SENSE OF BELONGING, MULTICULTURALISM AND IDENTITY CRISIS: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY OF ZADIE SMITH’S WHITE TEETH

Abstract

This study aimed to critically analyze how characters negotiate the themes of multiculturalism, identity crises and sense of belonging. In the multicultural setting of metropolitan London, one's identity is always shifting. The study confers historical background on how postcolonial migration leads to hybrid but conflicted identities by generating tensions between inherited traditions and modern British values. Zadie Smith’s novel White Teeth (2000) served as primary source for this research. A close textual reading of the novel has been conducted using a qualitative approach. The study examines issues faced by immigrants in the post-World War II West using Homi K. Bhabha's postcolonial theory of hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence, cultural divergence, and otherness from his book The Location of Culture (1994). The study examined that Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (2000) portrayed multiculturalism and identity crises in a post-colonial context. The findings of the study revealed that characters' past and origins shaped their identities and complicated their lives in multicultural city of London. As a result, the study highlighted the experience of immigrants while demonstrating how power dynamics between former colonizers and colonized people affect their relationship in the postcolonial age. The further studies may look into the communal, monetary and religious background of author’s life instead of solely focusing on the characters of this play..