LIVING IN LIMINALITY: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY OF HYBRID IDENTITY AND BELONGING IN MAROO’S WESTERN LANE

Abstract

Postcolonial literature  examines how migration, displacement, and cultural intersections reshape identity and belonging. Liminality emerges as a central theme within postcolonial discourse. This paper explores Western Lane through a postcolonial framework informed by Homi K. Bhabha’s concepts of hybridity, liminality, and the “third space.” It investigates how the novel portrays the negotiation of hybrid identity and belonging in a diasporic context, revealing how characters inhabit transitional spaces where cultural boundaries blur. Drawing on Bhabha’s theorization of identity as ambivalent and fluid, the paper highlights how Maroo depicts the tensions between assimilation and cultural retention, visibility and marginality, and how these tensions shape the protagonist’s evolving sense of self. By foregrounding the psychological and emotional effects of living “in-between,” the textual analysis demonstrates how Western Lane reconfigures immigrant experience as a site of creativity and resistance rather than mere loss or displacement. Ultimately, the paper argues that Maroo’s narrative embodies Bhabha’s vision of the “third space,” where hybrid identities can generate new forms of belonging and cultural meaning within postcolonial contexts.