AKHIL SHARMA’S FAMILY LIFE: REGRETTING DOUBLENESS OF DIASPORA INDIVIDUALS

https://doi.org/10.22146/poetika.v10i1.64292

Sari Fitria(1*)

(1) Universitas Pamulang
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


This study discusses a matter of cultural identity faced by diaspora individuals in Akhil Sharma’s novel Family Life. As a diasporic Indian American, Sharma depicts that cultural identity is problematic, especially for an individual who experiences two or more conflicted cultures from home left behind and the home this individual has moved to. Sharma also demonstrates that the identity of this diasporic is never complete. This study aims to critically analyze Sharma’s fiction by highlighting the issues he engages as a diasporic writer. It also depicts how voluntary displacement done by diaspora characters tends to lead them to mourn. The analysis applies a concept of cultural identity by Stuart Hall. It explains a notion of identity within the discourses of history and culture, which is not an essence but a positioning. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method. The result shows there is doubleness of cultural identity conveyed by Sharma. This regretting doubleness appears in structured stages: admiring the West and being rejected by the West.

Keywords


cultural identity; diaspora; East; marginalization; West

Full Text:

PDF


References

Alghaberi, J. A. (2018). The Concept of ‘Home’ in Palestinian Diaspora Fiction: A Critical Study of Randa Jarrar’s Fiction. Langkawi: Journal of The Association for Arabic and English, 4(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.31332/lkw.v4i1.765

Amina, S., & Ilhem, S. (2019). Hybridity, Ambivalence, and Mimicry in Postcolonial Algerian Novel. Global Scientific Journals, 7(4), 697–708. Retrieved from https://www.globalscientificjournal.com/researchpaper/Hybridity_Ambivalence_and_Mimicry_in_Postcolonial_Algerian_Novel.pdf

Asghar, M. A., & Sharjeel, W. (2020). Diaspora Study of Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of Loss. European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 8(3), 25–33. Retrieved from https://www.eajournals.org/journals/european-journal-of-english-language-and-literature-studies-ejells/vol-8-issue-3-may-2020/a-diaspora-study-of-kiran-desais-inheritance-of-loss/

Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2001). Key concepts in post-colonial studies. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Bakshi, S. (2019). Bollywood Homes: Queer Diasporic Identity in Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla’s Ode to Lata. Diasporas: Études Des Singularités Indiennes, (4), 127–143. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338659780_Bollywood_Homes_Queer_Diasporic_Identity_in_Ghalib_Shiraz_Dhalla's_Ode_to_Lata

Chen, B. (2021). The Politics of Memory, Diaspora, and Identity in Lillian Ng’s Silver Sister. SAGE Open, 11(2), 21582440211026270. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211026274

Dash, D. B. C., & Chetia, K. (2017). Search For Diasporic Identity In The Novels Of Salman Rushdie. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 22(8), 6–9. Retrieved from https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2022%20Issue8/Version-9/B2208090609.pdf

Dayal, S. (1996). Diaspora and Double Consciousness. The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 29(1), 46–62. https://doi.org/10.2307/1315257

Duncan, G. J., & Murnane, R. J. (2011). Introduction: The American Dream, Then and Now. In G. J. Duncan & R. J. Murnane (Eds.), Whither Opportunity: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances (pp. 3–23). New York: Russell Sage.

Eisenlohr, P. (2006). Little India: Diaspora, Time, and Ethnolinguistic Belonging in Hindu Mauritius (1st ed.). California: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppkdj

Fong, E. (2009). Immigration and its Impacts on Canadian Cities. In G. B. Prato (Ed.), Beyond Multiculturalism (pp. 39–55). London: Routledge.

Fortier, A.-M. (2008). Multicultural Horizons: Diversity and the Limits of the Civil Nation. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203935705

Hall, S. (1996). Stuart Hall: Cultural Identity and Diaspora*. In P. Mongia (Ed.), Contemporary Postcolonial Theory (pp. 110–121). London: Routledge.

Hall, S., & Jefferson, T. (Eds.). (2006). Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203357057

Kasiyarno. (2014). American Dream: The American Hegemonic Culture and Its Implications to the World. Humaniora, 26(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.4652

Paul, H. (2014). The Myths That Made America: An Introduction to American Studies. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.14361/transcript.9783839414859

Riaz, H., & Babaee, R. (2015). Inner Alienation: Diasporic Consciousness in Kamila Shamsie’s Salt and Saffron. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 6(5), 163–166. Retrieved from http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/alls/article/view/1745

Sharma, A. (2014). Family Life. New York: W. W. Norton.

Shirodkar, P. (2019). Trauma, Terror and the Modern Day Diaspora: Decoding the (Con)text of Loss in Munaweera’s Fiction. Romanian Journal of Sociological Studies, 1, 7–16. Retrieved from https://journalofsociology.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/03-Preeti.pdf

Sitepu, I. V. R. (2017). Studying Multicultularism through Readings of Diasporic Writing: Indonesian Way of Learning Differences and Diversity. 45–49. Universitas Kristen Indonesia. Retrieved from http://repository.uki.ac.id/1818/

Wulandari, R. (2019). Imagining Home in Diaspora in Leila S. Chudori’s Pulang (Home). Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies, 3(2), 37–40. Retrieved from https://ejournal2.undip.ac.id/index.php/culturalistics/article/view/6630

Yousaf, R. (2021). Colonialism in Asia (Research Proposal, Beaconhouse National University). Beaconhouse National University, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353692225_Colonialism_in_Asia?channel=doi&linkId=610ad8291e95fe241aaefeda&showFulltext=true



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/poetika.v10i1.64292

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 5122 | views : 8467

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Copyright (c) 2022 Poetika: Jurnal Ilmu Sastra

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

ISSN 2503-4642 (online) | 2338-5383 (print)
Copyright © Poetika: Jurnal Ilmu Sastra under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

free web stats View My Stats