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

Shambhavi Mishra; Prof. Rakesh Kumar Pandey

doi:10.53724/ambition/v10n1.06

Authors

Shambhavi Mishra Research scholar,Department of English, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Uttar Pradesh (India). https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1585-2142
Prof. Rakesh Kumar Pandey Professor and Head, Department of English, National PG College Barhalganj Gorakhpur, DDU Gorakhpur University Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh (India) https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5293-3485

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.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Rev. ed.). Verso.

Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.

Brah, A. (1996). Cartographies of diaspora: Contesting identities. Routledge.

Desai, K. (2006). The inheritance of loss. Grove Press.

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

Boehmer, Elleke. Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Brah, Avtar. Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. Routledge, 1996.

Brouillette, Sarah. Postcolonial Writers in the Global Literary Marketplace. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

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.