The Discourse of 'Othering' in Hanif Kureishi's “The Buddha of Suburbia”

Abstract

In order to sell overproduction, find new markets and buy larger amounts of raw materials at cheapest price, most developed European countries occupied territories especially in areas with no political and economic structures from the 16th century to the 20th century. In addition to Western colonialism, Western people take the so called ‘civilizing mission’ on as a duty because they believe in superiority of their civilization. Therefore, the Western ideology has produced arbitrary boundaries between itself and ‘other’, and referred to ‘other’s land as the ‘Orient’ and ‘the land of barbarians’. During postcolonial period, many communities from the former colonial regions have migrated to Britain. The discourse of ‘othering’ has been maintained by the host British society for centuries. In this context, Hanif Kureishi’s "The Buddha of Suburbia" (1990) allows readers to analyse the discourse of ‘othering’ in terms of gender, class, culture, and race. The novel concerns the quest of both an Indian Haroon who is married to a British woman and his adolescent son Karim to find ethnic, cultural and gender identity in British society. Haroon and his friend Anwar, representing first-generation immigrants in the multicultural British society, are not only silenced by the ruling British society, which see them as intruders and dependents, but also considered by representatives of the ruling group as exotic, suspicious, and the ‘other’. Although Haroon’s son, Karim, imitates the host culture, he cannot escape being considered as the ‘other’ because of his race, colour, class and culture. Although Anwar’s daughter, Jamila, struggles between her main culture and the host culture in a multicultural society, and represents the role of a contemporary woman who questions the patriarchal understanding is also considered as the ‘other’. There are racial lines, with the white Europeans on one side, and everyone else on the other.