Abstract
The present study aims to lay bare how Kureishi examines the problem of immi-grant identity in The Buddha of Suburbia. Immigrants leave their homeland vol-untarily or involuntarily to have a better life. They can neither continue their own culture nor become involved in the new culture. In Homi Bhaba's words, they experience ‘in betweenneess’. This study refers to Homi Bhabha's main ideas about hybridity, mimicry, liminality and the third space. In this study Bhabha's theories will help highlight how Kureishi's characters create liminal areas and realize their identities in these areas. For the characters in the novel, migration is a never-ending process in which they live simultaneously between the past and the present. Because they have been subjected to many discrimination such as race, language, religion, color and have always been declared ‘other’ in society. Karim is one of the major characters who suffers from being stuck in between. Although he tries to pretend to be British by rejecting the culture of his father, who is Indian, he is never accepted by the racist society in which he lives and he stays in this liminal area without an identity.
Highlights
The United Kingdom, which started during the Elizabethan period with the confidence that enlightened ideas were at the forefront and reached the peak of its power in the nineteenth century, dominated the world both economically and politically until the second half of the twentieth century with its colonial activities
Frantz Fanon, who addresses the psychological aspect of the exclusion experienced by the colonized in the face of the colonizer, says that while the white person is a prisoner of the inferiority complex, he or she lives within the illusions of the superiority complex
The white person treats the black person as if he were dealing with a child
Summary
The United Kingdom, which started during the Elizabethan period with the confidence that enlightened ideas were at the forefront and reached the peak of its power in the nineteenth century, dominated the world both economically and politically until the second half of the twentieth century with its colonial activities. The economic and cultural relations that continued in the years following the Second World War affected the immigration model of England and this model had an important impact on the population structure of the country With this process, the United Kingdom has become a multicultural nation-state and many communities from the old colonial areas have migrated to the important centers of England, especially London, which has significantly changed the British society and its cultural structure. As can be seen in his statement, Powell ignores the contribution of colonized communities during centuries-old colonial history to the British culture and economy, while ignoring the effect the United Kingdom had on its former colonies Rather, he sees the immigrant citizens who set foot on the island from the former colonies as dependents. With his English identity, Karim's proclamation of "the other" in the USA shows how meaningless Thatcher’s narrow-minded Britishness is
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