FROM TRANSGRESSION TO TRANSFORMATION OF DIASPORA IDENTITY IN JHUMPA LAHIRI’S THE LOWLAND

Abstract

Migration is not a recent phenomenon; it has been a part of human history since time immemorial. However, with the coming of globalization by the late 1960s, the migration of people across the world has abruptly increased. Many of the educated youths and unskilled laborers due to various social, political, and economic reasons migrate from their native countries to another country. Migration not only changes the immediate physical environment but also the social and cultural environment which has a colossal impact on the identity of an individual. The interface with the new culture calls for a cultural shift that not only alters the identity of an individual but also changes the way one perceives the self. Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland set amidst the Maoist rebellion of Calcutta in the 1960s also highlights the issues of migration, displacement, and the consequent formation of diaspora identity. The experience of living as a migrant either temporarily or permanently in another country has facilitated diaspora writers like Jhumpa Lahiri to recognize and uncomplicated the notion of diaspora identity. Her novel The Lowland (2003) meticulously expresses the changing identity of the migrants. Thus, in this paper, an attempt has been made to understand the evolving nature of diaspora identity through the metaphors of transgression and transformation.