Negotiating Nationhood: Hybridity and Belonging in Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53724/ambition/v10n1.06

Keywords:

Postcolonialism, Hybridity, Nationhood, Identity, Diaspora, Belonging, Kiran Desai

Abstract

This paper explores the complex themes of hybridity, nationhood, and belonging in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss, a novel that intricately weaves the personal and political consequences of colonial legacy and global migration. Drawing on postcolonial theoretical frameworks, particularly Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of hybridity and Benedict Anderson’s notion of imagined communities, the paper examines how Desai portrays the fractured identities of characters caught between cultures, histories, and borders. Set against the backdrop of the Gorkhaland insurgency in 1980s India and the immigrant experience in the United States, the novel presents a nuanced critique of the dislocation and alienation faced by postcolonial subjects. Through an analysis of key characters—such as Sai, the retired judge Jemubhai Patel, and Biju—the research highlights how national identity is negotiated through cultural ambivalence, historical trauma, and the longing for rootedness. Ultimately, the study reveals how Desai’s narrative underscores the contradictions inherent in global modernity and the search for belonging in a postcolonial world marked by displacement and loss.

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References

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Kumar, P. (2008). Imperial entanglements: The Inheritance of Loss and the complexities of postcolonial identity. The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 44(3), 289–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449850802263122

Mehta, B. (2010). Transnational belonging and the politics of home in The Inheritance of Loss. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 45(4), 483–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021989410374941

Roy, A. G. (2012). Mapping the nation: Colonial legacies and the global imagination in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss. Postcolonial Text, 8(2), 1–17. https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/view/1578

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Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. Grove Press, 2006.

Gera Roy, Anjali. “Mapping the Nation: Colonial Legacies and the Global Imagination in Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss.” Postcolonial Text, vol. 8, no. 2, 2012, pp. 1-17.

Kumar, Priya. “Imperial Entanglements: The Inheritance of Loss and the Complexities of Postcolonial Identity.” The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 44, no. 3, 2008, pp. 289-303.

Mehta, Bhavna. “Transnational Belonging and the Politics of Home in The Inheritance of Loss.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, vol. 45, no. 4, 2010, pp. 483-496.

Published

30-05-2025
CITATION
DOI: 10.53724/ambition/v10n1.06
Published: 30-05-2025

How to Cite

Shambhavi Mishra, & Prof. Rakesh Kumar Pandey. (2025). Negotiating Nationhood: Hybridity and Belonging in Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss. Research Ambition an International Multidisciplinary E-Journal, 10(I), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.53724/ambition/v10n1.06

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