Minority Identity in African-British Muslim Diaspora: A Critical Analysis of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s The Last Gift

Abstract

This study aims to explore the minority identity in diaspora by analyzing the portrayal of the African-British Muslims in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s The Last Gift (2011). The aspects of transition and culture in both minority identity and cultural theories of reading literature are employed as a conceptual framework for this study. Themes of transition are conceptualized by subjective phenomena such as having a sense-of-self and space of knowing, which are usually explicable and defy balanced, tangible thinking. Through this study, the researchers have attempted to approach the minority identity in the novel shedding light on factors such as self-cultural contexts and expectations, self-consciousness and contestations, and how these notions play vital roles in the migrants' experience in their homelands and hostlands. The analysis concludes that the migrants' sense-of-self is often located within the constructs of culture and identity order and norms. however, there are other cases where the sense-of-self of the minority migrants demonstrates a desire to achieve an immersion and acceptance in the hostland in relation to their existence as a minority in a majority community, creating a new generation with a sense of self-consciousness.