Annotated Bibliography
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Djenaba Diallo (She/Her) on
Djenaba Diallo (She/Her) on Research Question: How does Amitav Ghosh explore complexities of cultural identity in The Hungry Tide through the use of contrasting experiences and perspectives of different characters?
Alam, Md Naushad. “The Hungry Tide: Exploring Diasporic Identity.”
This article shows this idea of representation on diasporic identities in Amitav Ghosh’s novel The Hungry Tide. Alam specifically focuses on how the novel portrays different issues like displacement, belonging, and identity through the characters Piya, Kanai, and Fokir. Their contrasting cultural experiences reflect their identity in a more diasporic context.
Basak, Santanu. “Hunger for Identity in ‘Total Environment’in Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” The Criterion 12 (2013): 1-6.
Santanu’s article essentially offers insight on how Amitav Ghosh explores complexities of cultural identity. He does this by looking into the contrasting experiences and view points of the characters. Basak also emphasizes how Ghosh portrays the setting of the Sundarbans as a place of both ecological and cultural identities being deeply connected. The article highlights how Ghosh uses characters to reflect the differing views on identity and belonging.
Dubey, Sanjay Prakash. “Place and Displacement: Search for Eco-Cultural Identity in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and Sea of Poppies.”
Overall, Ghosh explores the complexities of cultural identity through the contrasting experiences of his characters. Piya and Fokir, were raised very differently yet still have very similar interests. Piya, who is a biologist, is searching for personal and professional identity in the unfamiliar Sundarbans, while Fokir is a fisherman who is connected to the Sundabarns and the water. Not only them, but Kanai is also someone who shows these contrasts. Kanai views the Sundabarns through a more intellectual lens. Overall, in this article, Dubey shows how the characters different upbringings still have a way of connecting them in the end. These contrasting identities show that cultural belonging is not a fixed thing but it is more fluid, simply shaped by internal and external factors.
HOBSBAWN, ERIC. “Language, Culture, and National Identity.” Social Research, vol. 63, no. 4, 1996, pp. 1065–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40971324. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.
Hobsbawm’s article explains how language is an important part of forming a person’s cultural identity. In the novel, Piya’s foreign perspective contrasts with Kanai’s connection to his homeland, showing how people’s understanding of who they are can be shaped by where they come from. Kanai and Piya are the characters who are technically least connected with the Sundabarns, but since Kanai speaks the language, he is more well versed in how things work around there unlike Piya who had a harder time finding a more concrete connection.
Nayar, Pramod K. “The Postcolonial Uncanny; The Politics of Dispossession in Amitav Ghosh’s ‘The Hungry Tide.’” College Literature, vol. 37, no. 4, 2010, pp. 88–119. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27917766. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.
Nayar emphasizes the tension between global and local identities, especially between Piya and Kanai. Piya is a marine biologist who grew up not well connected to her culture while Kanai, who has a more urban upbringing, brings a different perspective to the traditional ways of the Sundarban inhabitants. This highlights how cultural identities are shaped by legacies, the environment, and historical trauma, with the locals’ sense of identity being influenced by displacement.
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