Identity and Nation in Shamsie’s Kartography and Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia

This article focuses on postcolonial Pakistan, which is divided on ethnic, economic, religious, linguistic, and political lines, and reveals the negotiations, sufferings and experiences of racism and nationalism. Through the lens of “postcolonial nationalism”, this study examines the heightened consciousness of “national identity”, quest for “belonging”, and the loss of “continuity” as depicted in Kamila Shamsie’s Kartography and Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia. In the current “war on terror” scenario, many Pakistani people are failing to find security and shelter within and across border. The corrupt establishment as well as the religious and political mafias has deprived and shattered people’s belief in themselves by crushing their dreams of freedom. The Pakistani people have stood on the verge of their “promised land” only to watch how callously their beloved home is stricken by the superseding local and global powers under the guises of patriotism and nationalism. Furthermore, the severe consequences of 9/11 have generated a strong sense of alienation, insecurity, and recurrent fear in Pakistani diaspora, who have failed to assimilate in their host countries and remain in search of “home”.