Representation of Transnational identity in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The mistress of spice

Abstract

The present research paper analyzes the fictional postcolonial text The Mistress of Spices authored by the notable south Asian postcolonial writer, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It argues that the writer employs her central protagonist as an agency of transnational identity as a tool to settle the cultural clash between the two cultural worlds: Eastern and Western as represented by Tilo, Geeta, Lalita and Raven respectively. It further explores how Divakaruni offers the new social phenomenon of transnationalism as an instrument to address the cultural complexity instigated by the encounter between the eastern and western cultural values in the multicultural society of America. The state of being transnational represents the possibility of having two identities, two homes, two families, and two cultures at the same time. Despite being deterritorialized from her original culture and geographical locations, Tilo exercises the typical Indian tradition of Ayurbedic business in Oakland and also serves the non-Indian people. Her romantic affair with Raven, an American boy, further shows her transnational simultaneity. To further support the argument, the paper incorporates the theoretical insights from the theory of Transnationalism accompanied by Paul Jay, Natasha Garrett, Nyla Ali Khan, Steven Vertovec, Jahan Ramazani, Homi K. Bhabha's theoretical notion of Hybrid Identity. Likewise, The paper sheds the light on the postcolonial encounter between eastern and western values in the multicultural society and concludes with findings that transnational movement can replace the essentialist notion of fixed identity and practically resolve the cultural clash in the multicultural society. Key Words: transnational identity, diaspora, transnationalism, globalization, agency