From Roots to Rhizomes: Hybrid, Diasporic Identities in Hema and Kaushik

Rahman analyzes diasporic Indian characters from Jhumpa Lahiri’s book of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. Focusing on two characters, Hema and Kaushik, Rahman draws out themes of displacement, genealogy and gender to demonstrate the conflicts that arise through hyphenated identities. An earlier version of this paper was produced for the course South Asian Literature and Culture (HND 2700) at York University and won the York Centre for Asian Research’s Undergraduate Asian Diaspora Essay Award.