Tribhuvan University
Projection of Cultural Clash in Bharati Mukherjee's The Middleman and Other Stories:
A Cultural Study
A thesis proposal submitted to the Department of English for the Approval of the
Research Committee.
By
Shanil Nepal
Roll no: 067/068/531
Central Department of English
Kritipur, Kathmandu
Feburary, 2013
Introduction
This project focuses on Bharati Mukherjee's story collections The Middleman
and Other Stories which consist of eleven short stories that explores the clash between western
and the third world cultures. Bharati Mukherjee got awarded the National Book Critics Circle
Award for The Middleman and other stories that cemented mukherjee's position as an important
literary figure in the United States. She tells her tales from many perspectives, with a keen eye
for the concept of self within a larger society. Several stories are narrated by European
Americans who are forced for the first time to adjust their own lives, tradition and cultures
because of their relation with third world immigrants. In all these stories Mukherjee displays a
keen ear for American vernacular and presents subtle and often humorous description of cultural
bariors and misunderstanding between different cultures as well as misinterpretation of third
world peoples culture. Here Mukherjee mainly expands her narrative voice to explore not only
the lives of immigrants but also those of European American who have been brought into contact
with immigrants cultures. The characters in Middleman and other stories learn that it is
opportunity as well as curse to have to remake their lives and personal identity. While going
through all the stories the sence of cultural conflict is very dominant.
This project claims that in the post colonial scenario first world's people as well as third
world's immigrants loss their cultural originality in contact with each others cultures.
Acculturation is the obtainment of culture by an individual or group of people. From foreign
culture immigrants added and mixed with that of his or her already existing culture that were
acquired sence birth. Through cultural study this project research on how immigrant are
hegemonized in first world and how the contacts between two cultures destroys their cultures and
customes and removes from the sphere of original cultures.
This project makes significant contribution on these areas of critical concern: clash
between culture and ethnicity of first world and immigrant people of third world, how immigrant
people from third world are hegemonized in first world, how contacts between two culture
hybridize and destroys cultures and removes them from the sphere of original culture. Stories are
narrated by European Americans who are forced for the first time to adjust their own lives and
tradition because of their relation with foreigners.
Problem
Theoretical framework
It is one of the remarkable collections of stories that focuses on the clash between the
culture and ethnicity between contact cultures. This research study acculturation and cultural
hybridity of contact people and inter border romance in the post colonial scenario. This research
will mobilize the theoretical concepts of Post-colonial Cultural Critic. Homi k bhabha, Gyatri
chakrabarti spivak and Mary Louise Pratt and their concepts on Cultural Studies will be the
theoritical framework to study the cultural clash in the stories of Bharati Mukherjee.
Purpose of study
The primary objective of this study is to point out the caues of immigration, cultural
conflict, acculturation and hybridization and inter ethnic romance in the post colonial scenario.
Only Immigrants are supposed to lose their culture but inhabitant's culture also hybridize in
contact with the immigrants. "Jasmine", "Fighting for Rebound" and "orbiting" are the stories
that focus on interethnic romance in America. In each stories romance crocess cultural and ethnic
border, it happens between immigrants and sattled Americans.
Research question/ problem
This research raises the questions through the critical lense of cultural studies in
post-colonial scenario that third world immigrants are hegemonized and destroys their culture in
first world as well as European Americans are also forced to adjust their own lives and tradition
because of their relation with foreigners. In cross cultural romance immigrants and sattled
Americans crosses cultural and ethnic border to adjust in new world.
Hypothesis
This research project not only assumes that immigrants from third world are losing their
original culture but it also presumes that there is cultural clash between different cultures and the
contact cultures from the first world are also destroying their original cultures. This process of
acculturation and assimilation leads to hybridity and distruction of culture from the sphere of
original culture.
Limitations/Delimitation
Although this study makes significant use of the concept developed in cultural studies,
this research limits itself to the points, how cultural clash between first and third world create
hybrid cultures and process of assimilation and acculturation. But there are many other aspects of
culture clash that are not included in this research.
Review of literature
In the short stories collections The Middleman and Other Stories the third world
immigrants and characters from first world were also destroys their original culture.
Both cultures assimilate each others cultures and their cultures turns out to be hybrid culture.
In this sense the critic, Mitali R. Pati examines the cultural conflict in Mukherjee's short stories
and the Indian immigrants experiences.
In book review the critic Emmanual s. Nelson writes: Bharati Mukherjee has firmly
estabilished herself as a significant trans-national writer on the immigrant experience—a subject
that is central to the Postcolonial/Commonwealth literature. The critic, Carol Ascher in his The
Women's Review of Books, says although Mukherjee's characters only participate in public life to
advance their narrow private interests, in total they are the great social transformation affecting
North Americ.
Alpan sharma kippling and Debjani Banerjee in there brilliant essays entitled "Towards
an Investigation of the subaltern" in Bharati Mukherjee's The Middleman and other stories and
Jasmine and "In the presence of History: The Representation of past and present Indias in
Bharati Mukherjee's Fiction." Both of the critics focus on the problem of representation in
Mukherjee's work. While keepling louds Mukherjee's desire to challenge mainstream American
literary-cultural productions, she establishes that Mukherjee is not that radical. The critic,
Debjani Banerjee argues that Mukherjee's unambiguous linkage of her identity as an American
writer denies her the strategic distance that is needed to comment on and critique the dominant
ideologies. Her valorization of the U.S. as a locus for positive change in novels like jasmine her
position as a postcolonial intellectual, for her she fails to see threat of American neocolonialism.
Bharati Mukherjeein says that "I am an American writer. I am not an Indian writer, not an
exile, not an expatriate. I am an Immigrant; my investement is the American reality not the
Indian. While criticing her as rejecting the 'Indian' and calling herself an American writer rather
than Indian hyphon American. In this sence mukherjee states that: I am an American writer of
Indian origin, not because I am ashamed of my past, not because I am betraying or destroying
my past because of my whole adult life has been lived here.
Immigrants are hegemonized in first world and the contacts between two cultures
destroys theire culture and custome.In the process of acculturation both cultures loos their
original culture in the post collonial scenario. In this sence, Mary LOuise Pratt gives the concept
of "Contact Zone" in the book The Imperical Eyes to interpret the cultural phenomena such as
creation, modification and destruction of culture. Human history is in the process of continuous
fluctuation. Generally, the cause of such flux of human history is associated with the cnanges of
social upheavals. While defining the term contact zone, pratt says: "The term "contact zone" ,
which I use to refer to the space of colonial encounters, the space in which peoples
geographically and historically seperated come into contact with each other and establish
ongoing relations, usually involving conditions of coercing radial inequality and interactable
conflict." Because of globalization, people wander from one to other for the quest of good life
and material prosperity. It has become a tendency that people migrate to Ameerica and other well
developed countries to pursue their dreams. America has become the melting pot of different
ethnic group and cultures origin.
Methodology
The primary focus of this research project is to establish the cultural clash between
immigrants and inhabitants and the their cultural assimilation, acculturation, amalgamation and
cultural hybridity in the post-colonial scenario. It will be a library based research so it will use
close discursive analytical concepts of vacabularies related to cultural studies. As the focus of the
research is a post-colonial cultural critic which establish how cultural clash takes place in post-
colonial scenario. Mary LOuise Pratt gives the concept of "contact zone" in the book The
Imperical Eyes to interpret the cultural phenomena such as creation, modification and destruction
of culture.
Tentative chapter division
The thesis shall have the following chapters:
Chapter I: Relation between Third World newcomers and those who get involved with them.
Chapter II: Cultural Clash in Bharati Mukherjee's The Middleman and Other Stories.
Chapter III: Cultural clash in the process of assimilation and acculturation of contact cultures.
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Works cited
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