THE POLITICS OF BELONGING: A READING OF DIASPORIC IDENTITY IN NAWAAZ AHMED’S RADIANT FUGITIVES (2021)

Abstract

This study examines the issues of identity, belonging, and displacement in Nawaaz Ahmed’s Radiant Fugitives. It highlights how Ahmed depicts the psychological, cultural, and social issues that define the life in diaspora. Employing postcolonial theory within diasporic domain, complemented by Bhabha’s identity theory, the study highlights the tensions between memory and migration, home and exile, and individual and collective identity, demonstrating how characters negotiate their sense of self within unfamiliar and often alienating environments. The study argues that, in addition to portraying the pain and confusion of dislocation, the selected novel also shows the possibilities of resilience, adaptation, and hybrid belonging. The research findings demonstrate that Ahmed portrays multipartite complications of diasporic life and makes significant contributions to the current literary discussions on identity formation, cultural negotiation, and the experience of displacement in an increasingly globalized world. The novel describes diasporic identity as fluid and hybrid, which is affected by the tension between tradition and adaptation, self and community, and memory and the existing realities.