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Contributor:
Łobodziec, Agnieszka - red. nauk. ; Filipczak, Iwona - red. nauk.
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Subject and Keywords:
Asian American fiction ; hybrid identity ; authenticity ; diaspora
Abstract:
The aim of the article is to discuss the discourse of hybridity employed in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni`s "The Mistress of Spices". It is argued that under the veneer of exoticism (otherness created by culinary images, magic, and cross-cultural desire) the novel displays political engagement: it destabilizes mainstream categories such as white/black, authentic/ inauthentic, American/un-American, introduces ambiguity and ultimately challenges the center/periphery paradigm . ; The nation`s margins, represented by an immigrant from the Indian subcontinent and a half-Native American, display a creative potential of dismantling exclusionary narratives of the nation (Bhabha) . Accordingly, the novel can be read as Divakaruni`s attempt to show the complicated cross-cultural relations in America, thus indicating the need of constant renegotiation of American identity without a discernible center and periphery .
Publisher:
Zielona Góra: Oficyna Wydawnicza Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego
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DOI:
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Source:
Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego: Seria Scripta Humana, tom 7