Identity, Hybridity and Ambivalence: A Pakistani Postcolonial Study of Kamila Shamsie’s Novels

Abstract

This paper explores the postcolonial hybridity, ambivalence and its effects upon individuals and groups enshrined in Kamila Shamsie’s novels including In the City by the Sea (1998),Salt and Saffron (2000),Kartography (2001),Broken Verses (2005),Burnt Shadows (2009),A God in Every Stone (2014),Home Fire (2017) and Best of Friends (2022) and aims to unearth the effects of migration, cultural communication, and globalization on the postcolonial Pakistani context. Postcolonial literature and theory address the effects of colonial and neo-colonialism on the culture, history, and identity of formerly colonized people and their succeeding generations. Postcolonial schools responded to colonial-era literary narratives and celebrated indigenous and local cultures, history, identity, and traditions. This paper employs the theoretical concepts proposed by Homi K Bhabha and analyses Pakistani postcolonial novelist Kamila Shamsie’s novels to understand the postcolonial Pakistani identity. Diasporic and hybrid communities emerged in the late 20th century due to large-scale migration and rapid globalization, challenging the notion of pure identity and unquestioned loyalties.Identity