NEGOTIATING CULTURAL BOUNDARIES: A DIASPORIC STUDY OF MALIK’S THE GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND

Abstract

This paper analyzes the issues of identity, community, and belonging against the backdrop of Ayisha Malik’s work The Green and Pleasant Land. This paper strives to establish how the various characters relate to the multiple boundaries in depth, in their identity development within their communities. This study focuses on the lives of British Pakistanis and their struggle to find their cultural niche in integrating into British society. It fits the concept of identity and community, what it is to be part of a minority and the challenges immigrant people face while living in a new culture and simultaneously maintaining the traditional culture. The author paints a picture of the life of Bilal Hasham, a British Pakistani Muslim. The main challenge the main character faces is building a mosque in Babbel’s End- inhabited by non-Muslims—as his late mother had wished. This act illustrates Bilal’s confusion as he is a man who straddles two spheres of existence but is marginalized in both. This book also covers the issues of micro-aggression, Islamophobia and the cultural conflict between the two worlds-- which is typical for diasporic literature. The relationships described in the work show the social tensions and discrimination connected with cultural and religious differences and the fight for identity in the adaptation process. Thus, textual analysis reveals that it provides the theme of acceptance of the different religious and cultural groups in a multicultural society.