Interplay between Territory and Dispersal in Khaled Hosseini’s Works

Mazhar Hayat,Rana Abdul Munim,Saira Akhter

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.9n.4p.85

Abstract

Hosseini is an Afghan-born American writer who writes in the backdrop of socio-political turmoil of Afghanistan since Russian invasion against his native land. Hosseini’s works advocate dispersal to the Western world as the only panacea for the ills of racial and class discrimination, ethnic divide, socio-economic injustice, misogyny and religious division in Afghanistan. Keeping in view the interplay between territory and dispersal and the longing for assimilation in migrants, I have selected A. J. Cascardi’s concept of ‘The will to self-revision’ and ‘autonomous existence’ as theoretical standpoint that requires the individual to revoke his social and filial bonds to carve out his pleasures. I have also taken assistance from Georg Lukacs’ theory of ‘transcendental homelessness’. The analysis establishes that the young migrants are readily inclined towards assimilation in the host culture by trading off their familial bonds to carve out their economic and cultural growth.

Highlights

The interplay between the territory and dispersal (deterritorialisation of culture) under cultural modernity has become a vital debate in contemporary literature diasporic writings
The interplay between the territory and dispersal under cultural modernity has become a vital debate in contemporary literature diasporic writings
Hosseini is an Afghan-born American writer who writes in the backdrop of socio-political turmoil of Afghanistan since Russian invasion against his native land

Summary

Introduction

The interplay between the territory and dispersal (deterritorialisation of culture) under cultural modernity has become a vital debate in contemporary literature diasporic writings. Diaspora writers present migrant characters engaged in cultural synchronisation in the wake of longing for the native land and assimilation with the metropolitan cultural value system.

Results

Conclusion