Notions of Hybrid Identities: Apostcolonial Insight into Diasporic features in "Brick Lane" and "Anamerican Brat"

The two novels, An American Brat by Bapsi Sidhwa and Brick Lane by Monica Ali explore the subject of hybrid identities through the theme of migration and the consequences of the diasporic experiences which is the most notable topic in the contemporary postcolonial, postmodern and diasporic literature. Diaspora is a journey towards self-realization, self- recognition, self-knowledge and self-definition as the writers develop their characters through different phases of struggle which are helpful in their identity development which is affected by the culture of the settled lands and results in hybridity. To explore the notions of hybrid identities, the focus of the paper will be on the diasporic features presented in the novels through the experiences of diaspora characters. These diasporic features would be analyzed in the light of postcolonial concepts given by Edward Said and Homi Bhabha such as the concepts of Dislocation, Otherness, Unhomeliness, Ambivalence, Mimicry and Third Space which ultimately leads to the hybrid identities of diasporas.