Divided Loyalties, Identity Trauma and Social Stigmatization; A Study of the Diasporas’ Identities in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire

Abstract

With the emergence of the nation state system a score of issues surfaced globally, the major ones include border demarcation, immigration and political citizenship, however, among them the issue of identity occupies a hotspot. Scholarly inquires have been conducted to analyze the issues of diaspora in the host countries and the subsequent identity crisis they are faced with. Their unacceptance in the host country is presumably based on their attachment and loyalties to the country of their origin. The present study examines that how the diaspora encounters the identity issues both in the host country and that of their origin, and adds another dimension to the identity issues of the diaspora communities. The study contends that the identity issues of the diaspora community, unlike the common perception, are not only limited to the host country but are also equally challenging in the country of their origin. The study is based on Kamila Shamsi’s Home Fire (2017). The analysis is informed by Avtar Brah’s theory of Difference as Social Relations (1996). The study concludes that the identity crisis of the diaspora community is not only limited to the host country but is equally faced by them in the country of origin, which leads to identity trauma and social stigmatization.