Hybrid Identities and Cultural Assimilation in Zadie Smith’s Novel.
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The study of cultural hybridity and assimilation processes in heterogeneous settings has benefited greatly from Zadie Smith's novels. Her writings examine the difficulties and changes people encounter when juggling cultural dualities. This essay uses postcolonial theory to examine four of Smith's books: White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, and NW. It focuses on Stuart Hall's notion of fluid identity and Homi K. Bhabha's concept of hybridity. The study looks into how hybrid identities are portrayed as a source of growth and struggle and how cultural assimilation is viewed as a difficult self-negotiation process. Smith's contribution to the discussion of postcolonialism and global multiculturalism is highlighted in the conclusion.
Author: Amita Kalsi
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4410930246