Exploring the Representation of Feminist Reinventions, Cultural Alienation and Western Ideological Pressures on Muslim Women in Fadia Faqir’s my name is Salma

Abstract

This research explores the socio-cultural issues, identity formation and ideological pressures presented in the writings of exiled writer Fadia Faqir’s My Name is Salma. There is a vibrant evidence of cultural diasporic predicament and alienation with the postcolonial perspective. Protagonist of this novel tries to know her identity at a new place and struggles to gain a new multicultural identity. This research sets out to examine how identity is formed by a Muslim subject in a postcolonial Western context. Edward Said’s Orientalism, provides a solid stage to know about the west’s patronizing and fictional depictions of the East. Theories of hybridity, liminal space, mimicry and ambivalence presented by Homi K. Bhabha also provide a major ground to analyze the selected text. Issues related to Islamic ideology, new culture and the attitude of the new society in the modern era have also been brought under discussion and analysis. This research not only provides a basic knowledge about the culture and norms of Middle East but also about Islamic ideology and Islamic practices; it also provides an account off information about the pressures and ideology clashes on the basic of East and West. The research concludes that a Muslim character living in the West will form for themselves a hybrid identity that encompasses both their Muslim heritage and that of the modern, secular culture of the West.