Hybridity And Multiculturalism

HYBRIDITY AND MULTICULTURALISM: A CLOSE READING OF ZADIE SMIT’S
WHITE TEETH

Dissertation submitted to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Masters of Arts in English Literature.

Christina M
Register no: 130011004436
Master of Arts
English Literature.

The Department Of English
St. Albert’s College
Ernakulam
2013-2015

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that dissertation titled, Hybridity and Multiculturalism: A Close Reading of Zadie Smith by Christina M, Register no. 130011004436 is a record of bonafied work carried out by her as part of the M.A. English course and the following dissertation is submitted impartial fulfillment of the requirement for the

Initially,

the mass-immigration was regarded as ‘beneficial to the nation’ rather than a burden.
Due to labour shortages, which could not be met by Britain’s own workers,

immigration was as Adrian Favell expresses it, ‘economic in nature’ and thereby

‘negligible as the source of salient political problems’. In other words, it was not

expected to ‘disrupt’ the national identity, that is to say “Englishness”, in any way

since ‘commonwealth and colonial ties mean[t] that the immigrants [were] considered

part of the nation in any case’ (Favell, 23). Moreover, the immigrants were thought as

temporary workers, who would eventually return once Britain and reconstructed its

economy. The fact that some of them would stay had not been taken into account.

Equally, the immigrants’ intention was also temporary. The British Nationality Act

Smith challenges ideas of cultural heritage as being a necessary part of the identification process through which immigrants and their subsequent generations emerge. Rather, the characters of the novel identity their authentic selves through a mingling of the past and present, a rootedness which clings to both personal histories and present circumstances. It represents a myriad of ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse characters mainly, Anglo- Jamaican and Bangladeshi and Jewish. It creates a sense of belonging in the city of London at three different historical periods of time: the Second World War and Post war years, the period of social changes in the 1980s and the late 1990s.
The story mixes pathos and humour while illustrating the dilemmas of immigrants and their off springs as they are confronted by a new, different society. Contrasted in the setting of a different host culture, desperate aspects of Non-British culture emerge. Critical reviews on White Teeth did not cease to highlight the novel’s multi-ethnic, multiracial and multicultural aspect. In this respect, the Characters in White Teeth are the epitome of hybridity and cultural