Transformations of the Liminal Self: Configurations of Home and Identity for Muslim Characters in British Postcolonial Fiction

The concept of home has been changing for more than a century. This change began with colonialism and the movement of people across the globe, often within a set power dynamic. Since people now move with greater frequency, the question of where home is and what home means is more relevant than ever before. Meticulously researched, Transformations of the Liminal Self addresses the formation of home and identity and the ways in which the latter depends on the former. Using the postcolonial Muslim characters in the literary works of British authors Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Zadie Smith, Monica Ali, and Fadia Faqir, author Alaa Alghamdi shows how home and identity are profoundly impacted by the power dynamics of the colonial relationship, the individual immigrant's experience, and the subject's multicultural setting. Drawing upon the theoretical work of Homi Bhabha, Rosemary Marangoly George, Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak, and Edward Said, the conception of home and the formation of hybrid identities is examined and connected to larger cultural manifestations of Muslim-Western relationships. More specifically, Alghamdi explores how these characters define their home. Bold and challenging, Alghamdi's work offers a rigorous and well-articulated contribution to the ongoing academic conversation about identity and postcolonial literature.