Kamila Shamsie Research Articles

The Archaeology of Absence in Kamila Shamsie’s <i>A God in Every Stone</i>

Approximately 1.4 million Indians were recruited to the First World War. Despite their role in the war and the high number of deaths, most of the literature in English on the Great War has been narrowed down to British experience. However, in recent years their stories have been emerging through fiction, in academic research and educational projects resulting in a more complete picture of the war and who was involved. A British arts education group engaged students in a project designed to teach and share the stories of forgotten soldiers from World War I. Writing about the project in The Guardian in 2018 Kamila Shamsie claimed the aim was to teach school children about the war and the involvement of non-British recruits whose narratives had up till then been unknown. In academia, respected scholars such as Santanu Das or Claire Buck have undergone thorough research on the representation of Indian recruits through an analysis of literary texts and artefacts states that war memories of the Indian sepoy whose stories were left behind and forgotten on the battle ground. According to Das, the lack of stories by Indian recruits does not mean that history cannot be rectified since it is possible to recover the experience and memory of the recruits. Recently emerging literary representation of the Indian recruit provided historical insight into their experience shedding light on new perspectives of the War. The aim of this article is to analyse the representation of Indian recruits and their experience of World War I in Kamila Shamsie’s 2014 novel <i>A God in Every Stone.</i> I argue that through fiction, it is possible to construct a broader and more inclusive understanding of this historical event as well as to uncover deeper complexities and anxieties on the Indian colonial experience.

Frontier Stories: Burnt Shadows and an Alternative Ethic of Narrativizing Violence

ABSTRACT The attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 and its hyper-visual aftermath has led to a new paradigm in Euro-American collective consciousness. This new paradigm is marked by an almost obsessive reliance on the image of the moment and the image as the ultimate source of or rather the absence of meaning. Kamila Shamsie’s fiction Burnt Shadows exemplifies a point of departure from what has become an almost salient feature of Euro-American narrative on violence, its representation, and historicity. This paper explores how Shamsie forges an alternate interpretative apparatus that resolutely refuses to give in to the singularity of a moment (and its image) as a defining trope of terror and its representation. Instead, Shamsie’s novel weaves a complex pattern of other stories gleaned from across time and from the frontier spaces of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan that have remained largely unrecognized in the Euro-American cultural landscape. Emphasizing the relevance of the vast topography of catastrophe and continual human wreckage woven in Burnt Shadows this paper considers Shamsie’s approach as a necessary and timely intervention that reformulates violence and its historicity beyond the delimiting scope of a singular, overarching trope.

THE MUSLIM DIASPORA’S NATIONALISM AND IDENTITY IN KAMILA SHAMSIE’S HOME FIRE

The paper deals with Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire to explore the profound social and psychological aspects and identity conflicts Muslim immigrants face in the West, especially in Britain. The importance of this paper is to express the conflict that the Muslim expatriate experiences in his relationship with the West and explore the reasons that affect their tolerance and coexistence. The paper’s problem manifests in exploring significant facets of human interactions, including tolerance, the increasing migrations from Islamic nations to non-Muslim countries, and the challenges arising from identity, religion, and race, which expose migrants to significant perils. The Method uses a social theoretical framework that intersects with the psychological approach. It investigates how both the original and new environments affect character development and individuals' psychological, developmental, and cognitive dimensions in the Muslim Diaspora. It aims to understand the reasons behind involvement in terrorist organizations and also examines the citizenship rights of Muslim Diaspora members. Finally, the paper concludes by presenting the most prominent results, which collectively illustrate that the aggressive style of fiction has influenced the presence of paranoia in literary criticism, leading to an exaggeration of the crimes of others and justification of the self. This is not conducive to objective and neutral analysis, so adopting a more moderate and neutral approach is recommended to allow for open discussion and acceptance of differing viewpoints. This approach should address questions of identity and national belonging.

Postcolonial Identity and Discourse: Foucauldian Analysis of Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone

This research article delves into the intricate interplay between postcolonial identity and discourse in Kamila Shamsie's novel, "A God in Every Stone," employing a Foucauldian analytical framework This paper presents a Foucauldian analysis of Kamila Shamsie's novel, "A God in Every Stone." Drawing upon the works of Michel Foucault (2016), the paper examines the novel through the lens of power, knowledge, and the construction of historical narratives. Through a close reading of key characters and events, this analysis elucidates how colonial power structures and systems of knowledge production intersect in the novel to shape individual and collective identities. The present study has been conducted on Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone to highlight the process of colonization. The interpreter has examined the ways by which the colonized resisted colonial rule. Foucault’s model of Power has been used as the conceptual framework of the study to analyze the postcolonial aspects of Shamsie’s (2014) novel. The present study is qualitative in nature. The data has been collected through the close reading technique of the A God in Every Stone. For data analysis, those textual lines have been selected in which the elements of power and resistance are present covertly. The interpreter has explored different dimensions of Foucault’s power, i.e., Sovereign power and disciplinary power. British Empire justified its colonial rule over the colonized through the colonial discourse which was prejudiced against non-white people. The colonized people resist colonial rule through their dialogues in this novel. In A God in Every Stone, the major protagonist is Vivian Rose Spencer. She is an English woman who carried out digging in Turkey to unearth the ancient silver circlet. The interpreter has inferred that the colonizers used many disciplinary strategies to subjugate the colonized people. The Indian soldiers were trained by the British imperialists to fight in the battlefield on the Western Front. Many innocent Indian soldiers lost their lives in fighting the enemies of the British Empire. The major character of the novel Qayyum Gul, fought bravely in the battlefield. Unfortunately, he lost an eye during the battle. When he returned to Peshawar, he joined a freedom movement, which aimed to liberate India from the British colonizers. Ultimately, this Foucauldian analysis of "A God in Every Stone" underscores the intricate dynamics of power and knowledge in the colonial context and sheds light on the complexities of historical representation and identity formation in a postcolonial world.

Reflection of Immigrants’ Identity Crises in Kamila Shamsie Home Fire vs. Mohsin Hamid Exit West: A Gender-Based Thematic Exploration

Kamila Shamsie's "Home Fire" and Mohsin Hamid's "Exit West" both discover the displacement and acknowledgement in a world that is becoming a global village. "Home Fire" throws light on the crucial integration of a loyal family member as a Muslim in a post-9/11 Western society scenario. It finds out the social and political identities that can cause conflicts. Migrants from the Western world, in contrast to "Exit West", have suffered emotional and physical suffering in the journey of refugees. It shares the love and barriers through the borders of countries. Both have different approaches to narration, and both the novels share belonging and feelings of human burdens they face during migration to the Western world. This research aims to identify and analyze themes of Kamila Shamsie's "Home Fire" and Mohsin Hamid's "Exit West". Along with this, it sheds light on the writing styles used to construct the plots of the works that share a lot of similar elements. This is qualitative research, and for analyzing themes, this study takes the help of 'Critical Theory', which was propounded in the early 20th century by the Frankfurt School. The primary source for this research is the text of the novels, through which the researchers identified major themes, and the secondary source to support the arguments is already published works by different scholars to analyze and deepen understanding of the issue/s. This research concludes that migration, identity, and political conflict are the major themes in both novels, and these themes serve a significant role in constructing the plots/stories of the novels. As an implication, this study would help readers understand the texts from several new perspectives.

‘Something Mythic’: The power of shared stories in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire

Abstract Kamila Shamsie’s (2017) novel Home Fire draws on Sophocles’ Antigone for its plot, but neither requires familiarity with, nor explicitly references, the tragedy. This article attempts to build a specific case for the effects of attending to the intertext by focusing on Shamsie’s complex treatment of Antigone’s punishment and its consequences in Sophocles. Reading the novel’s denouement in conversation with that of the tragedy suggests questions about higher authority and checks on political power in the world of the novel. I argue that shared stories in the novel exert a force analogous to that of Sophocles’ gods in that they authorize moral judgments; attention to the intertext enacts the same experience for readers of the novel that shared stories do for characters within the novel.

Subversion of Conventional Narratives in South Asian English Fiction: A Postmodern Analysis of Language Games and Metanarratives

This study investigates that South Asian English fiction subverts conventional narratives through the use of Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of language games. The study examines the constantly changing and context-dependent storytelling techniques employed in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies and Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows. These techniques challenge established cultural, social, or moral norms. These novels utilize language techniques such as code-switching, ironic symbolism, and idiomatic phrases to highlight the ethnic backgrounds and complex identities of the protagonists. Authors demonstrate the evolution of meanings across time, as well as the varying ways justice is given to various individuals at different periods. They also emphasize the perpetual openness of truth, in accordance with Lyotard’s belief that knowledge is generated through conflicting narratives about reality. The findings clearly demonstrate that individual experiences and the socio-political environment continually influence and reshape our concept of morality.

A dialogue with Dostoevsky: extremism, media and polyphony

ABSTRACT In this article, I aim to demonstrate how a contemporary novelist can write about extremism in the social media age and in the process engage with the literary consciousness of the past. Although several novelists have written about extremism in recent years – notably Kamila Shamsie in Home Fire (2017), Guy Gunaratne in In Our Mad and Furious City (2018) and John Wray in Godsend (2019) – few efforts have yet been made to show how it relates to the experience of life online. I argue that for a novelist wanting to explore extremism today the precursor it would be most valuable to revisit is Fyodor Dostoevsky. He perceived how in mid-nineteenth-century Russia the new mass medium of the newspaper was transforming consciousness and heightening radical sentiment, and explored this in Crime and Punishment (1866) and Demons (1871). Through a sustained engagement with these works, I interrogate the opportunities offered by entering into dialogue with him and consider how his most important narrative technique, polyphony, can be reimagined in the social media age.

Analysis of Grammatical Metaphors in "Home Fire" from Hallidayan Perspective: A Novel by Kamila Shamsie

This study explores the use of Ideational Grammar consisting of both Stratal Model and Semantic Model Grammatical Metaphors from Kamila Shamsie’s novel ‘Home Fire’. This paper explores grammatical metaphor (GM) from a theoretical perspective. To achieve this, the paper firstly presents two models that theorize GM, namely the stratal model and the semantic model. GM types and instances show differences according to the model that theorizes GM; the paper, therefore, will analyze the types and instances of GM. This will be followed by research studies that investigated the development of GM in language development and language education to present how GM theorization has been applied in literature. Finally, the paper will conclude with a discussion and pedagogical implications for researchers and educators.

Chorography of Contemporary Migrations and Fractured Identities in Kamila Shamshie’s Novel Home Fire

In the realm of literature, representation extends beyond mere inclusion; it demands accurate and nuanced portrayals of diverse identities. Identity, a multifaceted construct encompassing dimensions such as race, gender, sexuality, and class, is a central theme explored by authors to unravel the intricacies of human experiences. This research article investigates the theme of contemporary migrations and fractured identities within the context of Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire (2017). Employing the concept of chorography – a method that maps and represents spatial and cultural phenomena – the study delves into the intricate portrayal of identity in the novel. It scrutinizes how characters grapple with their cultural, religious, and personal identities amidst the backdrop of migration. The article illuminates the challenges faced by migrants, particularly those from Muslim backgrounds, as they navigate cultural assimilation, religious identity, and the clash between tradition and modernity. Migration, as depicted in the novel, becomes a catalyst for the fragmentation of identities, unraveling struggles with belonging, cultural boundaries, and the profound impact of political and social factors. Additionally, the research explores the role of memory and history in shaping characters' identities and their experiences of migration. This earnest exploration aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationship between contemporary migrations and the fractured identity of the Muslim community on a global scale. By contributing to existing literature on migration studies and identity formations, the article sheds light on the profound impact of fractured identities on characters' sense of belonging and their interactions with others. Through a meticulous analysis of the text, the article reveals the intricate ways in which these fractured identities resonate within the narrative, adding depth to discussions on Pakistani English Literature, representation of identities, Muslim religion and individual identity, and the pervasive issue of Islamophobia.

Keep the Home Fires Burning: Citizenship, Affect and Acting Muslim in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017)

Keep the Home Fires Burning: Citizenship, Affect and Acting Muslim in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017)

CONTEMPORISING ANTIGONE

Retelling and contemporising a mythological character of a classic work of literature into a modern literary work with the same vigour and significance needs careful scrutiny and creativity. This article analyses Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie that retells Sophocles’ Antigone. Antigone and other characters are shifted into a contemporary setting without disturbing the framework of the canon that has been presented by Sophocles, the Greek tragedian.

Fundamentalism: An Intertextual Case of Home Fire by Shamsie and Antigone by Sophocles with the Backdrop of 21st Century

This paper is a comparative study of two works- Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie and Antigonie by Sophocles. This paper aims at intertextual analysis of the selected texts to unearth the issue of fundamentalism and fear of Islam in the modern world. The West is in the grip of Islamic phobia which is quite haunting for it. Their arts and literature, particularly after the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers of World Trade Center abound in themes of fundamentalism and extremism as it is associated with Islam. Kamila Shamsie deals with the issue of fundamentalism in Home Fire so does Sophocles centuries ago in Antigone. There is no single text in literature rather every text is a mosaic of previous texts. One fine example related to this is The Waste Land (1922) by T. S. Eliot. Likewise, Home Fire bears handsome intertextuality with the previous texts, particularly Antigone.

Residential Encounters with Historical Narratives: Traumatic Rememberances in Salt and Saffron

Kamila Shamsie’s literary contribution as her 2nd renowned work of an art emerges as a historical narrative which emphasizes in shaping our understanding of the traumatic past and its impact on the present. It provides a framework for interpreting partition events, constructing collective memory, and shaping national identity as well. It explores the role of female agency in memorizing and passing down these reminiscences to the next generation by storytelling and portrays them as inheritors of the legacy pigeonholed by courage, bravery, and audacity to keep these traumatic memories The present study aims to scrutinize identity, trauma, and memory as the three main themes, with the goal of understanding and illuminating the complex interactions between them. The novel deals with these three themes from a whole different perspective as Aliya shows some aspects of her identity as a postcolonial comeback and her dadi who experiences the partition by herself which becomes a traumatic episode of her life and eventually the memory that is quite prominent in the novel by every character. Maurice Halbwachs’ philosophy of collective memory stands out as a crucial element that has a significant influence on how historical and sociological processes happen. He argues that the memory of individual develops while having a deeper interaction with the community and shapes according to the larger events beyond the capacity of that particular individual. Furthermore, it bridges the gap between imaginary presents and historical realities, as they conjure up alternative interpretations of the past while being grounded in the factual framework of historical events.

Spices of Society: Unveiling the Tapestry of Socio-Cultural Threads in Kamila Shamsie’s Salt and Saffron

The title delves into Kamila Shamsie’s intricately woven narrative to explore the rich tapestry of socio-cultural dynamics. It is set against the backdrop of Pakistan. The Novel, “Salt and Saffron”(2000) intertwines the personal and societal, presenting a nuanced examination of tradition, identity, and societal expectations. The narrative unfolds through the lens of its protagonist, Aliya unveiling the multifaceted layers of familial heritage and the tensions between modernity and tradition. Shamsie crafts a symbolic exploration of the flavours that define society through the symbolic use of salt and saffron: its traditions, conflicts and aspirations. This article examines how the characters navigate the complex interplay between expectations and personal desires, illustrating the struggle for identity within the framework of societal norms. It embarks on a literary journey beyond the surface narrative, encouraging contemplation on the broader implications of cultural intricacies. She achieved this by acknowledging and reaching terms with the complexities of both its past and present. This analysis uncovers the thematic richness of “Salt and Saffron” revealing a compelling exploration of the spices that flavour the complex dish of socio-cultural existence.

TRANSFORMING LEGAL NARRATIVES: POSTMODERNISM IN SOUTH ASIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE

This study examines the relationship between law, literature, and postmodernism within the context of South Asian English literature. The objective of this study is to analyse the historical development of legal narratives and their subsequent influence on notions of human rights, cultural identity, and justice. Examining and challenging legal narratives, "Burnt Shadows" by Kamila Shamsie, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, "The English Patient" by Michael Ondaatje, and "The Sea of Poppies" by Amitav Ghosh use postmodern literary techniques. Using Katherine Belsey's postmodernism paradigm as a theoretical perspective, the purpose of this study is to analyse the deconstructed and reconstructed narratives found in the novels. The primary objective of these academic investigations is to provide a deeper comprehension of the dominant legal discourses in South Asia and their broader implications.

Projection of Occidental Gaze in Kartography: A Study of the Western Feminist Prism in the Diaspora Narrative

The research paper employs Kamila Shamsie’s novel Kartography as a primary text to critique the influence of occidental gaze on the diaspora female writers of Pakistan. It explores how these writers end up projecting the Pakistani women from their personal perspective of affluent, educated status mimicking the western feminist philosophy. The study uses textual analysis and closed reading methods within the post-colonial feminism and narrative theoretical framework. The discourse of the occidental gaze, representation/misrepresentation of the Orient, objectification of women, and Western feminism has been used to question the authenticity of the narratives of these diaspora writers. The purpose of this research is to highlight that the feminist theory is not monolithic and that the diaspora writers lack the authenticity to define regional feminism in Asia. In other words, they cannot shed off the influence of the western feminist philosophy and the occidental gaze because they share the same experiences of living in Western society. Since they have spent most of their lives in the West, they have been conditioned in the occidental discourse and viewpoint about their native land. This project aims to highlight variation in the feminist stance and how Asia and Pakistan specifically need a different treatment to define feminism in order to encapsulate Pakistani unique idiom and experiences and that diaspora women writers have the least credibility to develop one.

Language, Identity and Diaspora: Bilingualism and Multilingualism of Characters in Burnt Shadows

The paper delves into the themes of diaspora, identity, and language in Kamila Shamsie's novel, Burnt Shadows. The characters in the novel are portrayed as being bilingual and multilingual, which is reflective of the intricate and diverse use of language in diasporic communities. This study analyzes how bilingualism and multilingualism are depicted in the novel and how they contribute towards the construction and deconstruction of the characters' identities. By closely reading the text, the paper underscores the significance of language to diasporas in dealing with challenges caused by war, migration, displacement, and belonging. The analysis highlights how language serves as a medium of communication, an arena of conflict, and a source of cultural identity for the characters and shows the relationship between language and trauma to underline the difficulties of expressing oneself in a language that may not fully capture the depth of one's emotions. The research argues that Shamsie's portrayal of bilingual and multilingual characters offers a powerful reflection on the complexities of language and its role in shaping identities in diasporic community, which accentuates the need for a more inclusive approach towards language and identity in diasporic literary studies.

Multiple Spaces of Cooking

A recent surge of interest in South Asian culture has met with a wealth of outstanding novels by Indian, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan authors. These writers have contributed a fine balance between historical and modern settings, divergent religions, geographical diverse settings, and a wide range of literary techniques which has earned them worldwide acclaim. Artefacts such as food, clothing, music, art, or literature pertain to culture. Thus, food occupies an important place in the delineation of culture and is used abundantly in South Asian literature. Recent interest in food studies has opened doors to examine how the use of food imagery and metaphor represents complex ideas and deeper meaning in literature. Literary food studies analyses food symbolism to reflect on cultural identity. The domestic arena associated with femininity also becomes a space to reproduce cultural and national identity. Studying ordinary moments in everyday life can yield insights into the culture of the past and present. Women writers have used food and eating to symbolize cultural issues of acceptance, resistance, and preservation of culture, as well as symbols of memory, emotions, narrative history, relationships, power, and consumption.Food is a crucial indicator of individual and social identities. In the context of the diaspora, it is more than an indicator of one's nostalgia and search for rootedness. This paper seeks to explore whether food can be used as a tool of recognition-personal and national.The texts to be taken up for the present study are Esther David’s The Book of Rachel and Kamila Shamsie’s Salt and Saffron. in which recipes are interwoven into the texts as part of the narrative process.

Evolution of Self: Exploration of Personality Development in Kamila Shamsie's Selective Novel

The persona of Hasan in Kamila Shamsie’s novel In the City By the Sea is a complicated and multi-faceted character whose adventure from childhood to adulthood illustrates his cognitive and psychosocial improvement in the story. In this paper, we have analyzed Hasan's character focusing on his cognitive maturity and social development, discovering through his life experiences and relationships his idea of self and the world around him. Our discussion draws on Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, explaining the ways Hasan's conception of reality and truth undergoes evolution over time as he progresses from a concrete, sensorimotor awareness of the world to greater abstract, formal operational understanding. We additionally utilize Erikson's ideas on psychosocial development, especially the stage of identity versus identity confusion in his theory and the blossoming of Hasan's ego identity. The paper argues that Hasan's immediate life experiences and relationships play an essential function in shaping his idea of himself and the surrounding world. In conclusion, our research offers an insightful interpretation of Hasan's portrayal in the novel, exploring the functioning of cognitive and psychosocial growth at work in his progression from formative years to maturity. The current research highlights the utility of Piaget and Erikson's theories to interpret literary characters and unpack the interplay of both nature and nurture in comprehending the complex phenomenon of human development.