Assilation and Resistance in Hanif Kureishi’s The Black Album

Abstract

In the present study, Hanif Kureishi’s The Black Album was analyzed in the view of Bhabha’s concepts of ambivalence, assimilation, hybridity, double-consciousness, and homeliness. Shahid, a Pakistani student, constructs a hybrid identity and symbolically marries a widow lecturer who teaches postcolonial literature. On the contrary to Shahid’s views, Riaz’s group is a fundamental Islamic aggregation in 1980s London devoted to anti-racist activities while take part in book-burning and violent actions. As Bhabha theories about hybrid identity, it seems that Shahid’s assimilation into the host mainstream culture and developing a hybrid identity enfeebles colonial and imperial power more than Riaz’s group and their violent resistance against imperial power