VOICING THE MARGINALISED: IDENTITY, POWER, AND COMMUNICATION IN KAMILA SHAMSIE’S HOME FIRE

Abstract

This article presents a thematic analysis of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017), focusing on the interconnected roles of identity, power, and communication in the construction of diasporic subjectivity within a post-9/11 British context. While existing scholarship has examined these themes individually, few studies have explored how they operate in mutual reinforcement to shape both narrative and character agency. Using a qualitative, interpretive research design, the study employs theoretical frameworks drawn from Postcolonial Theory (Bhabha), Michel Foucault’s discourse and power theory, and Stuart Hall’s cultural identity theory. Through close reading and thematic coding, the analysis reveals that identity in Home Fire is not static but formed through cultural negotiation, surveillance, and media framing. Power is exercised through both institutional mechanisms and personal relationships, while communication, ranging from social media activism to strategic silence, emerges as a contested space of resistance and control. The study contributes to postcolonial and diaspora studies by offering an integrated model that situates communication as a mediating force between identity formation and power dynamics. It also underscores literature’s role in critiquing securitised citizenship, racialised nationalism, and the politics of voice in contemporary society.