Racial Identity and Postcolonial Discourse in Selected South Asian Novels

Abstract

This research paper explores the theme of “Racial Identity and Postcolonial Discourse” in selected South Asian novels. The key aim is to examine the portrayal of racial identity as well as the influence of colonial history in the selected novels: In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It employs a qualitative method and the data collection was conducted by close reading of the selected novels. These novels were chosen for their diverse representation of South Asian experiences and their relevance to the study's themes. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts of Edward Said and Homi K. Bhabha.  The analysis indicated that the selected fictions reveal a perspective which is based on colonized legacies. The Western superiority makes the characters puzzled.  The reflection of colonialism in the portrayal of characters is not only in their self perception but also in how they are treated by others and the feelings aroused in them are of dejection and rejection. Particularly,  this is the case when the preferred attitude is that Western languages or values are preferred over the local ones, which means that the colonizers still have those attitudes. The study concludes that the colonial history has its way of altering how race and identity is presented in South Asian literature from the early times.