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Transculturalism in Literary Works

The increasing globalization leads many literary writers to come up with transcultural

literature which is also called the literature of mobility. This literature deals with the people’s

journey of migration to a new nation and a new culture and also involves the journey of people

who has been colonized. Moreover, it sheds light on persisting cultural changes within a society

such as the place and identity of men and women, outcasts, and transgender. Transculturalism

gives the idea of "seeing oneself in the other" (Cuccioletta 3) or going beyond one's native

cultural set-up. It rejects the idea of the dominance of any culture, gender, or caste over the other;

rather it promotes cultural flexibility. It opens doors of acceptance towards different cultures.

This paper tends to discuss the genre of transculturalism concerning transformation experienced

by the people within intra-cultural as well as cross-cultural network. During this transformation,

they confront hurdles and constraints that arise in their way.

This paper will look into the perspective of mobility that one finds in transcultural

literature. In this particular case, transcultural literature does not only bring forward the

voluntary adaptation to values and practices of a new culture but also highlights the complexities

of colonized and immigrant’s lives that arise due to the intermingling of different cultures.

While trying to adjust in a new culture, the immigrants and the colonized go through a tunnel of

problems. These problems play an important role in the construction of their identity. Whenever

an individual migrates from his native land to another land, he comes in contact with a different,

a new kind of system; be it the political system, sociological or cultural one. Particularly talking

about the cultural set-up, one can find its firm link with the formation of identity. Culture plays

the principle role in forming one’s identity. It provides the capability of identifying oneself based

on his geographical region, language, and values.

The study of transcultural literature inherently involves the study of identity.  Identity

becomes the fulcrum upon which the transcultural character revolves. Each character that is

created suffers from a certain lack of direction in their lives. According to William Davis, they

all seem to “suffer a crisis of identity in the absence of a strong traditional culture of their own”

(Davis 101).  This crisis of identity, while not uncommon in other literature other than post-

colonial literature, is most severe when viewed in transcultural literature.  It is the idea that the

identity of an individual is so malleable that transcultural literature focuses on.  The identities of

its characters are mired in the struggle to form an emotional, cultural, and societal identity that

reflects the experiences of a distant past they cannot recall.

When people move to a new place or are colonized, they are hit by culture shock. As they

come in contact with a different environment, their identity gets split between their native

cultural values and the new cultural set-up. Transformation or adaptation of the new culture does

not take place overnight. Initially, the immigrants and colonized are frequently taken back to

their native culture in the form of nostalgic recollections. They remain in a state of to and fro for

a long time period. They struggle with their internal question that whether they have to keep

practicing their native values or adopt the values of the place where they are currently living and

interacting. Later on, when they realize the importance of cultural flexibility, they begin to mold

their personalities according to the current culture. As a consequence, their identity is hybridized.

“Hybridization captures the spirit of the times with its obligatory celebration of cultural

difference and fusion, and it resonates with the globalization mantra… and the supposedly

inevitable transformation of all cultures” (Kraidy 1). Transcultural literature celebrates the

concept of voluntary hybridity as it rather than distorting an individual's identity, gives a new

direction to the individual. Cultural identity is not a fixed essence but inevitably the subject of
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fluctuation as it undergoes “constant transformation” (Hall 224). Hall defines cultural identities

as subject who positions a person to fit into a new culture or being positioned by the past cultural

narrative.

The cultural identities constantly change along with the lifelong movements of

individuals. When a person migrates from one place to another, the whole new culture starts

emerging inside him. The cultural displacement identifies the impacts of new culture upon the

indigenous culture. The influences of new culture cannot diminish one’s adherence to the native

culture. In this case, neither a person can forsake his regional roots nor can adopt a new culture

wholly. Thus, a person is entangled between two cultures and leads to the identity crisis. The

transcultural literature deals with the diasporic dilemma of immigrants and their anxieties of

identity to cope up within a new culture. The purpose of immigrants is to create transcultural

identities by assimilating with new culture and produce the transcultural literature. Apart from

assimilation, cultural hybridity is also a significant part of transculturalism which is defined as a

process by which one culture blends into another culture. Transculturalism presents immigrants

with the amalgamation of two or more cultures but the mutual acceptance, amalgamation,

assimilation and cultural hybridity does not fit into the contemporary transcultural literature of

immigrants. The immigrants deal with the predicaments of identity crisis which is vivid in

Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist captures the transcultural impacts of

cultural hybridity on a third world immigrant in America which eventually causes identity crisis.

Hamid sheds light on the dual identity and identity crisis of protagonist of the novel named as

Changez. The identity crisis creates disillusionment of Changez with America. The Reluctant

Fundamentalist explores the cultural hybridity and identity crisis of third world Pakistani
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immigrant in the first world of America. Changez is the fundamental character through which

identity crisis is explored in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The neo-colonial impacts of cultural

hegemony of America are found through the lost identity of third world immigrant. Neo-

colonialism underlies the notion of superiority of Americans and the inferiority of Pakistanis.

Changez became the worst victim of inferiority complex for belonging to the third-world

country. Changez is conscious of the vast cultural disparity between his inferior indigenous

country and American supreme culture. He is ashamed of his inferior culture and aspires to be a

part of superior American culture in order to achieve a better career, financial stability and high

social status. Changez is infatuated by the American land of dream, opportunity, power and

wealth but simultaneously, he is well aware of the devastating effects of American superiority on

Pakistani diaspora.

The desperate influences of American supremacy are vivid in the form of identity crisis

of Changez. He is accepted partially by America but at a very high cost of losing his native

identity. The partial acceptance can be described in a way that although Changez adopts

American culture wholeheartedly but America does not accept him wholly. Changez diminishes

his regional identity entirely and thinks of himself as an American. He dreams of being accepted

by America as he states that “One that day, I did not think of myself as a Pakistani, but as an

Underwood Samson trainee” (Hamid 57). Changez’s desperate desire to be accepted by America

compels him to conceal his Pakistani identity. He manipulates his language, behaviour and

actions entirely according to American style. Despite perpetual struggles of Changez with

American culture, Changez could not assimilate into American society and “he will always be

considered a "foreigner" and an outsider” (Ibrahim 4). American society others him and he

continually face the issue of otherness in America. America as a super power persistently
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reminds him of his inferior country and favours Changez just for the loss of his original identity.

In fact, Changez is entangled in the chaos of dual identities; one’s of his native land and the other

is adopted one. Changez’s original identity is disintegrated for knotting between two different

cultures of America and Pakistan. Thus, Changez encounters identity crisis because of cultural

hybridity or intermingling of two cultures. Along with the impacts of cultural hybridity, neo-

colonialism also plays a significant role for crushing the indigenous identity, creating dual

identity and bringing identity crisis through the hegemonic culture of America. Henceforth, The

Reluctant Fundamentalist addresses the very basic idea of identity crisis through the lens of

cultural hybridity, dual identity and neo-colonialism.

Hamid attempts to explore the identity struggle of Pakistani diaspora in America from the

perspectives of racism, classism and nationality. Hamid depicts the Changez’s hatred of America

for being alienated on the basis of racial, cultural and national biasness. Firstly, Changez’s

aspiration as a part of America shows his love for America but then his alienation leads to his

loathful sentiments for America. The ecstasy and shocking attitude of Changez at the destructive

moment of America represents the complex dilemma of his dual identity for belonging to

Pakistan and America respectively. Changez’s delightful reaction at the collapse of New York’s

World Trade Centre represents his despise for America. Changez’s inferiority complex is evident

in the case of giving remarks on the devastation of America. Changez is glad to know that "The

fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees" (Hamid 113). Changez feels

contented at the American mishap and it seems a sort of national and racial revenge from

America. Hamid illustrates that racial discrimination alienated non-white immigrant and

ultimately breeds hatred against America. Changez is not only alienated on the basis of his skin

colour but also encounters religious discrimination after 9/11 particularly. He is accused of being
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a terrorist for belonging to Muslim religion. The crucial event of 9/11 reveals Changez as a

reluctant American on the grounds of ethnic or religious background. After the significant event

of 9/11, America resists the multicultural nationalities and diverse identities within its

boundaries. Therefore, Changez endures identity crisis significantly after the occurrence of 9/11.

Being non-white, belonging to Pakistan and having different religion defines the racial, national

and religious biasness of America towards Changez. The elements of race, culture, religion and

nationality trigger the paradigm of identity crisis and hostility. The identity crisis is caused in a

perspective that the non-white inferior Pakistani immigrant is abandoned by the supreme

America.

Changez could not reconcile his indigenous identity with the adopted one which causes

identity crisis. He is unable to find his stable identity and lost between the two identities. He is

not only alienated in American culture but in Pakistani culture too which is manifested through

his estrangement towards his own country. He could not feel himself at home in his own culture

and country.

Hamid presents his protagonist as the victim of hybrid identity who is lost in the chaos of

possessing dual identities. The opening line of novel unfolds the ambivalent identity of Changez

as he confesses himself as "Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America"(Hamid

11). This statement by Changez emphasizes his ambivalent sentiments with America and the

effects of native identity on his apparent personality. Changez’s beard indicates the signs of

religious fundamentalist personality belonging to Pakistan but simultaneously he loves America

disregarding his appearance. Neither, Changez can assimilate with American culture nor can fit

into Pakistani society entirely which leads him towards the formation of a new identity as

‘reluctant fundamentalist’. His double identity transforms him into person who is reluctant to
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adopt new identity and abandon his native one. Changez embodies the elements of dual identities

and suffers identity crisis as an immigrant.

Bhabha defines new identity created by hybridity as “neither the one nor the other”

(Bhabha 25). The identities of two cultures intermingle with one another to create a new identity

and the newly created identity does not belong to anyone of previous cultures purely. The

character of Changez possesses neither pure Pakistani identity nor purely American. Hamid

describes the effects of hybridity on Changez’s identity in a perspective of double identities. The

cultural hybridity represents the amalgamation of blended identities. The transcultural

movements define the dilemma of changing identities particularly belonging to the subjects of

post colonialism and third world countries.

The second text involved is Brian Friel’s play Translations which sheds light on the

hybridized identity of Ireland which is developed through the imperialist English culture. The

Irish identity disintegrated through the cultural hegemony of English culture. The coexistence of

Irish and English cultures collapsed the pure Irish culture through the colonial oppression of

English empire. Basically, Translations is a play about identity issues in the disguise of historical

transformation from a Gaelic nation to Anglicized nation during the era of mid-nineteenth

century. The Irish people encounter the predicaments of hybrid identity because their hybridity is

based more on contradictions of two cultures rather than similarities. Under the influence of

imperialism, hybridity inevitably leads to the disintegration of one’s identity because the

hegemonic culture prevail the colonized culture. Imperialism of English is considered as a “rape

of a country’s linguistic and cultural heritage” (Bellwood 578). The perception of cultural

hegemony is evident in the case of Irish colonialism which is portrayed in the text Translations.

The British Empire ruled over the Ireland and threw away their essence of culture and identity.
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The Irish people were compelled to learn English language and culture in order to survive. Friel

explores the fact that the identity of Irish people was blended with English Empire and the

indigenous identity of Irish people was abolished as a result of dominant English culture.

The inextricable relationship between language and identity illustrates the dilemma of

identity crisis. Baykal states that in Translations “language and national identity has been a

central preoccupation” (Baykal 9). Language and identity are the significant components of the

play Translations which delineates that how disintegration of language leads to the disintegration

of identity. The title of Translations justifies the notion of identity crisis in a perspective of

losing essence during the process of translation. Language represents identity, so the

transformation of language portrays the transformation of identity as well. When something is

translated from one language into another language, its originality and essence is lost. In this

perspective, the process of translation shows the disintegration of one’s original identity.

Irish culture represents the intermingling of different cultures which is shown through

the characters of play. Language plays a significant role in the construction of identity and is

inextricably linked with identity. The transculturalism represents the influence of foreign

language on the native Irish people as Irish people adopt their language. Jimmy is a master of

Greek, Hugh and Manus are fluent in Latin, English and Greek. The Irish culture seems to be

conglomeration of native and foreign cultures and its original culture is diminished. Just like

intermingling of different languages, people from different cultures also amalgamate. According

to transculturalism, they transgress the national, linguistic and cultural boundaries. Mairie and

Yolland love each other and transgress the confined boundaries. Yolland is English Lieutenant

and Marie is Irish woman. The transgressive love between Marie and Yolland depicts the

transcultural notion of crossing the boundaries of language, nation and culture. Yolland loves
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Marie despite the fact that he cannot express his love to Marie because of linguistic barriers.

Love is a universal sentiment belonging to all human beings of the world and represents

transculturalism. Hence, the love between Yolland and Marie go beyond all the confined

boundaries whether national, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Hence, Friel portrays the

linguistic, national and cultural heterogeneity and hybrid identity through the characters of Marie

and Yolland. Friel recounts the Anglo-Irish hybridity in his play through vast cultural gulfs

which abolish Irish identity ultimately.

Hugh is a hybrid character who is Irish scholar. He breaks English stereotypes by

embracing the English people. He not only welcomes English people but befriend with them and

show hospitality to them. On the other hand, Owen is a son of Hugh whose hybrid identity is

explicit through his name and the task of his job. Owen possesses double names; his Irish name

is Owen and English name is Ronald. Owen’s double names show his dual identity. Owen

performs the job of translation through which one culture intermingles with the other one.

Owen’s profession of translation is a blatant example of transculturalism and cultural hybridity.

The identity crisis in Translations is vivid through the loss of language of Irish people.

The identity of any nation is ingrained in its language which Hugh manifests as “It is not the

literal past, the ‘facts’ of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language”

(Friel 88). The Irish people are deprived of their original identity through the imposition of

English language and culture.

The third text involved is Franz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth, in which he says that

colonial system could be better comprehend as a driving force between colonizer and the

colonized, restricted and strengthened by violence (Fanon 28). The whole colonialism process
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even by violence can be seen through the lens of transculturalism as this allows intermingling of

different cultures, traditions, beliefs etc. The Colonial rule is forced by the colonizers i.e. the

Europeans, to use the assets of the colonized people and certainly for Fanon “Europe is literally

the creation of the Third World” (Fanon 81). In the industrialized commercial societies, the

financial corruption of the powerful masses is blurred by a dominant superstructure supported by

organizations like religion and educational institutes. In comparison to industrialized societies,

corruption in colonies is transparent and therefore certainly sustained by violent means of

cruelty, thus creating a clear division between the colonizer and the native. The utmost cruelty

done on the natives was to deprive them from the basic human needs, making them think of

themselves as animals and the efforts to end their national culture (Fairchild 192). Destroying the

national culture ultimately means the natives depriving of their own identity.

Language plays a huge role in making the native’s situation worse as by it they make

them feel worse than animals, then taking the racism phenomenon and trying to make them

inferior and the continuous attacks on the natives cultural rituals (Fanon 43). The colonists are

therefore “committed to destroying the people’s originality and identity” (Fanon 44) by imposing

their own cultural and religious values on them so that they become confuse about their own

selves. This act of the colonizers fulfills two purposes. The first one permits the colonizers to

avoid the evident paradoxes between Western standards of democracy and impartiality in one

way and the undemocratic and extremely forceful oppression on the colonized on the other way

(Rabaka 115). The second involves the dehumanization and the cruelty towards colonizers ends

their “sense of selfhood” (Gibson, 107) and deprives them from their national identity. Despite of

all the efforts by the colonizers, they somehow are not fully convinced to be inferior and start to
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use the act of dehumanization as their strength and plot to gain back their identity and land from

the colonizers.

Ironically, the unnecessary use of violence of the natives proved that they were not

completely in control, and therefore stopped the dehumanization process of the colonized

(Gibson 109). The constant imposing of colonial rule makes the natives aggressive. In the essay

Fanon put this situation as “the symbols of social order … are at one and the same time

inhibitory and stimulating: for they do not convey the message “Don’t dare to budge”; rather,

they cry out “Get ready to attack” (Fanon 41). The aggression does not directly come out to the

colonizers but first it is upon the other natives as to strengthen themselves and ultimately on the

colonizers in the end. In this whole scenario, identity formation of the colonized and the

decolonized is critical according to Fanon. Colonialism is a whole venture that is why the

colonized find themselves in floating abjection. Violence plays a crucial role here and changes

all of that while at the same time it says no to colonialism and yes to opportunities of post-

colonial life. The kind life, in which the natives would not feel inferior, would have their own

identity, land, and feel safe to perform their cultural and religious rituals.

The Wretched of the Earth is a transcultural text as it involves the decolonization of

Africa, especially Algeria. For the process of decolonization, colonization has to happen and

intermingling of different cultures and tradition is mandatory even if these things happen by

force. In the case of Algeria, The Eurpeon power was strong when they came to colonize Algeria

at first and tried to destroy their national identity so that they could become one of them by

imposing their culture and rituals on them. The negative affect of transculturalism can be seen in

this text as the colonizers snatched the very identity of the colonizers from them and dehumanize

them through the cruel ways. This text is still transcultural even after the Algeria decolonized
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itself. The loss of a past, a culture, an identity, a way of life is the tragedy that marks the lives of

the affected people or in this case colonized people and will remain with them for generations.

The fourth and the last discussion part of the paper involve poems by Moniza Alivi. She

is a Pakistani-British poet and writer. She moved to England along with her family when she was

just few months old and never visited Pakistan until her first poem was published. She is

worldwide recognized as the most influential diasporic writer. In this part her poetry is read with

a transcultural lens with identity being the main discussion as a diasporic writer lives with two

kinds of cultures the former and the new one. This section would just discuss few elements of

transculturalism that is duality, hybridity, fragmented identities and the creation of third space.

Her poetry revolves around these things but is not limited to just these. I explore the several ways

in which the poet creates challenges and claims the very idea of identity of the South Asians. Her

work portrays how difficult is to acquire a new identity when you are displaced in another

country which is completely different from yours own.

Moving continuously from one place to another and searching for a new home in the

same country leads to negative thinking but in Alvi’s poetry it is portrayed as a positive way of

finding one’s oneself and his identity in a diasporic space though it is difficult.. Her poetry is

truly transcultural poetry, as she talks about the positivity of moving to a new space where all the

things are different from your own culture and you still can make a happy living there by

struggling with yourself. She thinks of the new space not as narrowing your dreams but as a

space for new beginnings. Her poetry functions as an optimistic approach for diasporic writing as

a mean of reacquiring her own identity but still she failed to acquire a complete identity within

herself.
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Alvi’s poetry portrays that how nostalgia forms a fascinating view for the migrated poets

to discover the abstruse importance of their identity. Her whole experience is deepened in the

words of her poetry. Through her poetry she makes a double universe by being a displaced

person but using the origin to sculpt an identity out of it. The poems contain themes of

displacement, nostalgia, identity formation etc. and these are all important features of a

transcultural text.

In a transcultural context, the person having the diasporic experiences reinvents their

identity, and in this way Moniza Alvi’s writings have been influenced by her life experiences.

Her father being Pakistani and mother being English made life difficult for her as she was neither

Pakistani nor English. This duality in her identity made her to create a third “space” for her in

Bhahbha’s wording. This insignificant space forms a unique space for her as it is a whole

amalgamation of different cultures, geographic regions, religions, gendered etc. Through the

basic needs like food, dialect, attire and home, Alvi describes the basic feminine search for

identity in her works.

Alvi’s poetry is infused with hybridity, duality, displacement, fractured identity and

revolution. Her first written poems were about the real and imagined homelands and how it

would have been for her if she would have never left her home and would have grown up in a

Pakistani society. She further thinks of her identity not being fractured if she was still a Pakistani

and would not have become a different person. She tries to fill the slightest gap between “the

receding east, the receding west” (Ali 2). In her interview to BBC Alivi says “Growing up I felt

that my origins were invisible, because there weren’t many people to identify… When I

eventually went to Pakistan… didn’t feel that was home, I’d never felt so English. But I never
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feel entirely at home in England…” (BBC 2005). Alvi thinks of identity as something rooted

inside one and it has something to do with the spirit. She says,

“I suppose I would define identity. Very broadly in terms of what you do, what

you respect and may be something deeper, your spirit. But it’s important to know

where you come from, which is perhaps what I was lacking as a child. I think it’s

important to know what has gone into your making, even quite for back, I think it

gives you a sense perhaps of richness” (BBC 2005).

The above mentioned continuous duality of concession of spaces gives sparks to her

writings. The purpose of her poetry is to provide means of catharsis for people having uncertain

identity like hers. The Country at My Shoulder is a book by Alvi, which is mostly comprised of

autobiographical poems. The first poem in that book is titled as “I was Raised in a Glove

Compartment” and that glove compartment is used as a metaphor by her which actually is a

mother’s womb and the writer tries to fit in that. She says in the poem that there are moments in

which her mother reaches to her but she is not able to see her face. She remains there “in the

quiet” (Alvi 14) and is there to hear the noise of engine. The only friends she has there are the

“out limp figure…notepads and maps… a First Aid tin” (Alvi 14). The outcome of being living

in a limited space makes a person inferior as others are enjoying everything but you are the one

with limited resources takes the individual basic true identity from him.

Another poem from the same book of Alvi’s is “I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting

by Miro” and in this poem again she tries to fit in the painting even by being a dot. The wish to

be small part in a huge painting is odd and mysterious until it is not known what is going on in

her head. The dot is being used as a metaphor and it portrays the wish of the writer to become
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something small has various unique reasons. The dot in the painting stands alone and has its own

value. Being a dot, the poet would not ever know what is happening but is disturbed by this

thought. One not being able to understand leads to state of confusion and for the writer this

confusion describes her mental state, a limited viewpoint because of her hybrid/diasporic

existence.

One of another autobiographical poem includes “Throwing out My Father’s Dictionary”

portrays continuous changes in spelling, punctuations, pronunciations etc. In somewhere middle

of the dictionary was her father’s signature. The dictionary was a latest one which was bigger

and heavier than most of the dictionaries but in her opinion she was never to write her name on

it. The meaning Alvi wants to make here is that language is vast concept and it is always in a

flux and one can never fully comprehend it by just writing his or her name on it. Language plays

a huge importance in her life as well as for the identity formation of an individual, in the case of

Alvi she is not in a place of her first language Urdu. She takes English as another language to

search for her lost identity in the new place. Similarly in another poem “Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal”

from the book A Bowl of Warm Air Hands in which hands becomes a symbol for touching the

distance of difference. The use of hands is to grasp things which seem to be in some distance to

us. She says “These languages could have been mine” (Alvi 67) as both Hindi and Urdu are

similar and finding a difference between them is very hard. Having a grasp on certain language is

an identity to her not unlike the distinctive identity of both hands. She does not have a grasp on

either of the languages; she is just playing it by touching it through her fingertip, as she is

handling it like an individual who does not feel language as a close part of themselves. The both

language becomes special to her as the languages makes her close to the culture of her born

country. Her diasporic country molds her approach towards her country of origin.
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The portion Present from Pakistan from The Country at My Shoulder has the poems on

Pakistan. The one poem in this section is named as “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” tells

the story of a young teenage girl who is discovering the ways to untangle the fusion that creates

the notion of her identity. The keen observations and exploration of the two different cultures,

the girl gains a sense of where she belongs to. The aunts of the narrator are from Pakistan and

they have sent her the traditional colorful attires and ornaments of their cultures but she feels

awkward wearing them. She makes a comparison with those clothes to the English branded ones.

Further in the poem the teenage narrator remembers when she got prickly heat all over her body

when she was coming to England from Pakistan. The prickly made her feel her identity being

uncertain and fragmented as she says, “I pictured my birth place/ from fifties’ photographs, /

When I was older there was conflict, / a fractured land throbbing through newsprint (Alvi 33).

These all poems describe memories and confusions and are undoubtedly coming from Alvi

herself. The very past of her she does not know and the present was divided into two different

identities. She in the poems tries to create a scenario in which how it would have been if she

would have lived her life in Pakistan, and would it have been more comfortable for her than

England. This all shows how her identity was fragmented. She says,

sometimes I saw Lahore my

aunts in shaded rooms,

screened from male visitors,

sorting presents

wrapping them in tissue

Or there were beggars, sweeper girls

and I was thereof

no fixed nationality, (Alvi 33-34)

Assimilation for people moving to another country is like moving to a whole new

environment and is a difficult task for immigrants. It is hard to leave one’s own culture and

creating a new identity for them is the type of confusion faced by all diasporic people. This

displacement for Alvi is like she was displaced just after her birth. Her being hybrid made her

unique in England. Being hybrid, having double consciousness and multiple and confused

identities made her to find comfort at home. At home she could be anyone and no one would

judge her for not having a whole identity. Transculturalism is embedded in her poetry. Her poem

“The Sari” revolves around the theme of several cultures or homes as being one “Your home is

your country” (Alvi 39). The poem is the representation of Alvi’s own culture. She folds the sari

with multiple proportions. This sari moves with her to all the places she travels to and infuses the

colors of all cultures and their traditions. The sari not only takes the desi Pakistani culture but

also the British culture, creating a dual identity for her. She knows the complexities of having

two different cultures but if she would have the choice she would have made things easier for her

by picking one of them. This portrays that how much she was disturbed by the dual identities but

still she was optimistic to come out of it.

All the above poems talks on the issue of identity in a transcultural context. Moniza Alvi,

herself being a diasporic writer faced the fragmented identity issues. Though she was optimistic

her whole life and even in her poems but she also talked about her problems and every

immigrant problem regarding striving for identity. The change of cultures and traditions and not
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being accepted by the natives of new countries results in a huge shock for the immigrant. Thus

the immigrant tries to create a new identity but gets mingled with the hybridity i.e. having two

different identities. Some gets successful in creating a new identity for themselves who are

optimistic like Alvi but other lives with two different identities at the same time.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a transcultural text by a transcultural author Mohsin

Hamid. The novel is somehow autobiographical as Hamid recounts his personal exposure of

transcuturalism in the text. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is transcultural text in a perspective

that it deals with the diasporic dilemma of immigrants who undergoes the process of cultural

hybridity and eventually becomes the victim of identity crisis. On the other hand, Translations is

a play Brian Friel which explores the colonization of Ireland under the influence of English

Empire. Friel portrays that original identity of Ireland is crushed by the hegemonic culture of

English Empire. Translations depicts the identity crisis of Ireland particularly through the

disintegration of Irish language and the process of translation. Friel also addresses cross-cultural

relationship of love through the transgression of confined boundaries of language, nation and

culture.

Mohsin Hamid’s novel embodies the elements of transculturalism more than

Translations. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is narrated by a transcultural author who exposes the

transcultural elements of cultural hybridity, dual identity and identity crisis. The whole novel

illustrates the predicaments of identity issues very vividly and depicts that how national,

religious or ethnic background alienates an individual from the mainstream society. Translations

unfolds the transcultural element of identity crisis but through the loss of native Irish language.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist represents the all-inclusive elements of transculturalism but

Traanslations presents a narrow perspective of transculturalism.

Comparing The Reluctant Fundamentalist with The Wretched of the Earth it is obvious

that the former one is more transcultural as it highlights more elements of transculturalism.

Fanon’s work just show the fragmented identities of the Algerians and the destruction of their

national identities while in Hamid’s work the protagonist somehow gains a dual or hybrid

identity. Even after the decolonisation process in Fanon’s works, the identities of Algerians were

destroyed and a huge generation of Algerians were to suffer but in Hamid’s work only one

generation had to suffer and strive for an identity and then there generations were safe from

getting an identity in the third world country.

Moniza Alvi, herself is a diasporic writer like Mohsin Hamid but she is too optimistic

about getting the very own identity in the England. It is good to be optimistic but one knows how

much difficult it is for an immigrant to get an identity from the place where he has just moved in.

Alvi’s and Hamid’s work are somehow similar as they both talk about the identity crisis, identity

formation, duality and hybridity. It is difficult to say whose work is more transcultural as both

involves the identity formation and the importance of language in a third world country. The two

of them lead a hybrid life and so does the characters of their works. According to me, these both

works are equally transcultural in nature.

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