INSIDERS/OUTSIDERS: FINDING ONE'S SELF IN THE CULTURAL BORDERLANDS

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In this Subject: Literature
By this author: Chrissi Harris

Author: Chrissi Harris

Source: Rodopi Perspectives on Modern Literature, Literature and Ethnicity in the Cultural Borderlands. Edited by Jesus Benito and Anna Maria Manzanas , pp. 175-187(13)

Publisher: Rodopi

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Abstract:

This paper looks at the significance of living in what can be considered to be the cultural borderlands of Britain's London and of New Zealand, both areas of a long reaching history of colonialism that is perpetuated by degrees in the present day. The chosen works, by Andrea Levy, Hanif Kureishi and Alan Duff, highlight the variety of experiences that are produced by belonging to a cultural minority and the resulting uncertainty of cultural identity that ensues. The border is a figurative and permeable condition upon which the discovery of one's identity through concerted choices is reliant, for belonging to a marginalized community forces a movement across boundaries which can either include or exclude. The three works provide examples of the kind of circumstances which are at play in bringing about how one comes to be an insider, an outsider, or someone who is simply, and confusingly, caught in between.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2002-06-01