examines how the novel represents a reaction from the Eastern perspective to Western imperialism and dominance.

2. Postcolonial Study of “The
Reluctant Fundamentalist”
By
Azam Sarwar

3. Glocal identity
 (A mixture of global and local)
 A term newly coined by Postcolonial scholars to
show the ever clashing mixture of global and local
dualities in immigrants’ personalities.
 Dress
 Language

4. In this
photograph child
(from Hunza) can
be seen donning
a traditional local
cap, while
dressed in
“Western” dress.

5. Name: CHANGEZ
Country/City: USA, New York
Nationality: American
Occupation: Underwood
Samson
Mission: “Focus on the
fundamentals”
Special traits: businessman,
suit
Name: CHANGEZ
Country/City: Pakistan, Lahore
Nationality: Pakistani
Occupation: university lecturer
Mission: ‘advocate for a
disengagement from the USA
Special traits: beard, kurta

6. Glocal Identity in “The Reluctant
Fundamentalist”
 “I was not certain where I belonged---- in New York, in
Lahore, in both, in neither.”
 “Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I
have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard:
I am a lover of America.”(p.1)
 “I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your
language,” (p.1)

7. Changez’s multiple identities
 Changez leads demonstrations against US

8. “The East writes back”
 Edward Said: “the East writes back”
 This novel is a reaction to the discourse of colonization
from the Pakistani side (which stands for the
East) and welcomes de-colonization.
 Changez’s reaction to American attack on Afghanistan
 “Afghanistan was Pakistan’s neighbour, our friend, and
a fellow Muslim nation.” p.114

9. East meets West/ East vs West
 Changez
Erica
East
West
(Pak)
(US)
 Dismantle relation
 “Are you missing Chris?” She nodded,
 I said, “ pretend I am him.”

10. Pak-US relations

11. “Hegemony”
 “Hegemony is the power of the ruling class to convince
other classes that their interests are the interests of all.”
 “domination by consent.”
(Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge,
2001. Print.)
 Globalization is a myth and what is actually taking
place is the spread of American values, power and
products across the globe. Or in other words the
American hegemony.

12. Hegemony Cont…
 Economic hegemony
 Underwood Samson
 Juan-Bautista: “may I ask you rather personal
question?”
 Changez: “Certainley”
 Jaun-Bautista: “Does it trouble you to make your living
by disrupting the lives of others?”

13. "Hybridity"
 “Hybridity has frequently been used in post-colonial
discourse to mean simply cross-cultural ‘exchange’.
 “Hybridity commonly refers to the creation of new
transcultural forms.”
(Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge,
2001. Print.)
 Hybridization takes many forms: linguistic, cultural,
political, racial, etc.

14. Cultural hybridity
 Changez drinks wine
 “As we took our seats for the meal, he lifted a bottle of red
wine and said to me, ‘You drink?’ ‘He’s twenty-two,’ Erica’s
mother said on my behalf.” p.32
 Girlfriend

15. “Neo-liberalism”
 A type of liberalism that believes in a global free
market, without government regulation, with
businesses and industry controlled and run for profit
by private owners
 Underwood Samson, in Changez’s view, is the
clear example of the soullessness of the West.
 Their job epitomizes capitalism to its very core
through the ability to place “value”.

16. “Neo-liberalism” cont…
 “Does it trouble you to make your living by disrupting
the lives of others?”
 “We just value.”

17. “Diaspora”
 The voluntary or enforced migration of peoples from
their native homelands. Diaspora literature is often
concerned with questions of maintaining or altering
identity, language, and culture while in another
culture or country.
(http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/postcold.htm

18. White & western superiority vs.
coloured & colonial inferiority
 “I flew to New York uncomfortable in my own face .”
p.44
 “When we arrived, I was separated from my team at
immigration. They joined the queue for American
citizens; I joined the one for foreigners.” p.44

19. Alterity
 The state of being different or other
(Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 11)
 The state of being other or different; diversity,
‘otherness.’
(Oxford English Dictionary)
 After 9/11 attack Changez fails to feel like he fits in as a
part of his community.