Geo-Cultural Identity and Multiculturalism in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

Abstract

Harmonizing the concerns of geo-cultural claims posited against the ‘melting-pot’ ideology of multicultural societies is a challenge for negotiating a cultural identity. Dominant strains of geo-cultural identities often involve problematising structures such as language, ethnic identity, territorial autonomy, environmental concerns and immigrant rights. This paper seeks to explore Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss for representing the polarities through the sketches of diverse cultural entities whom she conjoins in the mesmeric ‘culture-space’ of the novel. The characters, Jemubhai, Sai, Gyan and Biju, traverse the liminal thresholds of cultural identity within and between the geo-cultural and multicultural space.