IDENTITY AMID CULTURAL FRAGMENTATION: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY OF AKBAR’S MARTYR!
Keywords:
Culture Negotiation, Diasporic Identity, Hybridity, Martyrdom, Postcolonial TheoryAbstract
This research study examines the representation of diasporic identity in Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (2024) through the lens of Stuart Hall's theory of cultural identity and postcolonial theory. This study contends that identity is not static or essential in Martyr! but rather is flexible, broken, and always being negotiated via memory, trauma and cultural displacement. The novel is centered on the main character, Cyrus Shams, an Iranian-American addict grieving over the death of his father and searching for a sense of purpose in his life, all of which is colored by the violence of his past, the trauma he inherited and the pressure surrounding the dominant cultural narrative. The research uses qualitative textual analysis and close reading to examine the themes of martyrdom, loss, hybridity and artistic expression as sites of identity formation and resistance. In the novel, martyrdom is redefined beyond its traditional religious connotations and becomes an existential and ethical quest for meaning within the diasporic experience. The study also points to the role of art and language as a space of mediation where the negotiation occurs, but not the resolution, of fragmented identities. Through portraying personal suffering in the context of larger stories of displacement and postcolonial violence, Martyr! brings attention to the relational, performative and contingent nature of diasporic identity. This study makes a significant contribution to the modern postcolonial and diasporic studies of literature by offering a conception of identity as a process that is continually being negotiated, remembered, and represented.
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