POST-COLONIAL PSYCHIC ALIENATION OR IDENTITY CRISIS IN ABDULRAZAK GURNAH’S PILGRIMS WAY: A FANONIAN READING
Abstract
“blackness” and “inferiority” complex or the identity crisis in Abdulrazak
Gurnah’s novel Pilgrims Way. As argued in the paper, Gurnah artistically
explores the experiences of immigrants in England after the end of colonialism in the novel. This exploration includes themes such as racism, segregation and marginalisation experienced by immigrants due to their cultural
differences and physical appearance in the indigenous white society and
culture. The paper examines how racism, exclusion and marginalisation in
the novel bring about a severe identity crisis represented through the lives
and opinions of immigrants in postcolonial Britain as in the past. That is,
the paper discusses that the Fanonian “internalised” feeling of inferiority
continues in the unconscious of people of colour as in the colonised period;
they are unable to get rid of it, even though they are free and independent
now.
Keywords: Colonialism, Postcolonialism, Racism, Blackness,
Marginalisation, Identity Crisis
Full Text:
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