adie Smiths White Teeth

Zadie Smiths White Teeth (2000) belongs to a relatively recent subgenre in which children
of mixed white and non-white immigrant parents represent as a given a London that is
populated by a bewildering mix of cultures, religions, languages and previous nationalities.
This latest instance of postcolonial British fiction originated with the publication of Hanif
Kureishis The Buddha of Suburbia in 1990. His protagonists are Londoners of mixed ethnic
parentage like himself whom he takes to be representative of the movements and
aspirations of millions of people (Borderline 4). Readers are clearly willing to make a similar
assumption judging from the large sales of this new form of fiction. While its most
celebrated work remains White Teeth, a recent notable addition to the genre has been
Monica Alis Brick Lane(2003). This new subgenre became so much in demand in the 1990s
that both Smith and Ali were offered contracts with large advances before they had written
more than a few chapters of the novels and still managed to receive highly favorable notices
from most reviewers. All three writers celebrate the increasingly multicultural nature of
Londons inhabitants. All of them differ from their postcolonial predecessors who could still
remember their countries of origin and who remained ambivalent about their identity and
allegiances. These three writers only know a London characterized by multiculturalism and
residual racism. For all three writers London becomes
what John Clement Ball has called a semi-detached
signifier: it is and is not Britain; it is and is not the
world (9).
British attitudes to multiculturalism have been changing
again recently, partly as an after effect of 9/11. In an
interview with the Times (London) published on 2 April
2004, Trevor Phillips, a former
champion of
multiculturalism and head of the Commission on Racial
Equality, said that the 40-year policy of multiculturalism
was out of date and no longer useful because it now
means
the
wrong
things
and
encourages
"separateness" among communities. He added: We are
now in a different world from the Sixties and Seventies.
What we should be talking about is how we reach an
integrated society, one in which people are equal under
the law, where there are some common values (Britain
must). He gave this interview the same day that a
small group British Muslim extremists burned the Union
Jack outside the Central Mosque in Regents Park.
Phillips later explained, if we put our desire to defend
the right to be different ahead of our fight for the right to be equal we can end up by
excluding and diminishing the most disadvantaged people in our society (Trevor Phillipss
speech). This latest change in attitude is anticipated by these three writers all of who
present protagonists who enter into the mainstream of British culture bringing with them
their ethnic heritage rather than defining themselves by their ethnic and cultural difference
from their white fellow citizens as do their first generation immigrant parents. These writers,
then, reflect a very different situation from that experienced by the first wave of immigrants
to Britain that included Sam Selvon, George Lamming, Edward Kamau Braithwaite, and V.S.
Naipaul.

From the moment in 1948 when the Empire Windrush landed at Tilbury with 492 West
Indian immigrants Britain (more specifically England) entered into a crisis of national
identity. The mixed nature of British society from its beginnings had been disguised by the
fact that most of the earlier waves of migration and invasion had brought differences of
culture and language, but not of race and color. The confusion in identity politics after World
War Two caused by the new influx of primarily West Indian and Asian immigrants can be
epitomized by the actions of Enoch Powell. As Conservative Minister of Health during the
early 1960s he was responsible for actively recruiting West Indians to enter the National
Health Service. Yet in 1968 he delivered his famous speech in Birmingham in which he
warned, ... the immigrant communities can organize . . . to overawe and dominate the rest
. . . Like the Roman, I seem to see, 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood (Mr Powell
sees). He advocated repatriating immigrants and was supported by vociferous segments of
the population. One of the consequences of the loss of a national sense of self following the
divestment of Britains colonies was a racist backlash directed at immigrants arriving from
countries that had recently been subject colonies. The impetus of that backlash is still
evident today, but much diminished, in part due to the ever increasing presence of nonwhites in England, and in London in particular.
The latest UK census in 2001 found that over 4.6 million (7.9%) of the total population of
59.2 million was non-white, of which 53% was Asian. Non-whites had grown over the
previous decade by 53% from 3 to 4.6 million. Of most interest here is the fact that a new
category of mixed ethnicity accounted for 15% of the non-white population (1.2 % of the
total population). All three novelists considered in this first section Hanif Kureishi, Zadie
Smith and Monica Ali are of mixed white and non-white parentage. Further, they all write
about London which in 2001 contained 53% of the UKs non-white population, where it
comprised 29% of the citys more than 7 million inhabitants. These rapidly changing
demographics have inevitably produced a transformation in the expectations and outlook of
the latest generation of non-white English citizens, especially non-white Londoners. All three
novelists are not only of mixed ethnicity, but are second generation immigrants, being born
and raised in England. This makes it doubly incomprehensible to them (as to all mixed
ethnic citizens) when they find themselves treated as foreigners because of the color of their
skin or because of their one immigrant parent.
These writers have followed the example of Salman Rushdie, by deconstructing essentialist
notions of national identity in their work. Just as Rushdie centers the London chapters
of The Satanic Verses (1988) on Brickhall (Southall which has a predominantly Asian
population), so they locate their narratives in districts of London, the one-time center of the
British Empire, that are predominantly non-white or of mixed ethnicityKureishi uses West
Kensington in The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) and Kilburn in The Black Album (1995), Smith
chooses Willesdon Green in White Teeth (2000), and Monica Ali in Brick Lane (2003) focuses
on Tower Hamlets (where a quarter of Britains Bangladeshis live). In The Satanic Verses
Rushdie gave fictional expression to the belief that immigrants help to revivify a nation that
had lost its belief in itself after it had lost its empire. All three of these novelists are the
product as it were of such a new infusion of lifeblood. They take it for granted that
Englishness now inevitably involves ethnic multiplicity and that racism is simply a symptom
of the reluctance of the old guard to accept the new hybrid nature of Britains population, a
mlange which intensifies with the passing of each year. Where V. S. Naipaul as a first
generation immigrant spent his life Finding the Centre (the title of two autobiographical
narratives he published in 1984), these writers turn the periphery into their center. They all
occupy highly liminal positions that privilege their positioning themselves both within and
outside the many cultures they explore in their fiction. As Monica Ali explains: Growing up
with an English mother and a Bengali father means never being an insider. Standing neither
behind a closed door, nor in the thick of things, but rather in the shadow of the doorway, is

a good place from which to observe (Real lives). They all illustrate Bill Bufords prophetic
pronouncement in 1980 that the imagination [now] resides along the peripheries; it is
spoken through minority discourse, with a dominant tongue re-appropriated, recommanded, and importantly re-invigorated (16) . They share Kureishis conviction that
the immigrant is a kind of modern Everyman (Borderline 4), that we all find ourselves in
some interior sense immigrants.
Kureishi, the first of these writers of mixed ethnicity to publish a novel, addresses the
question of identity by pluralizing it. He sees the self as a polymorphous construct,
unstable, and capable of infinite mutations. Any attempt to confine the subject to an
essentialized identity is bound to fail, he asserts in an interview with Colin McCabe: racists
find mixing terrifying. But of course its inevitable (50). The two alternative responses to
immigration, assimilation and separatism, are equally opposed to Kureishis conception of
subjectivity as hybrid. Both strategies attempt to restrict the liberating act of multiplying
ones potential selves. Seen from the perspective of a carnivalized portrait of contemporary
London youth culture, the racism of a Hairy Back in Buddha, like the Islamic
fundamentalism of Riaz and Chad in The Black Album (1995), is comically exposed as an
absurd anachronism. Kureishi further represents the difference between an essentialized
and pluralistic conception of self by distinguishing between first and second generation
immigrants (although he rejects the latter term because it ensures that there was no
mistake about our not really belonging in Britain [My Beautiful Launderette 134-5]).
Haroon, the protagonist Karims Indian father in Buddha, starts off attempting to totally
assimilate to English culture and ends up adopting an equally essentialist separatism: I
have lived in the West for most of my life, and I will die here, yet I remain to all intents and
purposes an Indian man. I will never be anything but an Indian (263). But Karim, of mixed
parentage like Kureishi, has no country to return to if only in the imagination. Instead he
chooses to move from the suburbs where his mother sits at home watching Steptoe and Son
to West Kensington which made you vertiginous with possibilities (126).
If suburbia is a homogenized version of Britishness, central London is where everyone is
refashioning him/herself in the pop culture of the 1970s and 1980s. As Stuart Hall observes,
popular culture is profoundly mythic. . . It is where we discover and play with the
identifications of ourselves, where we are imagined, where we are represented . . . to
ourselves for the first time (474). Even the title of The Black Album is borrowed from
Princes 1988 LP of that name, which is itself a riposte to the Beatles White Album of 1969.
Prince represents just those mercurial qualities of hybridity and transformation that Kureishi
associates with contemporary British identity. As Deedee describes him in Black Album,
Hes half black and half white, half man, half woman, half size, feminine but macho, too
(34). Kureishi undermines not just racial and ethnic definitions of identity, but those of class
and sexual orientation. Karims move to West Kensington and beyond acquires the mythic
quality of an interior journey into the nature of subjectivity. What he learns through entering
the world of the theatre is that the self is something we perform, that it can be changed at
will, and that there is no transcendental I, only a series of positions which we choose to
occupy. In Karims case some of the roles he is required to adopt by supposedly avantgarde directors make him conform to others racial stereotypes. But the principal lesson he
learns is that such roles are as easily discarded as put on. This conception of identity is not
confined to Karim. Before he leaves the suburbs he witnesses his Muslim fathers
transformation into a Buddhist guru, complete with red and gold waistcoat and Indian
pajamas: Perhaps Daddio really was a magician, having transformed himself by the
bootlaces (as he put it) from being an Indian in the Civil Service who was always cleaning
his teeth with Monkey Brand black toothpowder manufactured by Nogi & co. of Bombay, into
the wise adviser he now appeared to be (31). Changez undergoes an equally startling
transformation. Even Charlie learns to put on a Cockney accent for the Americans, selling

Englishness, and getting a lot of money for it (247). That is the point, Kureishi implies:
Britishness can be any role that helps the individual fulfill him/herself. The trick is to be
another by being oneself, to be English, for instance, by being Cockney (which is how
Charlie spoke at school). As Pyke teaches Karim in Buddha, Paradox of paradoxes: to be
someone else successfully you must be yourself (219-20). Performance acts as a signifier
of authenticity in Kureishis identity politics.
Kureishi uses the Bildungsroman to subvert its generic assumption that there is an authentic
self waiting to be discovered by the maturing protagonist. Monica Ali employs the same
generic form to explore a different aspect of subject formationthe question whether fate
or free will most determines the development of the self. Focusing on a Bangladeshi female
protagonist, Nazneen, who is brought to London for an arranged marriage from a remote
village in East Pakistan, Brick Lane identifies fatalism with her mothers Bengali culture
which stands opposed to the new British culture into which Nazneen is transplanted. When
Nazneen appears to be still born, her mother refuses to take her to hospital on the grounds
that my child must not waste any energy fighting against fate (3). For much of the book
Nazneen lives out her mothers exemplary submission to the will of Allah. As Monica Ali
observes in an interview, Nazneen has very different terms of reference to the average
Westerner, but the issues are universal (Independent 9). Reviewers of the novel have
tended to oversimplify its development by reading it as a journey of self discovery in which
Nazneen finally learns to reject the fatalism instilled by her mother and to begin to make
her own life-determining decisions. Monica Ali offers a more subtle interpretation of how
fate and free will interplay in the book: The central issue for Nazneen is, What is it in my
life that I can control and what must be accepted? (You Ask). In other words, for Ali it is
always a question of balancing both qualities, not a stark choice between opposites. Even if,
as Ali suggests, Nazneen is most often blind to the potential for autonomy (You Ask),
there is no question of her totally discarding her fatalism. She reaches her own compromise
when she refuses to return to Bangladesh with Chanu, her husband.
What she finally chooses to reject is not so much Chanu as his belief that Back home well
really know whats what (347). Chanu is a brilliantly constructed character. Twice Nazneens
age, weighed down with rolls of stomach fat he caresses fondly, he is nevertheless a loving
husband whose deep uncertainties gradually reveal themselves to his young wife. A first
generation immigrant, he is defeated by the prejudice he meets and by his own
inadequacies. He believes that educational achievement will win him fame and glory, if not
in London then on his return to Bangladesh. What Chanus friend, Dr. Azad, calls Going
Home Syndrome (16) finally separates him from his wife and daughters who have become
more British than Bengali. Once he does go back to Bangladesh Chanu comes to recognize
the truth of a saying he tellingly misattributes to the English (it was first spoken by
Heracleitus): You cant step into the same river twice (366). There is no returning to the
country of ones past.
But becoming British for Nazneen does not mean totally rejecting her cultural and religious
heritage. It means trying to seek out a way of combining that with the customs and
practices of her country of adoption, of combining the fatalism of her culture with the self
agency that drives British culture. Her discovery of that agency within herself takes the
length of the novel to develop. When she enters into an adulterous relationship with Karim,
a charismatic young leader of the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets, she cannot
believe that the passion that awakes within her is a personal response, reflecting: How
could such a weak woman unleash a force so strong? She gave in to fate and not to herself
(218). Once confronted with Chanus decision to take the whole family (including their two
daughters) home, Nazneen takes her destiny into her own hands. First she decides I will

say what happens to me (301). But having made herself responsible for her own actions,
she cannot decide whether she wants to stay or go. Her decision to stay is only reached
after her sister Hasina has written to her from Bangladesh revealing the fact that their
mother, despite her belief in resigning oneself to fate, had finally seized that fate by
committing suicide: At the end only she act. She who think all path closed for her. She take
the one forbidden (324).
From the start Hasina has acted as a seeming counterpart to Nazneens fatalism. Where
Nazneen accepts the husband in London chosen for her, Hasina elopes with Malek, a man
with whom she has fallen in love. Yet in a key passage early on in the novel Nazneen finds
herself conflating the two terms that seemingly separate the sisters:
It worried her that Hasina kicked against fate. No good could come of it. . . But then,
if you looked at it more deeply, how could you be sure that Hasina was not simply
following her fate? If fate cannot be changed, no matter how you struggle against it,
then perhaps Hasina was fated to run away with Malek. Maybe she struggled against
that, and that was what she could not alter. Oh, you think it would be simple, having
made the decision long, long ago, to be at the beck and call of fate, but how to know
which way it is calling you? (9)
By the end of the novel Nazneen is asking a similar question about agencyto go back or
not to go back? Free will can be fate in disguise just as fate can turn out to conceal an
exercise in self determination. Hasinaa kicking against fate only leads her into a life of
poverty, oppression and temporary prostitution. Nazneens submission to the will of Allah
equally paradoxically leads her into the sin of adultery. Chanus willed return to Bangladesh
separates him from the one thing he finally realizes is important--having his family with him
(358). The compromise Nazneen reaches at the end--Staying or going, its up to us three
(360)represents a fusion of cultural attitudes which parallels the fusion of ethnic and
religious beliefs which constitute contemporary identity for Nazneen and her two daughters.
Identitynational, cultural, ethnic, religiousconstitutes a, possibly the major problematic
for all of these three writers. Zadie Smiths White Teeth offers an exemplary and brilliantly
executed instance of this quest for a modern understanding of multicultural subjectivity.
From the moment Zadie Smiths first novel, White Teeth, appeared in 2000, it was widely
praised for offering new representations of different cultural identities: an audaciously
assured contribution to [the] process of staring into the mirror (Phillips), a book about
threats to ethnic identity in the modern world (Wiegand), a meditation on . . . the impact
that cultural and familial history can have on the shape of an individuals life (Kakutani). A
graduate in English from Kings College, Cambridge (University), Smith is representative of
a recent generation of writers who are themselves well aware of poststructuralist and
postcolonial theory. Her portrayal of first- and second-generation migrants in London seems
to be informed by some of the arguments surrounding postcolonial subjectivity offered by
recent critical thinkers such as Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha. For instance, the
protagonist of her second novel, The Autograph Man, is given Accidental eyes, which is
another characters term for half way between Oriental and Occidental (40). Caught
between a colonial past and a postcolonial present, her characters encounter many of the
problems analyzed by Bhabha when discussing how hybrid identities are negotiated through
performance. In the portraits of her conflicted immigrant families she gives fictional life to
some of the ways in which postcolonial theorists describe how migrant identity can only be
represented in terms of difference. As Stuart Hall explains, what we call the self is
constituted out of and by difference, and remains contradictory (On postmodernism 145).
The racist and ethnic stereotypes of colonial discourse attempt to deny the play of

difference. Yet this only causes difference to act as an unconscious repressed that returns to
undermine the lingering colonial desire to represent itself through its distinction from the
colonized other.
Subjectivity is a plenary image, Barthes insisted, whose deceptive plenitude is merely the
wake of all the codes which constitute me (10). The poststructuralist subject is a discursive
construct forever in process. Faced with the particular problems affecting migrants,
postcolonialists have seized on the poststructuralist conception of subjectivity to explain the
confused sense of identity that so many ex-colonial subjects experience. Franz Fanon, a
practicing Lacanian psychoanalyst, first characterized the black ex-colonial subject as
alienated from him- or herself by a Manichaean delirium, split between a black exterior and
an assumed mask of white culture. Homi Bhabha interprets this dichotomy as itself a
product of the discourse of colonialism which attempts to fetishize the subject by denying
the difference which constitutes poststructuralist subjectivity. Both Bhabha and Zadie Smith
refuse to accept the easy binaries offered by racist (and classist) discourses. Bhabha argues
that colonialist discourse, in its attempt to fetishize the other, displays two conflicting forms
of identification complicit with the Imaginarynarcissism and aggressivity. These two forms
of identification are responsible for the stereotype which, as a multiple and contradictory
belief, gives knowledge of difference and simultaneously disavows and masks it. Bhabha
concludes: like the mirror phase the fullness of the stereotypeits image as identityis
always threatened by lack(77).
In White Teeth this threat is what ultimately undermines the self-contained culture of
superiority that characterizes the Chalfens. Joyce Chalfens attempts to colonize Millat are
fated to alienate her own son, Joshua, producing an external split in the family that mirrors
the internal split diagnosed by Bhabha using Lacan. Claire Squires comments: The name of
Joshuas animal rights group [FATE] is a heavy hint of the themes played out in the novel
(55). One of the refreshing aspects of White Teeth is the way Smith shows the same
ambivalence and internal contradiction fatefully manifesting itself in the migrant families as
much as in the white inheritors of the colonial legacy. Samad wants to be a true Muslim
believer and to be Western by having an affair with a white Englishwoman. Millat is torn
between subscribing to a militant branch of Islamic fundamentalism and living out the
fantasies of Western heroism he has acquired from watching his favorite Hollywood
movies, Goodfellas and Scarface. Because White Teeth is written in a comic vein, when the
internal division characterizing subjectivity emerges in the narrative it assumes the form of
farce.
Although Zadie Smiths first novel was greeted with widespread praise of a high order, a
number of critics felt that she still betrayed a beginners need to overstretch herself in the
way her characters consistency appeared to be sacrificed for the sake of comic effects. In
particular she is accused of sacrificing psychological probability to a penchant for
manipulating her comic plot in improbable ways. Occasionally, Smiths eagerness to show
the weird interconnectedness of all things leads her to nurture stories and situation
tragedies more diffuse than she can fully carry off (Sandhu). In effect she is said to lose
control of her narrative in the course of painting on so wide a multicultural canvas. In a
more wide-sweeping condemnation of White Teeth yoked to such other manifestations of
what he calls the big, ambitious novel as The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Mason and Dixon,
Underworld and Infinite Jest, ,James Wood alleges that such novels enforce connections
that are finally conceptual rather than human. In Smiths case Wood claims that the
conceptual connections are multiracial multiplicity, but this excess of storytelling leads to
her principal characters mov[ing] in and out of human depth. Smith is called too inventive:
it is all shiny externality, all caricature (31). What Wood appears to be attacking is the

poststructuralist concept of identity. In the same essay-review he calls for a return to

Dickens, to the classic realist novels conception of a stable subject with full agency.
What I want to argue is that, to portray the multicultural London she knows, Smith seems
encouraged to employ a conception of identity that has close resemblances to
poststructuralist conceptions of the subject (possibly further prompted by precedents
established by Rushdie and Kureishi). The nature of the multiethnic society she sets out to
depict invites Smith to adopt a conception of subjectivity that refuses closure and naturally
inhabits the interstices between seemingly stable or at least accepted ideological positions.
Far from evading an exploration of immigrants identities, as Wood alleges, she has created
within a comic mode a subtle and complex cast of characters whose ambiguous and
conflictual status reflect the equally difficult problems facing immigrants or the descendents
of immigrants and ex-colonials attempting to define their place in the colonial metropolis.
Like Rushdie and Kureishi, Smith also appears to assume that all of us living in the modern
age are in effect migrants, as we all experience the difference lying at the center of our
sense of identity that migrants are forced to be more conscious of than those whose familys
migrancy dates back many more generations.
Britain might have abandoned its empire but it is still capable of establishing what Salman
Rushdie has called the new empire within Britain. In an article with that title Rushdie has
written that the British authorities, no longer capable of exporting governments, have
chosen instead to import a new Empire its immigrants (Imaginary Homelands 130).
Immigrants responses to this insidious form of British neo-colonialism have changed with
each generation. The first Windrush generation found in Sam Selvon a voice that expressed
their bewilderment at the way they were just tolerated but not accepted, let alone
welcomed by the metropolis. Moses and his fellow West Indians feel as if they are invisible
to the white population, which naturally leads to crises of identity and dreams of a return to
their home country. The second generation of immigrants exteriorized their inner conflicts
by rioting on the streets (Notting Hill 1958; Brixton 1981; Tottenham 1985) and by
celebrating the contributions that immigrants were making to the national culture. In
Rushdies The Satanic Verses immigrants melt down effigies of Margaret Thatcher, but they
also insist that, having been made again in Britain, they will also be the ones to remake
this society (414). By 2000 racism, including institutional racism, hasnt disappeared (as
the Stephen Lawrence case proved), but a new generation of the descendents of immigrants
has come to treat it as a fact of life, just another difficulty among the many they have to
deal with in encountering adult life in Britain. In White Teeth Zadie Smith depicts in the
younger generation of her immigrant characters an unquestioned assumption that they are
as English as their white counterparts. According to the Office of National Statistics
reporting in January 2004, 87% of people who identified themselves as of mixed ethnic
origin described their national identity as British (Carvel Tebbits cricket). Yet, as Smith
shows, they still cannot wholly escape the shadow of the colonial past. They still inherit
conflicts that are unique to descendents of immigrants. As subjects in search of authenticity
they are still in process, even if that process differs from that defining their parents struggle
with identity.
One of the many refreshing features of this novel is its matter-of-fact reversal of traditional
connotations attaching to whites and immigrants. The novel eases the reader into
Willesdons multiracial society by first focusing on Archie, a particularly undistinguished
representative of Anglo men, about to end his wretched existence. Smith told Vanessa Jones
that this sleight of hand, by means of which she lures readers into thinking they are
entering a conventional novel about white Britons, was a small act of subversion (F1).
Archie has to be rescued by Mo Hussein-Ishmael, an Asian Jewish halal butcher who

hilariously insists that no one gasses himself on his propertyWe are not licensed. Archies
grand gesture is negated by Smiths use of ethnic humor: If youre going to die round here,
my friend, Im afraid youve got to be thoroughly bled first (6). Before turning his attention
to Archie, the immigrant butcher is seen fighting an on-going war against the pigeons whose
excrement covers the buildings of Willesdon. Sukhdev Sandhus review of the novel titled
Excremental Children highlights the way shit constitutes one of the key metaphors in it:
Shit . . . is what those dusky immigrants . . . are told they are, almost every day of their
lives (5). Mos daily battle with Londons pigeons suggests that, [f]ar from bringing filth
and disease to Britain, the immigrants clean it up and save the Archies of this world from
the scrap heap of history (Lowe 169).
The book establishes the marginality of all Londoners not just by reversing the positioning of
the ex-colonial other but by revealing how Archie is as split in his inner sense of identity as
all the immigrants turn out to be. He opens the novel in a liminal space between life and
death. His choice of Cricklewood as a place in which to stage his death is significant: It was
a place a man came to in order to go other places . . . (3). Archies life up to this moment
has been primarily the metaphysical equivalent of the Queens speech. A dull childhood, a
bad marriage, a dead-end job (11-12). His only distinction has been to share thirteenth
place for track cycling at the Olympics in London back in 1948. Yet even that small
achievement is undercut by its comic description: What Archie liked about track cycling was
the way you went round and round. Round and round--that is, nowhere (13). Bhabha
makes an interesting observation about the way those who find themselves in a borderline
space come to intervene in the here and now: The borderline work of culture demands an
encounter with newness that is not part of the continuum of past and present. It creates a
sense of the new as an insurgent act of cultural translation. . . it renews the past, refiguring it as a contingent in-between space, that innovates and interrupts the performance
of the present (7). This is what Archie proceeds to do. He encounters Clara, his Jamaican
wife to be, who has herself just emerged from her mothers expectation that the world was
coming to an end. When Archie informs her, I almost died today, she ironically responds,
You dont say. Well, come and join the club (20-21). By the end of the next chapter Smith
reveals the way each of these lost souls rushed into a marriage because they projected onto
the other their own need. Neither felt they had a home to go back to. Archie had unhooked
the old life, he was walking into unknown territory (21). This isnt the New World. It is a
new intermediary space. It is what Bhabha calls a return to the present . . . to touch the
future on its hither side (7).
Smith again surprises her readers by showing Claras Jamaican mother, Hortense, as the
parent who disowns her offspring (on grounds of color rather than of age 39) for entering
into a mixed race marriage. Clara marries Archie because she discerns that, despite his
dullness and disparity from her in years, he was a good man (41). As for Archie, one of
the benefits that follow his highly developed passivity and belief in the power of fate is a
total absence of color prejudice. [W]hy, he asks himself, couldnt people just get on with
things, just live together, you know, in peace and harmony or something (162). Smiths
comic reproduction of Archies North London lingo undercuts the political correctness of
Archies decision with a series of phrases that reveal his inability to think through his
instinctual position, phrases like you know, and especially the bathetic or something.
Archie lacks every trait (including racial prejudice) that his ancestors took for granted in
their colonization of a third of the world.
Much nearer to the mentality of the imperial British is Archies friend, Samad Iqbal. Samad,
a Bangladeshi immigrant, is everything Archie isnt well educated (a scientist with a
degree from Delhi University), intelligent, determined to control his destinyand a racial

bigot. All he has learned from the city is to cross the road at the sight of dark-skinned
men (138). However, Smith is not content to reverse the conventional privileging of
binaries. Samad himself occupies a liminal position in British society that cannot even call
him a Bangladeshi. As a Paki he is neither British nor Bangladeshi, but an invention of the
British media, a potential victim of the verbal and physical Paki-bashing that Mo HusseinIshmael continually endures. Samads liminality partly derives from his subscription to
Muslim practices of resigning himself to the will of Allah while simultaneously modeling
himself on the British belief in creating ones destiny. He wittily undercuts the Anglo sense of
superiority to the Muslim practice of arranged marriages by exposing the relativity of all
cultural practices:
o

Where I come from, said Archie, a bloke likes to get to know a girl before
he marries her.

Where you come from it is customary to boil vegetables until they fall apart.
This does not mean, said Samad tersely, that it is a good idea. (83)

At the same time Smith even handedly undermines the Muslims belief that arranged
marriages work better. Samads assumption that such a marriage will provide him with a
quiescent wife is quickly shown to be mistaken when Alsana (a Bengali Muslim woman who
is very religious, lacking nothing except the faith [53]) proves his superior even in physical
contests. When Samad forces Alsana to vote for his resolution to remove the Harvest
Festival from the school calendar, two white women from the Womens Action Group looked
over to her with the piteous, saddened smiles they reserved for subjugated Muslim
women. What they cannot see is that with her other non-voting arm Alsana is deftly
elbowing him in the crotch (110).
Smith constantly reverses national, ethnic, cultural and religious stereotypes to expose the
way difference lies at the heart of all forms of subjectivity. As Stuart Hall insists, identity is
constructed in or through diffrance and is constantly destabilized by what it leaves out
(Introduction 5). Many postcolonial writers have concentrated exclusively on the difference
separating various nationalities or ethnicities. Smith shows that difference is an effect of
occupying any subjective position, not simply an effect of two different forms of
identification. Alsana perfectly illustrates the interiority of the difference constituting
subjectivity by simultaneously resenting Millats incorporation into the white culture of the
Chalfens and yet pouring scorn on Samads claim to Bengali purity: its still easier to find
the correct Hoover bag than to find one pure person, one pure faith, on the globe (196).
With one breath she is complaining that the Chalfens are deliberately leading [Millat] away
from his culture and his family and his religion (286), and with another breath she is
burning Millats T-shirts and other Western paraphernalia after he has helped burn
Rushdies The Satanic Verses, on the unarguable grounds that [e]ither everything is sacred
or nothing is (197).
You could argue that Smith is unconsciously performing a deconstructive reversal and
reinscription of traditional binaries employed in the case of British and Commonwealth
citizens, which derive from the earlier binaries of colonizer and colonized, both polarities
also involving black/colored and white racial differences. Clara, another first generation
immigrant, can only trace her origins back to her Jamaican maternal grandmother and her
white colonial grandfather. But that is sufficient to undercut any claims to pure origin.
Claras sense of identity comes not from a return to her roots, but, as Paul Gilroy puts it
in The Black Atlantic, from coming to terms with her cultural routes. If the white teeth of the
title of the book are intended to be associated with identity (used for identifying otherwise

anonymous corpses), then Claras false teeth represent a deliberate confusion of such closed
forms of identity. As the racist Mr. Hamilton points out, the whiteness of the Africans teeth
during World War Two only led to their deaths. The Chalfens attempt to impose closure on
their sense of British identity. They deny the force of difference within their genealogy and
use their relationship to what they are not, what they lack, to define what they are. This
constructed form of closure produces its own excess. The Chalfens who pass themselves off
as a typical white middle class English family turn out to be a third generation immigrant
familyIrish Catholic on Joyces side and German /Polish Jewish on Marcuss. To essentialize
ethnic identity requires the repression of the past which contains the mixed ethnicity of
everyone.
Ironically the Chalfens advocate genetic cross breeding in their respective pursuits. Joyce
Chalfen urges cross pollination on her readers in her one claim to fame, her book titled The
New Flower Power. The hubris underlying her idea of the need to produce more varied
offspring comes in the last sentence from the one quoted extract from her book: Mother
Earth is great and plentiful, but even she requires the occasional helpful hand (258). This is
quite a different matter from allowing natural cross pollination, more like Captain Durhams
rape of Claras grandmother. To add insult to injury the Chalfens keep themselves
hermetically sealed from the rest of the world. They even refer to themselves as nouns and
verbs, and occasionally adjectives (261). Both parents advocate a form of what David
Wiegand calls intellectual imperialism, colonizing Jamaican and Asian children as if they
were new species to add to [Joyces] garden (Lowe 168). The grafting of Millat, Magid and
Irie onto the Chalfen family is treated as Joyces way of producing, as she puts it, more
and better quality seeds (258). Smith clearly opposes any interference with the forces of
natural selection. Her poststructuralist conception of cultural identity has everything to do
with learned performance, not genetics which promotes the search for lost roots.
The repressed emotions such genetic closure produces return in a number of ways. Joyce
betrays the unconscious racism that requires an Other to hold the Chalfen sense of self in
place when she asks Millat where he originally comes from. Whitechapel, Millat replies
sarcastically. Via the Royal London Hospital and the 207 bus (265). The Chalfens seek to
differentiate themselves from the Iqbals and Joness of this world by adding class
distinctions to those of ethnicity and nationality. They consider themselves the middle class
inheritors of the enlightenment, the creators of the welfare state, the intellectual elite, and
the source of all culture (359). More threatening to the Chalfens sense of stability is the
rebellion staged by Josh, the eldest son, against Marcuss attempts to genetically engineer
mice (paralleling Joyces cross pollination). Jan Lowe has argued that the Chalfen parents
overreaching of themselves exposes how, in spite of their professional success, they are
still, at heart, afraid of racism, still insecure Jewish and Irish immigrants who must ever
prove their indispensability to society or face rejection (273). As Bhabha points out, the
desire for the Other is doubled by the desire in language, which splits the difference
between Self and Other so that both positions are partial; neither is sufficient unto itself
(50). The very attempt to place the difference outside the family only results in a split within
the family which leaves insider and outsider equally incomplete.
Is it this desire to stabilize and foreclose identity that characterizes all the older characters
in this novel? How do they differ from the younger generation, especially the children of the
first generation immigrants? Smith represents the Chalfens and the Iqbals as equally
frustrated by their attempts to pass on to their children an idea of their identity which allows
no room for process, for change and mutation. As has been seen, the attempt to expel
difference from their sense of subjectivity only serves to expose its status as a condition and
effect of representation. The more categorically Samad imposes his idea of a hermetically

sealed Bengali identity on Magid the more confirmed Magid becomes that We must become
more like the English (240). After Iries parents have spent sixteen years withholding the
whole truth about her family origins from her (a similar form of forced closure), she is so
sick of never getting the whole truth that she leaves home to live with her Jamaican
grandmother (314). The desire of first generation immigrants to protect their children from
the uncertainties of a hybrid identity invariably externalizes the internal split which becomes
a split between generations.
But the younger generation cannot escape the ties of history by simply leaving the family
home. History emerges in the novel as an inescapable component of subjectivity constantly
in process. Irie in particular longs to be rid of the long shadow of history. Is this because,
according to Fanon, the colonial subject (or that subjects offspring) is always
overdetermined from without (116)? Near the end in her outburst on the bus Irie voices a
longing that all her generation share--to live without having to hear about everybodys old
historical shit all over the place (426). But the narrator is skeptical about the myth that
immigrants enter their new country, Happy Multicultural Land, as blank people, free of
any
kind
of
baggage,
.
.
.
merging
with
the
oneness
of
this
greenandpleasantlibertarianlandofthefree (384). The tautology alone (Libertarian and
free) linguistically undercuts the clarity of the myth of a multicultural melting pot. A
careful reader will be warned by the epigraph: What is past is prologue, uttered by Antonio
in The Tempest (2.1.253). By the time Smith stages the reunion of Millat and Magid they
are too conditioned by the past to reconcile their differences. Like the tortoise and Achilles
in Zenos paradox, the two brothers will race toward the future only to find they more and
more eloquently express their past (385). We are all fated to greater or lesser extent to
repeat the past, which doesnt mean that the past is all-determining.
Smith gives linguistic life to this belief by employing repetition as both a trope and a
thematic motif throughout the book. One phrase that punningly recurs like a refrain is pasttense, future-perfect. It represents the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense
and the future, perfect (448), the dream of all immigrants that their miserable earlier life
will be transformed once they have entered the city where streets are paved in gold. The
first generation immigrants cannot extricate themselves from that myth. But are their
children also condemned to relive their parents original trauma, the dash they once made
from one land to another, from one faith to another (136), ending up in a confused and
confusing state of liminality, neither one nor the other? And if this is the case, is not such
liminality the condition not just of immigrants and their children but that of everyone
belonging to the culture which necessarily constitutes an arena of struggle?
The entire novel is set in a past period (1974-92) and vacillates between various pasts and
a historic present. Three chapters of Root Canals trace the lives of three leading
characters back to their particular pasts. Chapter 5 goes back to 1945 when Samad and
Archie began their unlikely friendship serving in the same tank crew. Chapter 10 recounts
the incident in 1857 when Samads ancestor, Mangal Pange, attempted unsuccessfully to
assassinate his English superior officer. But in this instance Archie and Samad put
completely different spins on the same set of facts. Archie thinks fatalistically, Maybe he
just couldnt do it (216), while Samad defends intentionality: He wont let the new order
roll over him without a struggle (217). The past then is not set in stone, but something to
be reinvented by the present. Chapter 13 traces Hortenses subscription to the Jehovah
Witnesses belief in the imminent end of the world to her mothers conversion after
conceiving her (The Truth. . . flowed through the bloodstream directly from Ambrosia to
Hortense [298]) and to her birth during the Jamaican earthquake of 1907. Religious
ideology, originating in a quirk of nature, becomes psychologically determinate for two

generations and even Irie believes in it during her childhood before discarding it as she
enters adulthood. According to Irie, Bowdenism (the apocalyptic outlook of her mother and
grandmother) was living in the eternal instant, ceaselessly teetering on the precipice of
total annihilation (327). Irie admires the Chalfens on the mistaken assumption that they
are unblocked by history, free (265). No one is free of history. Yet, as Stuart Hall insists,
cultural identities are . . . the unstable points of identification or suture, which are made,
within the discourses of history and culture. Not an essence but a positioning (Cultural
Identity 395). And such continuity with the past is always accompanied by the inscription
of differencethink of that between Millat and Magid.
Repetition equally governs the actions of some of the major characters, and not just the
immigrants. When Archie gets himself shot in the leg a second time in the course of saving
Dr. Perrets life, this is part of a larger pattern of repetitions in the book. These two near
escapes from death belong to a series of incidents in which Archie narrowly avoids death,
starting with his opening attempt to kill himself in his car, and including his return to his
tank during the war to find the rest of the crew killed, as well as his narrowly avoiding being
crushed to death by a tree during the hurricane of 1987. In each case chance plays a major
role, as it does in such repetitious coincidences as the way Bangladesh and London suffer
disastrous storms and both Iqbal boys break their noses at the same time in the novel. As
Alsana observes, By God, theyre tied together like a cats cradle (183). Theyre tied
together by their past history. The most telling use of repetition comes in the finale when
Millat unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate Dr. Perret on his reappearance. When Archie
sees that Millat is reaching for his gun he understands what is happening because he has
had to listen to Samads repetitious account of a similar action by his famous ancestor,
Mangal Pande, similarly prevented. What Archie sees is that Millat is reaching like Pande
(442), unconsciously imitating a pattern established by his ancestor.
Where Archie normally resigns himself to chance, Pande, Samad and his sons opt for choice.
Like Monica Alis ambiguous treatment of fate and free will in Brick Lane, Smith shows a
similar neutrality between the forces of chance and choice. Archie is for ever deciding future
actions on the basis of a toss of the coin. The trajectory the flipped coin takes in OConnells
is itself a repetition of the chronologically earlier occasion when Archie is trying to decide
whether or not to shoot Dr. Perret. At that time Samad had insisted, We are at a moral
crossroads (99). Yet Archies seemingly irresponsible resort to the flip of a coin avoids a
criminal act of summary justice/vengeance. Smith further complicates the opposition
between chance and choice by paralleling Samads belief in choice with that of Dr. Perret
and of Marcus Chalfen. Both these men believe in exercising their choice over the random
chance of genetic evolution. Dr. Perret wants to control the future by breeding people as
if they were so many chickens to create a race of indestructible men(100). Similarly
Marcus according to Magid is correcting the Creators mistakes (383), setting himself up
as a god (or idol). The conviction that humans can be saved from themselves by the
exercise of choice is also responsible for the excesses of Millat and his fellow Islamic
militants who burn books they regard as heretical and want to kill Dr. Perret for opposing
the will of Allah. Even the Jehovahs Witnesses want to eliminate chance by determining the
precise date for the end of the world.
In the novel every attempt to control destiny and dictate modes of subjectivity comes
unstuck (as is expected in a comic narrative). More often than not what upsets the exercise
of choice is the intervention of chance. What then are we meant to understand by Archies
impulsive intervention at the end? He has no time to flip a coin. He is forced to make a
choice. Yet the consequence of that choice is a return to chance. Millats and Marcuss
attempts to choose a future are negated by Archies action. So his one resort to choice

returns the situation to a state of random chance in which Millat and Magid cannot be
distinguished by witnesses to the event and end up sharing the same community service,
negating their two opposing choices of action. According to Dominic Head this signals
Smiths conviction: that we are all hybrid post-colonials, biologically as well as culturally,
and the pursuit of pure ethnic origins is a pointless objective (114)
So how do the two generations of immigrants differ? Like their parents, the younger
generation seem to ricochet between the poles of assimilation and cultural separatism. They
too are torn between two cultures, two countries, two ethnicities. There was England, Irie
reflects, a gigantic mirror, and there was Irie, without reflection. A stranger in a strange
land (222). Millat was neither one thing nor the other, this or that, Muslim or Christian,
Englishman or Bengali; he lived for the in-between (291). But that state of in-betweenness is what Homi Bhabha celebrates as crucial for the emergence of new historical
subjects (217). Unlike Samads generation of immigrants, the next generation have no
memories of their country of origin; so unlike Samad they do not regret that, having made
the devils pact with the country to which you emigrated, suddenly you are unsuitable to
return . . . you belong nowhere (336). In fact the very dystopia that Samad has just
painted to Irie sounded like paradise to her. Sounded like freedom (337). Irie and Millat
belong as firmly to England as do the Chalfen children. But that doesnt prevent them from
being sutured to the history of their parents culture. As the narrator remarks, It will take
a few replays before they move on to the next tune (136). As they grow up this younger
generation grow away from their parents continuing sense of alienation. Smith has said:
My generation . . . dont carry the same kind of baggage about race, for instance, as did
the previous one (Merritt). The difference today is that an in-between state, hybridity,
doesnt have to be a choice between either a clash or a syncretic merging of cultures,
races (Moss 13). The younger generation might try both (as respectively Millat and Magid
do). But the futuristic ending to the novel shows them leaving this polarity of choices
behind. Hybridity does not have to mean a the hybridization of essentialist notions of
identity. If all culture is constructed then [w]ith hybridity, anything is possible for the
simple reason that hybridity is about making meaning without the repression of a preexisting normativity (Radhakkrishnan 1). Chance leaves the next generation (Iries
daughter) even freer of the patriarchal bonds from the past with which Samad and Marcus
have constrained their children. Yet choice has played its part in this utopian vision of a
sexually leveled playing field when Abdul-Mickey finally opened his doors to women (44).
Choices can be liberating (think of Archies only exercise of choice) rather than restrictive.
Both chance and choice determine the extent to which Zadie Smiths characters can
reconstruct their identities. They negotiate their hybrid sense of selves through repeated
performances. As Judith Butler insists, Identifications are never fully and finally made; they
are incessantly reconstituted (105).

Of the many events in White Teeth, I found Samad shipping his son back to India among the least shocking (though
functionally kidnapping him did take me aback). Im not sure exactly why, but I think its because Ive seen such a threat
(though it wasnt actually carried out) first hand. Ive been dating an Indian girl for quite some time, and early in our

relationship her parents seriously threatened to send her back to India if she continued to date a white boy. Much like
Samad, they were (and are) frightened that their daughter will be corrupted by whiteness. When she told me this, I
could not help but note how ironic it was. Her parents love American culture and have many more American friends than
Indian friends. This love of America, however, does not extend to their daughter dating an American. Just as Samads own
actions are riddled with contradictions (i.e. the affair), so were her parents. They fear important aspects of their own
culture, including their religion and holidays, will be lost if the blood line becomes diluted. These attitudes are very
similar to how Samad felt about his sons, believing that they were losing important parts of their identity. His desire to
return them to India was a desire not to see them swept away by a great white tide, and I have no doubt my girlfriends
parents felt the same way.

Prior to receiving the threat from her parents, my girlfriend had just visited her family in India. She told me stories of
how westernized India has become, especially the younger generation. When her parents threatened to send her back, I
couldnt help but feel what a waste it would be; the likelihood she would be exposed less to the West seemed very low.
When Samads son returned far less traditional than when he had left, I imagined that the novel wasnt too far off the
mark (in terms of how it would play out in real life).

I believe, however, the novel isnt exactly accurate. I asked my girlfriend if sending her back to India wouldve made her
more traditional. Her response was a terse Obviously. Though she wouldve still been exposed to the West, she
wouldve been more Indian than American. The novel, however, shows us the opposite, and in doing so I think it obscures
an important reality. Being in India will probably make you more Indian, just as being in America will make you more
American. I know that Smith being ironic, but Im not sure what point she is trying to make in this instance. I certainly
wouldnt support sending a child back to India against their will, but I dont doubt that such a move would be effective in
returning that child to her roots.

-Nick

Posted in White Teeth

Tags: discrimination, White Teeth

The Victors Write History

April 18, 2010 1 Comment

Recently, Texas has been in the news after its State Board of Education voted to change its history textbooks to a more
conservative, Christian view (read more here). With the changes, America will not be a democracy anymore, but a
constitutional republic, the term capitalism will be replaced by free-enterprise system, and Thomas Jefferson and
the reference to Enlightenment ideas are excluded from the standards.

Well, who cares, right? Too bad if you live in Texas but for the rest of us, its not that big a deal.

Wait, what? Since Texas is the largest purchaser of textbooks in the United States, its decisions influence the whole
market? Well, thats rough. Thats really rough. I happen to like Thomas Jefferson quite a bit. But I suppose that ones
freedom fighter is anothers terrorist and all that.

Yeehaw! Gonna rope me some alternative history.

Still, one has to wonder what Zadie Smith would say about all of this. The idea of history being a volatile, living thing is
featured throughout her novel, White Teeth. History repeats itself yet also subtlety changes over time in both its meaning
and effect. Each characters historyor rather how they interpret itshapes their actions in the present.

There are countless examplesfrom Samads obsession with his mutiny-starting ancestor to the story of Iries maternal
family tree. It is very humorous when Samad and Archie argue over whether or not Mangal Pande is a hero or not. The
evidence is clearly on Archies side yet Samad sees what he wants to see. When his cousin finds a questionable book that
supports Saads belief that Pande was a hero and helped spark Indian independence, he breaks down and cries in relief
and joy. However, Archie says it best when trying to explain to Samad the futility of his efforts by stacking ten plates on
his side and one on Samads to represent texts that respectively support their two views. Archie tells his best friend,
Well, it would take you at least another hundred-and-whatever years to get as many plates as I have, even if you were
going to make them all yourself, and the likelihood is, once you had them, no bugger would want to eat off them anyway.
Metaphorically speaking. Know what I mean? (214).

I think I do, Archie. Let me explain by using some of your own dark history, specifically the reveal at the end of the novel
that you did not actually shoot Dr. Marc-Pierre Perretthat you couldnt do it and has been living a lie for the past fifty
years.

While at first, Samad is hurt that the cornerstone of their friendship was made of nothing more firm than marshmallow
and soap bubbles, he suddenly becomes overcome with glee. He thinks to himself, This incident alone will keep us two
old boys going for the next forty years. It is the story to end all stories. It is the gift that keeps on giving (441).

I suppose thats one of the main points of White Teeththat history is a story first and foremost. No matter what you read
be it a textbook or a newspaper articlethere is always a certain opinion being expressed. If that opinion is too
unsound, no one will want to eat off your plate. Metaphorically speaking.

And maybe thats not the worst thing in the world. Maybe thats the gift that keep givingthe ability to leave discussions
open for years and years to come. After all, what else are Samad and Archie going to talk about at OConnells? Their
families?

-Matt Popkin

Posted in Science and humanities, White Teeth

Tags: History, History Textbooks, Texas State Board of Education, White Teeth

A Loss of Memory and Identity

April 18, 2010 Leave a comment

The subject of migration is a very important theme discussed in Zadie Smiths White Teeth. I think an interesting quote
that we discussed in class highlights the issues of many immigrants, Maybe original trauma would be betterfrom one
faith to another, from one brown mother country into the pale, freckled arms of an imperial sovereign (136).

I think this original trauma is a reflection on immigrants loss of identity through either forced or elective migration.
During my Caribbean Literature course last semester, we read numerous memoirs and poems from Caribbean migrants to
the US, Britain, and Canada. In all of these accounts, one primary theme discussed in these stories is a loss of identity. All
of these migrants left their homelands for varying reasons including revolutions, jobs, freedom, but all of them illustrated
a desire to retain memories and a sense of belonging in a homeland.

An important quote that I found during my research reflects well on this theme of migration: [Caribbean migrants] have
no desire to return home because home, as their memories retain it, no longer exists. They are out of touch with home
(Elliot, Cheryl. Negotiating Identity in Diaspora: Memory and Belonging in Dionne Brands Land to Light On and Austin
Clarkes The Origin of Waves). This quote reflects on this memory and identity loss. Although not all migrants feel this
way towards home, I think this reflects on the loss of ones belonging to home. They have few memories left of a
homeland after assimilation and some cant imagine going back. When migrating, migrants are forced to quickly
assimilate to their new culture at risk of losing their past and native identities.

My family originally migrated from England during the times of the New World and the Mayflower in America. Therefore,
my relationship to migration is far removed. However, after studying the traumatic assimilation and experiences of
immigrants in Caribbean Literature, I was able to reflect on the culture shock of the US. I can hardly imagine how
difficult assimilation in the US may be and the fear of losing ones native roots.

Memory is an important part of ones past, equally as important as ones identity. Without memories or identity, an
individual is stripped of their origins. Memory is important for individuals to bring back their past happiness and hopes,
but lacking these is very traumatic. This loss of identity for migrants as seen in both my Caribbean Literature class and
in White Teeth is traumatic. This culture shock affects the individual both psychologically and physically. They are forced
quickly to give up their pasts and seek new freedoms and roles in their host country, which is scary and liberating at the
same time. LL

Posted in Novels, White Teeth

Tags: identity loss, immigration, memory, White Teeth, Zadie Smith

In the Name of Teeth

April 18, 2010 1 Comment

Throughout Zadie Smiths novel White Teeth, teeth themselves are an important symbol of life. Teeth are not merely for
eating they show a persons age, betray inner emotion, and show genetic predisposition to perfection in their
straightness or crookedness. Her portrayl of J. P. Hamiltons false teeth shows how the bodys aging process can eliminate
the existence of teeth in ones life. To combat this, Mr. Hamilton uses false teeth in order to appear normal. He
teaches the children to brush their teeth more than once a day, using the threat of a toothless mouth to scare them into
doing it. As young people, we often take things like teeth for granted, not remembering that one day they might be gone.
However, Claras unfortunate accident caused her to lose all of her teeth at an early age. Loss of teeth make those who

are different (old: Mr. Hamilton, and Jamaican: Clara) seem even further removed from a normal phenotype. Mr.
Hamilton also discusses the appearance of teeth in a darker-skinned face as opposed to a light-skinned face. In a dark
face, teeth stand out more. They show up, exposing thought and emotion clearly on the face, like reading an open book.

Teeth allow for much interpretation. Smiles, angry shouts, barring teeth, and awkward facial expressions often require
teeth to get their mood across. They reveal emotional distress or happiness. There is no way to hide them, because they
are seen when people speak. They are one of the first things that people notice in someones face, and they are different
for every person. The modern obsession with teeth only further proves the point that straight, white, beautiful teeth are
necessary to be considered phenotypically beautiful. Braces, retainers, head gear, whitening treatments, whitening
tooth paste, Listerine, flossing, avoidance of gum recession, and veneers all play into the idea that teeth must be
perfect.

White teeth. Who cares, really? Why is it so important to have blinding white teeth? Whitening them inherently damages
the enamel, so by fixing your teeth by whitening them, youre actually ruining their protective membrane.
Permanently damaging your body to make it fit a social stereotype is bad for your physical health, not to mention
completely unfair. As Laura points out in her post this week, people cannot choose the traits that they receive.

Zadie Smiths emphasis on teeth plays into the larger ideas of the novel that depict the importance of outer appearance.
Teeth seem like such a small part of the body and what they look like technically shouldnt matter, as long as they can
perform their function. However, society has decided that beauty is dictated by outward perfection, so those without
pearly whites are automatically put into a segregated category. This metaphor alludes to the challenges of dark skin color
in the predominantly white world of London. Clara and Samad and his family face countless prejudices merely because of
the color of their skin. It isnt something that they can change as easily as someone can change the position or color of
their teeth. Its a barrier that they must live with and overcome in the face of defined normalcy.

-Elizabeth S.

Posted in Science and humanities, White Teeth

Tags: Phenotype, racism, White Teeth

Immigration
April 18, 2010 1 Comment

I think that a very interesting topic was brought up in class on Friday, and that is what an immigrant goes through when
they arrive at a new country. Being an immigrant myself, I know the shocks that they go through whenever they relocate
to a place that is very different from their home country. I went through the cultural shock that we were talking about,
and it is very difficult to go through. At the beginning I had problems getting used to the language and the way things
were done in school, in my country we didnt move from classroom to classroom like the schools here, but we stayed in
one classroom and waited for the teachers to come to us. We didnt have recess, instead they gave us about thirty
minutes of lunch so that we could eat and play. I remember the first day that my brother and me were left to ourselves to
find our classrooms, eventhough our school was small, we still managed to get lost. We didnt understand much of what
went on in class, and we definitely didnt understand how the whole class system worked.

After the first year of being in the U.S., we were able to speak English and understand what went on in class, but the
more we understood, the more we got used to the culture in which we were living. By ninth grade (our fourth year in this
country), my brother and me felt like the culture from this country had been with us forever. We went to back to visit our
family after being in this country for 5 years, and it was then that we noticed how different we were from the people
that had stayed. Our accents have always been obvious when we spoke English, but when we spoke in Spanish, our
mother tongue; we had a very distinct accent and way of speaking. Gone was all of our slang, so when we spoke we
sounded very formal, and more than once we struggled to find the right word to say simply because we couldnt
remember what it was. The more we stayed in Mexico, the more we realized that we didnt quite belong to the society
there, even the games that we played were different. And yet, when we came back to the U.S. we knew that we didnt
quite fit in with society here either.

I think that one of the most important problems that immigrants go through is culture shock, but that wears off quickly
after they begin assimilating into the new culture. The biggest problem that we face is the shock of not really belonging
to either culture, you either integrate too much into the culture in which you are now living and forget about the other
one, or you hold your mother culture too much and so you dont allow the new culture to become a part of you. Every
immigrant struggles with this, and will continue to struggle with embracing two cultures at once. There needs to be a
way in which we can find a happy medium between two cultures, but when both are very rich and welcoming, it is
difficult to put them both together. And so, it is something that every immigrant will struggle with for the rest of their
lives.

Tennant

Posted in White Teeth

Tags: culture shock, ethnicity, immigration, White Teeth

Niece-of Shame: cultural assimilation

April 17, 2010 1 Comment

If I remember correctly, most of the class agreed that White Teeth could easily be considered a funny novel. Smith uses
wit and a humorous form of satire to illustrate ideas of stereotypes, cultural inheritance, and generation gaps among
immigrants. With that in mind, I would have to say that Niece-of-Shame (Neena) is by far my favorite character in the
novel so far. She illustrates most of the major themes present in the story and the scenes where she appears are just flatout giggle-worthy most notably the scene when NOS takes her girlfriend to dinner at the Chalfens. I mean come on,
breasts as pillows? There would have to be something wrong with you if you didnt find that funny. The casual way that
her aunt refers to her is also rather ridiculous Oh, Niece-of-Shame is in the living room. Niece-of-Shame is doing some
sewing today. Makes me chuckle. But as we learned with Mendels Dwarf,comedy is really only another form of cruelty.

I guess the angle of her character that applies most to our discussion is NOSs relationship with Alsana. Alsana has singlehandedly inflicted shame on her niece for assimilating herself with Western culture to the point of her Eastern traditions
becoming completely unrecognizable (in fact, I wonder if anyone else shares Alsanas opinion on the woman). Shes a
lesbian for goodnesss sake; I dont think that you could get more Western than expressing some deviant form of
sexuality. NOS represents the epitome of cultural inheritance and the generation gap between immigrants to a new
culture and the children that are raised in the new place. But I think what makes the shame so poignant, is the
hypocrisy of Alsana herself. She prides herself on being all Eastern, but Im not sure that physical beat-downs between
husband AND wife are typical of a Bengalese culture (though I dont know much about it). Her general lack of religion (or
the picking and choosing of the parts she likes the best) seems out of place with the perceived idea of Eastern tradition.
So what gives Alsana the right to thrust shame on Neena? Not to mention the fact that the former is only two years older
than NOS. I find their whole dynamic rather interesting and Ive got about 80 pages left in the novel and so I hope that
NOS shows up again.

If this guy was a niece, he would be shamed.

Emily

Posted in Gender, White Teeth

Tags: cultural assimilation, cultural inheritance, Niece-of-Shame, White Teeth

Brush your teeth.

April 16, 2010 Leave a comment

I am not an English major. I have a hard time reading a book and discovering beautifully themes weaved into an intricate
plot I am mostly only able to just get whats going on. So, when I was able to pick up on the fact that Zadie Smith has a
great theme of teeth going on, and that was a prompt, I was pumped because thats one of the (very) few themes that
Ive picked up on independently.

In this story centered around varying cultures, inheritance, characters, races, white teeth are a constant feature among
all these people. I think this is such a lovely theme and one that I have great respect for Smith coming up with. I never
thought of that before; with so many features on the human race that are different colors, why not teeth? Hair: red,
yellow, brown, black. Skin: an extensive spectrum of all sorts of colors. Teeth? White. Well, yellow with proper lack of
brushing. But originally white.

Brilliant.

I also love the fact that the most interesting no, eclectic no, drawing (thats it) character, Clara, has the most drawing
teeth situation going on. I dont know if youve ever seen somebody with missing teeth, but it sure is drawing: you find
yourself stealing looks at them while they talk. Clara similarly draws you in between her attracting personality, antics or
relationships. That parallel is significant for me and I throughly enjoy seeing it being confirmed throughout the book thus
far.

_________

Lastly, I was going to write on infidelity originally. I was looking for a picture and I loved this one I found and wanted to
share it.

Maggie D.

Incidental Chimeras
Posted in White Teeth
Tags: chimera cartoon, Clara, infidelity, Teeth and Clara, themes, White Teeth

Pulling Teeth: Zadie Smith and the Culturalized Mouth

March 19, 2009 Leave a comment

Old Testament: Tradition & Autoeroticism

Yes! responds the anthropomorphized voicein Samads right testicle. (132). Samad is courting his sons music teacher,

Poppy, when he is suddenly struck by this testicular affirmative. In the wake of this seminal meeting, Samad cannot help
helping himself to himself. He quiets his conscience by abstaining from other bodily letches. He fasts: No substance
passed [his] lips (118). In result, increasingly less passes out of him. Food & Drink, he can control. But, as Portnoy to his
shiska, Samad is to his Poppy. He becomes a prolific masturbator. Later, however, having gone to bed with Poppy, the
relationship founders, largely because Samad insists that it is phys-ical, not metaphysical, as though the inner and the
outer were cleft. Manifestly clear, Samad is a pecker-head with a legion of problems. Chief among them is a stupid selfimportance (bordering on solipsism), a hidebound historicism. More often than not, Samads self-orthodoxy is undercut by
his despair at failing to convince anyone save Archie of his importance, his superior blood. To make matters worse, Samad
listens to nobody. His ears are like the grave. So it seems, then, that this autoeroticism has metaphysical corollaries.
Recall, for instance, the Queen of Thailand who drowned because tradition insisted that no one, under any
circumstances, should touch her. Smith puts culture in Samads terms: Tradition was culture and culture led to roots
untainted principles (181). Samad favors precolonial, indigenous traditions, hence his genealogical talisman, Pande. But
he does so for all the wrong reasons, that is, because tradition for him is the last rampart between Pande and secularismmodernity. Tradition, unlike anything else under late capitalism, has the power to remain static, identifiable. Basically:
The less food that goes in, the less that ultimately goes out. It is the loss of tradition, not Magid, that Samad mourns,
which explains his disappointment when his brainy son returns more English than the English. As we see, Samads
hostility toward westernization shows up in mutated form, later, with KEVIN. Rather comically, as terrorist organizations
go, these green ties distribute their literatureleaflets ratheras young boys once traded holographic cards of their
favorite Yankee shortstop. This canned fundamentalism is consistent with one of White Teeths bargain tropes, which is
that nothing nowadays exists outside capitalisms objectifying gaze. Even the post-colonial novel can be selfconsciously reproduced. One wonders, nevertheless, how scant is the thread, if any, which binds tradition with culture,
that sows nation as the seed of culture. All the same, White Teeth seems the most prickled by tradition that tends to
narrow or backslide into monolithism, a tradition that becomes, overtime, a collective expression of solipsism, the
autoeroticism of the body politic.

New Testament: Shrink-to-Fit Futurity

Whereas the first-generation immigrants in White Teeth seem still to straddle that divide between their native land and
their new home, the second- and third-generation immigrants seem either to have staked themselves nowhere or
everywhere. For instance, the adolescent Irie regards all of England as one bloody big mirror. Having inherited the
Bowden bundle, Irie longs for European proportions, a desire that takes a disastrous turn when she visits a salon to have
her hair straightened and it falls out in clumps. In a more colloquial form of transgenesis, she is then forced to have
someone elses hair weaved in. Likewise, Mafia Millat falls in early on with the nicotine crowd, kids who are passionate
about fags.The stuff that turns white teeth yellow (243). Theyre even in the habit of collecting cigarette butts in
order to reconstitute them into serviceable sums. This scrap-scavenging is precisely what characterizes the individualsocial projects of these second- and third-generation immigrants. We might call it the cannibalization of persona, of
(Jameson speaking) all the masks and voices stored up in the imaginary museum of a now global culture

(Postmodernism, p.18). Far as I can tell, this line of reasoning is quite deliberate on Smiths part inasmuch as it is
attention-calllingly pervasive throughout White Teeth. (One could argue that the book is actually about cultural studies
within the academy.) What remains enigmatic to me, however, is whether or not these young people, particularly Millat
and Irie, are going to make something more of their lives than a meaning effect. Could it be that their fates are bound
up in that of FutureMouse, who has, like Dedalus (or Cisneros Esperanza), absconded, sounding the trumpet blast,
Welcome, O Life!? And whats to come of this baby abrew in Irie, whose roots are so cleaved as to be unrooted? Right
now, Im seeing too much langaue and not enough parole in these young people. Tonight, unslept, I know the feeling.

Ben

Posted in White Teeth

Tags: postcolonial, White Teeth, Zadie Smith

The Age of White Teeth

March 19, 2009 Leave a comment

Zadie Smiths gritty White Teeth does much to disrupt the stability of age as an index of
experience, knowledge, or growth. If evolutionary time far exceeds the scope of a human beings
lived time, and genome time acts as another layer of complexity beyond the limits of
conceivable chronologies, the often untranslatable meaning of a persons age exposes for Smith
the way planes of temporality, history, memory, and trauma construct the individual body in nonlinear, non-progressive patterns. Smith, for example, toys with the timing of birth when she
describes teenage Archie, in the sweltering, eye-blood-dripping maternal body of war, his
moon-shaped face lit up like a big baby, entering life head first (102). Never simply born, he
and Samad are reborn and reborn and reborn. In other instances, Samad, two years older than
Archie, discusses his yet unborn wife (83). Alsana treats Neena as though she is of another
generation, even though shes a mere two years younger. Alsi, thinks Neena, was young and
old at the same time (54). Old and young variously take on and shed meaning over the
course of the twosomestwo friends, two families, two years, two minutes, two histories, and so
onthat structure the novel. The children of generations, we learn, can emerge older than their
parents, bearing the greater weight of the original trauma, often (as Lee Edelman would
similarly have it) by virtue of the very investments made in those children as bearers of a purer
Future.
Of course, the greatest example of the novels concern with age comes in the form of Millat and
Migad, younger and elder twin brothersthis the perverse distinction that engraves a
hierarchy between them as constructed and exaggerated as the superiority of New Years Day

in a calendar that disguises incessant circularity. One boy becomes second to the others
first. I turn to the identical twin plot as a fraternal twin myself, born, I am told, one minute
before my sister. As with M and Ms two Minutes, the single minute that separated/separates us
has translated into years-long differences in our physiological and personal development. In one
case the minute eerily became a precisely one-year-long difference during our adolescence that
proved easy to associate with the original temporal divide. What is interesting about the
narratives our family has created to explain our relative, no less hierarchized developments
indeed, I often identify as an older sisteris the way other factors become elided by the sign
the precious minutethat seems to perfectly explain the differences that flout comprehension.
Because time appears to help describe distinctions in maturitya concept confounded
by White Teeththat sliver of seconds during birth seems reasonably to name their cause. Smith
interrogates the leaps in logic that enable these kinds of interpretations. She unsettles our
understanding of when youth and oldness happen, and of what activities people are too old
or too young to do. Ends and beginnings, and life and death drives, intersect with old and
young in unpredictable ways. If the larger pattern persists cyclically, the pattern of the
individual and her/his deceptively namable age is less easily mapped in the spacethe messy
middlebetween a lifetimes spring and winter, its innocence and violent familiarity, its
impotence and potency, and so on.
Diana
Posted in White Teeth
Tags: age, human time, twins, White Teeth, Zadie Smith

Well, its scary, isnt it, all this genetic engineering.

March 19, 2009 1 Comment

Early in the semester, I asked a rather basic question to Professor Clayton: How should I approach reading the texts for
this semester? To this question, he responded that I should consider the relevance of each work to social, policy, and
scientific issues. As a student of the Medicine, Health, and Society program here at Vanderbilt, I was admittedly curious
as to the various ways literature contributes to our understanding of important issues of the present particularly those
relating to the relationship and interaction between humans and the science we produce. Most recently, I found Zadie
Smiths White Teeth to contain a wealth of commentary and questions.

In the arena of social commentary, Smith seems to be making a statement about the medicalization of boyhood and the
pharmacological treatment of, well, just about everything. This was and is a major concern to Americans in the late
1990s and early parts of the current decade. Consider the following passage in which Millat had been missing for a few

days, prior to a psychiatrists appointment that Joyce had scheduled for him Its simply essential that I talk with him if
he rings. Were so close to breakthrough. Marjories almost certain its Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. (358)
And a little later in the text: Because if Marjories right, and it is ADHD, he really needs to get a doctor and some
methylphenidate. Its a very debilitative condition. (358) Fascinatingly, these statements can be contrasted on the very
next page with the following quotation: Its perfectly natural for well-educated middle-class children to act up at his
age. (359)

The two positions described above are still a hotly debated item today. Further complicating the issue and perhaps giving
Smith more reason to comment on this subject in her novel, is work published recently by Samuel Zuvekas. He found
that, when comparing 2001 to 1996, approximately 5.5 million more Americans were receiving treatment for mental
health disorders. Much of this increase was related to new cases of ADHD in young children. (Zuvekas, 2005) Sadly, even
infants are prescribed medications for ADHD and other conditions such as bipolar disorder, general anxiety disorder, and
depression. And while I am unclear if Smith meant this to be a slam against the perceptions of ADHD of that time,
researchers have now discovered that it is actually the well-educated middle-class children that have been most labeled
with ADHD. (Hart, Grand, and Riley, 2006) According to this work, children whose parents form the working-class are
actually less likely to display characteristics of ADHD. Perhaps Smith was poking fun at this with the almost- labeling of
Millat with ADHD and Joshua as the normal teenager.

Yet this is only one of many important issues discussed in this book. There was a section in the book that seems to drive
right at the heart of what we are studying in this class as we read literature that is attempting to examine the
implications of the genetics and scientific experimentation. Consider the following passage in which Marcus Chalfen is
thinking about a book he had written called Time Bombs and Body Clocks, Adventures in Our Genetic Futures.

The book had been his agents idea: a split-level high/low culture book, whereby Marcus wrote a hard science chapter
on one particular development in genetics and then the novelist wrote a twin chapter exploring these ideas from a
futuristic, fictional, what-if-this-led-to-this point of view, and so on for eight chapters each. (344)

As the young, unnamed Asian girl conversing with Chalfen about this book says, Well, its scary, isnt it, all this genetic
engineering. (345) Exactly. It is scary. The trust we put into scientist hands is a slightly unnerving prospect. Historically,
there are many examples of science being used for the good of humanity. But how do we account for the tragedies done
in the name of science? Think about the Tuskegee Syphilis study or the Nazi death camps, among others. Where will
genetic engineering and recombinant DNA reside? With miracle cures or human eugenics?

I found White Teeth to be a wonderful novel that explored topics ranging from ADHD to genetic engineering. There exists
a wide array of useful commentary (and warnings!) for the policy makers of tomorrow. For the naysayers, I still say there
is beauty in the unpredictable and the random. And to the mouse I say: Go!

Corey

Posted in Science and humanities, White Teeth

Tags: ADHD, and Riley, Grand, Hart, medicalization, pharmaceuticals, recombinant DNA, Samuel Zuvekas, White Teeth, Zadie Smith

The Meaning Behind White Teeth

April 21, 2008 1 Comment

In a novel that addresses but does not resolve the irksome question of nature vs. nurture, Zadie Smith likewise presents
us with a paradoxical title: White Teeth. Teeth, a natural element of human life, meaning that everyone is born with
baby teeth that are supposed to be replaced by permanent teeth, are not destined to be white. In order to attain white
teeth, one must not only brush them, but one must also regulate their diet, making sure to limit their intake of teeth
staining products such as coffee. As much maintenance as white teeth require, so too do straight teeth. How many
people do you know with naturally straight teeth? I cannot think of one, and this may be presumptuous, but I bet
anyone who says their teeth are naturally straight are lying to you. But how many people can you think of with crooked
or unsightly teeth? Generally speaking, the only people that come to my mind do not reside within the United States or
come from an older generation. Now for a disturbing reality, I cannot think of a single undergraduate at Vanderbilt
University that has revolting teeth. So what does this all mean?

I believe that Zadie Smith strategically chose the title White Teeth to capture the underlying way in which fake elements
of society impose themselves upon peoples everyday lives, so much so that there exists naturalness within
unnaturalness. Various forms of the phrase white teeth are embedded within the novel, and they put forward the
overwhelmingly strong presence of white teeth within modern society. Two such examples include white-toothed
airline representatives(349) and the tanned man with white teeth(362). Both of these examples connote the fakeness
within the characters possessing the white teeth; the impersonal smile and exchange of words within customer service
oriented business professionals and the obvious altering of appearance in a vain attempt to achieve western beauty. But
despite these superficial exteriors, how much more abnormal would it seem if you were given your complimentary
refreshment by a buck toothed individual and walked around Vanderbilts campus seeing only pale, white-skinned
students?

Similarly, white teeth subversively addresses the issue of language. We definitely speak much differently with a set of
full teeth than we do without our two front teeth. Along the lines of language, Smith seems to associate native language
and natural teeth to truth. For example, Clara works hard at losing her native dialect to speak proper English.
Moreover, Clara even uses fake teeth to attain an aesthetically pleasing exterior and to aid her in speaking properly.
Smith shows the extent to which this causes Clara to be untrue to herself and insinuates that it may be at the root of
her problems. When Clara speaks with Joyce and she questions where Irie gets [her brain genes] from, the Jamaican or
the English, rather than answer truthfully, she lies(294). Clara finds herself left alone in frustration and anger as the

front door closes behind [Joyce](294). She internally questions, Why had she said Captain Charlie Durham? That was a
downright lie. False as her own white teeth(294). She goes on to think that Captain Charlie Durham wasnt smart and
ultimately concludes that Charlie Durham was a no-good djam fool bwoy(294). Although Clara at the start of the
paragraph says in proper English what she concludes at the end, the same expression in her native tone seems more
genuine and more convincing of Durhams stupidity. Likewise, at the end of the novel when Iqbal finds out the truth of
Archies prior failure to kill Dr. Sick, realiz[ing] that he has been lied to by his only friend in the world for fifty years
Samad tumbles into the Bengali vernacular(441). Through Clara and Iqbal, Smith suggests that our most true moments,
ones in which we are most in touch with our emotions, are verbally displayed in our native language. But because the
characters in an attempt for assimilation seldom speak in their native language, the natural has again become unnatural.

Therefore, the title White Teeth addresses a common theme within Smiths book, the transformation of the natural to
unnatural. Yet, unlike the ambiguous resolution between the nature vs. nurture debate, Smith does connote truth with
the natural and fake with the unnatural.

Nicole Shen

Posted in White Teeth

Tags: fake society, unnatural vs natural, western assimilation, White Teeth

Caribbean Literature and Genetics

April 20, 2008 1 Comment

I am currently taking another English class which focuses on Caribbean literature. We discussed Zadie Smith and the
literary charactertistics of Caribbean literature that Smith embodies, specifically the use of memory. Memory and its
effects on Caribbean literary characters is a common theme throughout Caribbean literature that also manifests itself
in White Teeth. Part of my final project for the other class included the following paragraph:

Some Caribbean novels tackle the tension between an idealized past and a more accurate
portrayal of history by exploring both facets through the point of view of different characters.
Zadie Smiths novel White Teeth is an example of the convergence of both methods interwoven in
one story. One of the main characters Samad Iqbal harps upon the achievements and notoriety
of his great-grandfather Mangal Pande. According to Samad, Pande was a brave revolutionary,
a hero, and every act [Samad] has undertaken in this war has been in the shadow of his
example (Smith 84). However, Pande was drunk rebel that fired the first shot of the mutiny in
an attempt to kill himself. Samad aligns his and his familys identity with the bold acts of an
imagined revolutionary rather than accept that his son Millat is a promiscuous, domestic
terrorist and his other son Magid is a soulless, eugenics scientist. The familys lineage does not
deserve the credit that Samad frequently and publically bestows, yet he focuses his attention on a

glorified past to distract himself and acquaintances from his destructive children. An idealized
past is favorable to an uncertain and traumatic present. However, another main character Clara
Jones offers an alternate perspective on history. She is much more objective as she reflects upon
the her past and its numerous problems. A childhood defined by her mothers constant warnings
about the end of the world, judgment day, and the division of the saved and the sinners is not
forgotten or idealized by Clara. She even warns her own mother not to try to convert her
daughter Irie, filling her head with a whole lot of nonsensethe buck stopped with me and it
aint going no further (Smith 326). Clara abandons her memories as if her world just
disappeared, the faith she had lived by had receded like a low tide and protects her family from
its effects rather than forcing it upon them like Samad (Smith 38). The differences between the
two characters offers the reader a clear distinction between people clinging to a romanticized
past instead of facing the present and people abandoning the past in favor of the possibilities
and opportunities of the future.
For me, the challenge with the novel White Teeth was to somehow combine the Caribbean theme
of memory which is prevalent throughout the novel with the genetic theme that underlies all of
the novels we have read in this class. An idea that the combination of the two genres presented
was that the memories and histories of the families that comprise the main characters of the
novel live in their genes. The hereditary characteristics of genes and DNA allow the histories of
these families to literally live on through the generations in human form rather than just oral
tradition. It could be a stretch, but by discussing the novel in two very different contexts, I felt
that there had to be a connection between the two. What do yall think?

Rachel
Posted in White Teeth
Tags: caribbean literature, memory, White Teeth

FutureMouse
April 20, 2008 Leave a comment

I recently saw a South Park episode that was very relevant to our class. (I dont know if anyone needs this, but just in
case, South Park is a cartoon show for adults that can be obscene, but actually deals with relevant issues and makes
social commentary most of the time.) A male character on the show felt like a woman in an earlier season and had gotten
surgery to remove his external genitals. In this episode he decided he wanted to be a man again. He had heard about the
ear mouse and went to the researchers to see if they would grow him a new set of male genitals. They succeeded, but
somehow the penis mouse escaped. Ill admit, I honestly hoped for a nature contaminant effect like with the rakunks

or the pigoons in Oryx and Crake, but the mouse was caught with no harm done. This is a ridiculous addition to a blog
post, I know, but I had to mention it because it reminded me so much of the FutureMouse escape in Zadie Smiths White
Teeth.

Anyway, when I was reading about the FutureMouse, I kept recalling another image of a modified mouse. Im sure many
of you have seen the image of the mouse with a human ear growing out of its back, or, the ear mouse. This is a
somewhat disturbing picture (search Vacanti mouse) but it is not all that it seems. Surprising to many, there was no
genetic modification involved. The ear has no human cells but is in fact cow tissue cells grown over a biodegradable
scaffolding shaped to look like an ear. The bottom of the ear was then implanted under the mouses skin and allowed to
form blood vessels for nutrients to feed the growing cartilage. It would be as if someone fashioned an ear out of living
play-doh and stuck it on my back (but clearly with a lot more difficult bioscience, growing of tissue, and transplantation
involved).

The entire structure known as the ear is a very complex mechanism of tiny bones, membranes, and hairs that all work
together to transmit sound information to the brain (Wolf Eye Clinic, 2008). The ear mouse had none of these inner ear
formations, as far as I understand it, but was instead a recreation of the human external ear. This ear was able to be
removed safely from the mouse with no damage to the ear or the mouse (Cao, 1997). Please click source links for ear
visuals and the paper to which I am referring. If the Cao link does not work, Google Scholar search Vacanti mouse and
click Findit@VU when you find the Cao et al. 1997 paper on auricle transplantation.

So, while many in the public realm were scared that this was an unnatural modification of human genetics, it was
actually a transplantation of cow cartilage scaffolded to look like a 3-year-olds ear. While some may not consider that
much reassurance, I think it highlights how scientific innovations can be easily misunderstood and taken for something
more monstrous than they really are. Admittedly, It is still unsettling to see what looks like an ear growing from a mouses
back or to learn first hand that testing done on mice is rarely as pleasant as giving them food when they press the right
button. However, these tests often lead to breakthroughs that can improve or even save suffering humans lives. It is my
personal belief, and definitely feel free to tell me if it is not yours, that I would rather have researchers testing on
animals before they are testing it on me.

However, we still have the case for Marcus as the mad scientist and testing within reason. Is it right to force a mouse to
grow tumors and program it to die? Is he playing God? Is there really a need to learn how to grow an extra ear on a
mouse? There needs to be some criteria that tells us whether an experiment is being done for good or whether it is being
done as a mad scientist power trip.

-Nikki

Posted in Ethics of science, Genetic engineering

Tags: White Teeth

On Revenge
April 15, 2008 Leave a comment

Zadie Smith covers a lot of psychological ground in White Teeth; at times I feel as if her characterization of inner-life
becomes too broad in scope. But without questioning the merit of that aspect of the novel, I would like to talk about her
portrayal of retribution. By setting up a fictional (though still very relevant) event, Smith illustrates how modern social
changes can be interpreted and responded to via a range of group contexts.

Through much of the first half of the novel, Smith sketches out the different problems posed by the socio-cultural
domains her characters inhabit. The first-generation traditionalism of Samad Iqbal clashes with the patchwork cultural
identities of Magid and Millat. Irie struggles with the truth of her own heritage, social expectations and ideals, and
unrequited love. Josh Chalfen challenges his overly nurtured familial identity and paternal loyalty. Smith gives the
necessary, unifying complication to these different personal story arcs with Dr. Chalfens unveiling of the SuperMouse; by
the end of the novel everything runs together beautifully. But leading up to that point, Smith puts the characters into
different groups that each give different perspectives to the SuperMouse event.

Joshs personal struggles lead him to join the ALF-like FATE group, and with that, the reader can see into how one form of
retribution against Dr. Chalfen might be morally justified. Millats personal vendetta to become something presses him
to become involved with the radical Islamist KEVIN organization. Like FATE, KEVIN responds to Dr. Chalfens mousey
genetic breakthrough. The members of KEVIN desire divine retribution; Dr. Chalfen has arrogantly played G.d. Iries
search for her heritage leads the reader into another religious perspective. Her grandmother and Ryan (both Jehovahs
Witnesses) organize a kind of faith-based outcry against Chalfen. This group doesnt desire divine retribution, like KEVIN,
they expect it, scream for its inevitable arrival. A case could also be made for the traditionalist response to Chalfen, as
represented by Samad and Archie. However, when the event finally occurs, when Chalfen unveils the Supermouse at the
end of the novel, group perspective crumbles as each character must face the reality of his or her own more immediate
personal problems: Irie becoming pregnancy, Josh being taken hostage, Millat shooting Chalfen.

Why did Smith do this? Why did she lead us on to think (expect) Chalfen should get what he deserves? On one level, she
makes a contemporarily relevant statement about genetic research, but on a more literary level, she makes the case
that, while external forces (groups, Fate, genes, chance, G.d) in part determine individual action, the
individual actor responds to circumstances on a personal, more immediate level. For Smith then, people possess
individual agency great enough to overcome a range of socio-cultural pressures or individual habits and thus act in the
moment.

-M. Walker

Posted in Science and humanities

Tags: Retribution, White Teeth, Zadie Smith

Nature vs. Nurture in White Teeth

April 12, 2008 2 Comments

Throughout the semester, our class has discussed the argument of nature versus nurture in works of fiction such as
Little C by Martha Nussbaum and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Our society struggles with this topic of
whether nature or nurture is responsible for each individuals intellect, talents, and other qualities. Many believe a
persons characteristics and tendencies are the result of the environments effect on the individual while the nature
supporters favor heredity as the main factor.
In White Teeth by Zadie Smith, this nature vs. nurture argument is represented by two story lines. The first is the
evidence provided by the accounts of the Iqbal twins, Magid and Millat. The pair shares the same DNA code yet has
obviously grown up as very different individuals in two separate continents. In Bangladesh, Magid developed into a
sophisticated, intelligent young man with a talent for language and a passion for law whereas Millat degenerated
into a rebellious teenager thought capable of leading his fundamentalist Islamic group while living in England with
his family. Therefore, the genetically identical twins violate the nature argument that genetics controls the fate of the
individual.
Another related theme to nature vs. nurture is the dichotomy presented by the Chalfen parents, Marcus and
Joyce. Marcus is a strict nature supporter, as he has dedicated his life to genetics and science. Marcuss life work has
been to alter the genetics of a mouse such as turning on or off a gene for cancer in order to control its fate. As the
narrator says, Mice and men, genes and germs, that was Marcuss corner. Seedlings, light sources, growth, nurture,
the buried heart of thingsthat was [Joyces] (269).Joyce Chalfen clearly represents the other side of the
nature/nurture argument as a horticulturist and a mother. Joyce believes her son Oscars high IQ is due in part to
nurturing (269), just like with plants when she was to be patient, water regularly, and dont lose your temper when
pruning (268). Joyce proves her point of nurture through Millat as she takes a special interest in him, and he
surprises everyone including himself with higher grades then expected on his tests. She also believes the lack of a
male role model (270) in Millat and Iries lives (a nurturing aspect) has contributed to the reason they are in her
house (being caught with marijuana).
Clearly, the nature vs. nurture argument hasnt been settled in this novel nor will it be in our society any time
soon. The answer to this discussion isnt simple or as one sided as Zadie Smith presents it in Marcus and Joyce, but
it is interesting to see how the extremes interact in the novel. As science progresses, we will learn more about how
and what genes control for physical characteristics and/or behaviors and how nurture/environment help individuals
express certain characteristics.

Zac Ramsey

MIMIC MAN

The ultimate dilemma in applying representation and resistance theory to postcolonial literature rests in the notion that a novel, a literary form that arises in the
western world of print culture, may challenge as well as perpetuate colonial
institutions. It seems an unlikely paradox, yet the paradox is very real and very present
in post-colonial literature. In "Figures of Colonial Resistance," Jenny Sharpe uses the
term mimic man to describe a figure who represents this paradox: "The mimic is a
contradictory figure who simultaneously reinforces colonial authority and disturbs it"
(99). The mimic man can be a character in a novel or even an author himself.
The mimic man represents a byproduct of colonial civilization, not a entity separate
from the colonial sphere. As result, the fact that he was produced with the colonial
voice relegates the seemingly more important issue of whether the mimic speaks for
or against colonial authority. Sharpe continues along this line of argument stating, "To
think of the relation between the discourse centering on the production of the colonial
subject [mimic man] and what it occludes as an eclipse is to see that the subaltern
classes are not situated outside the civilizing project but are caught in the path of its
trajectory" (100).
In Dangaremba's Nervous Conditions, Uncle Babamukuru represents this colonial
subject or mimic man. Babamukuru, although Shona in ethnicity and heritage, is
ultimately a product of Western education and Western means of success. His family

reveres him not because he is high on the Shona cultural ladder of respect but because
he possesses the gift of the white man's voice and uses it to achieve success. From
protagonist Tambudzai's point-of-view, Babamukuru represents all that she could
possibly achieve and more:
Then I discovered that Nhamo had not been lying. Babamukuru was indeed a man of
consequence however you measured him . . . Nhamo's chorus sang in my head and
now it sounded ominous. Its phrases told me something I did not though he was. He
was wealthier than I had though possible. He was educated beyond books. And he had
done it alone. He has pushed up from under the weight of the white man with no
strong relative to help him. How had he done it? Having done it, what had he become?
A deep valley cracked open. There was no bridge; at the bottom, spiked crags as sharp
of as spears. I felt separated forever from my uncle. (64)
This passage depicts both the awe Tambudzai felt upon first seeing her uncle's house
and the ultimate disappointment she experienced when she realized her uncle's wealth
and status separated him from her.
Do family members revere Babamukuru for the wrong reasons? Why does
Babamukuru not use his financials means to improve the local education system of his
village instead of adopting one child at a time? Are his lavish gifts a sign of true
altruism or one of condescension, a condescension paralleled by the white man upon
the indigenous people?
Babamukuru cannot exist without his Western education. Without it, he suffers the
fate of his brother Jeremiah, being a nobody with absolutely no importance.
Babamukuru seems genuinely vested in the social and financial improvement of his
family, notions which serve to infuse pride into the indigenous people. However, he
must also use his identity of a Western educated scholar as the means for
improvement. In fact, the mimic man is the only means of improvement in
Tambudzai's family. Therefore, Babamukuru reinforces the dominance of colonial
institutions and disturbs it at the same time. He uses Western ideas of success to
garner respect and worship from Shona people.
While Babamukuru's vested interest in his family makes it difficult for readers to
condemn him, his dependence on colonial institutions prevents him from receiving the
full glory he may deserve. He is indeed a paradox, belonging to both Western and

indigenous culture and at the same time being forever separated from both as
Tambudzai observes. Perhaps the sacrifice that one pays for becoming a voice or a
symbol for a certain people or nation is the ultimate alienation from both his people
and his audience.
Overview: The Problem of Representation and Resistance in Post-Colonial
Literature

Many problems surround the terms post-colonial and post-colonial literature. In its
most literal definition, post-colonial literature is simply a classification: a body of
work or works produced by a previously colonized nation. If one accepts post-colonial
literature only at its simplest definition, he leaves the term too broad and without
coherency. One defines a literary movement not only by the era and location in which
the movement occurred but also by the style of the writing and its political and social
impact on society. For example, Romantic literature in Great Britain was produced
from the mid to late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth, and some of the
themes that emerged from British Romanticism were the glorification of nature and
the omnipresence of love through class boundaries. Similarly, Victorian literature of
the nineteenth century possessed qualities of the Age of Enlightenment, a movement
that ran parallel to Queen Victoria's reign.
Therefore, to accept post-colonial literature only by its temporal and political
designation does not give justice to the artist whose intentions may subsequently be
ignored. If a reader credits or disparages a work strictly for its literary value, that is a
choice that he makes. However, if the same reader states that this method is the only
means by which one should value literature, he ignores the possible intentions of the
author. Indeed a novel defined as post-colonial intends to have a greater impact than
simply its plot. What are the implications of political independence from a so-called
"empire?" What does it mean to write either as a voice, a representative, or a citizen of
the post-colonial country? What are the political, social, and economic implications of
the literature he produces?
If a post-colonial work manages to escape the valueless fate of many novels of the late
20th century, it is then subjected to more problems within the theoretical genre of
post-colonial studies. The issues I will discuss are such: how a post-colonial novel
acts as a representative of its respective nation and how it serves as a symbol of
resistance against its colonizer. Within these categories, authors depict the life of a
newly independent nation, speak out against the oppression of its colonizers, express a

desire for an ideal "pre-colonial" society, or extol the beneficial consequences of

empire. How can such widely varying ideas singularly define post-colonial literature?
It is important to note the differences among Romantic, Victorian, and post-colonial
literature. First, the political and social implications differ greatly among them. In
addition, Romantic and Victorian literature were labeled as such in hindsight, while
post-colonial authors and scholars are self-aware of the existing style and movement
that is labeled post-colonial. Post-colonial literature and post-colonial studies have the
ability then to control self-consciously the direction and definition of its label. In other
words, "post-colonialism" is a definition in progress. This definition in progress
further problematizes post-colonial literature because without a solid source, scholars
can debate forever what constitutes a post-colonial work and if that work gives justice
to post-colonial literature as a whole.
Representation and Resistance: An Examination

Two ideas that surface repeatedly in post-colonial literature and theory are
representation and resistance. Inevitably, scholars will judge a novel or poem by how
adequately it represents an indigenous people or by how it reacts to the oppressing
colonizers. Does Philip Jeyaretnam's Abraham's Promise serve as a statement
against the remnants of a colonized Singapore or does it perpetuate the colonizing
institutions of modern Singapore? This is one of the numerous questions scholars may
ask when applying a theoretical study of post-colonial literature. Edward Said uses the
term "Orientalism" in one aspect of post-colonial theory. He states that the idea of
post-colonialism needs the dynamic between itself and its colonizers in order to define
its existence:
The Orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture.
Orientalism expresses and represents that part culturally and even ideologically as a
mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery,
doctrines, even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles. (87)
The dynamic between the colonizer and the colonized may impose an intellectual
rather than a political domination over the post-colonial nation. While political
freedom may exist, the intellectual independence is far from reality. Said goes on to
state "it [Orientalism] is, rather than expresses, a certain will or intention to
understand, in some cases to control, manipulate, even to incorporate, what is a
manifestly different (or alternative and novel) world." (90) Thus, choosing to

represent an indigenous culture with the language of the empire serves as another
form of colonization.
Resistance theory in post-colonial literature refutes the very notion that idea of
representation also connotes further subjugation. Resistance literature uses the
language of empire to rebut its dominant ideologies. In other words, the colonized
nation is "writing back," speaking either of the oppression and racism of the
colonizers or the inherent cultural "better-ness" of the indigenous people. Helen Tiffin
expresses this point best in her essay "Post-colonial Literatures and Counterdiscourse": "Post-colonial literatures/cultures are thus constituted in counterdiscursive rather than homologous practices, and they offer fields' or counterdiscursive strategies to the dominant discourse." (96) Thus the counter-discursive
nature constitutes post-colonial literatures rather than a unifying style or theme.
Counter-discourse fails to recognize that by existing simply to react against or to resist
dominant ideology, it is marginalized into an idea that cannot stand on its own. As
Tiffin states, counter-discourse exists only "in its determining relations with its
material situation." (96) The concept of "other" cannot exist without its relationship to
its reference point. Could this then be the fate of post-colonial literature? Is postcolonial literature only a subset, corollary, or a reaction to the already existing
dominant discourse of English Literature?
The paradox of marginalization and empowerment seem to coexist in the ideas of
representation and resistance. How does one then resolve this paradox? Tiffin offers
another idea in the study and assessment of post-colonial literature. This idea involves
a compromise between complete separation from the empire and the complete
dependence upon the empire for its existence. She states "[p]ost-colonial cultures are
inevitably hybridised, involving a dialectical relationship between European ontology
and epistemology and the impulse to create or recreate independent local identity."
(95) Using Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and J.M. Coetzee's Foe as examples, she
states that "neither writer is simply writing back' to an English canonical text, but to
the whole of the discursive field within which such a text operated and continues to
operate in post-colonial worlds." (98) It seems as though colonial institutions in
literature such as language and narrative style are necessary for a body of work to
reach an academic audience. However, by potentially being able to reach a larger
audience, an author enables himself to voice the emotions, frustrations, and the

triumphs of his people to a group of scholars or students not yet exposed to his nation
or race.
In the following essays, I will examine how four novels exemplify different aspects of
representation and resistance theory. Philip Jeyaretnam's Abraham's Promisedepicts
the lack of social and political direction of a post-colonial world. Gopal Baratham's A
Candle or the Sun explores the reactionary nature of local government immediately
after its political independence. Yvonne Vera's Nehanda portrays the heroic tale of a
young woman chosen to resist her colonial oppressors. Finally, Uncle Babamukuru in
Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions explores Jenny Sharpe's notion of
the mimic man in her essay "Figures of Colonial Resistance." All the novels serve to
represent the indigenous lifestyle, resist colonial acts of authority and oppression
through their textual transmission, or they accomplish both.
Migrant literature, that is, writings by and to a lesser extent about migrants, is a topic which has
commanded growing interest within literary studies since the 1980s. Migrants are defined here as
people who have left their homes to settle in countries or cultural communities which are initially
strange to them.
Contents
[hide]

1 Settings of migrant literature

2 Themes in migrant literature

3 Relationship to post-colonial literature

4 Categories in migrant literature

o

4.1 Displacement

4.2 Guest and host communities

4.3 Emigrant versus immigrant perspectives

4.4 Primary and secondary migration

4.5 First and second generation migrants

4.6 Between cultures

4.7 Hybridity

4.8 Bilingual theory

5 See also

6 References

Settings of migrant literature[edit]

Although any experience of migration would qualify an author to be classed under migrant literature,
the main focus of recent research has been on the principal channels of mass-migration in the
twentieth century. These include: European migration to North America or Australia; migration from
former colonies to Europe (Black British literature, British-Asian literature, French Beur literature);
situations of ethnic cleansing such as the mass migration of people from India to Pakistan and vice
versa at the time of the partition of India; guest worker programs (Turks, Italians or Greeks in
Germany and Holland); exile situations, such as that of exiled German dissidents during the Nazi
period.

Themes in migrant literature[edit]

Migrant literature often focuses on the social contexts in the migrants' country of origin which prompt
them to leave, on the experience of migration itself, on the mixed reception which they may receive
in the country of arrival, on experiences ofracism and hostility, and on the sense of rootlessness and
the search for identity which can result from displacement and cultural diversity.

Relationship to post-colonial literature[edit]

Colonialism often creates a setting which results in the migration of large numbers of people, either
within the colonies or from them to the "imperial centre" (Britain, France etc.). Consequently, migrant
literature and postcolonial literature show some considerable overlap. However, not all migration
takes place in a colonial setting, and not all postcolonial literature deals with migration. A question of
current debate is the extent to which postcolonial theory also speaks to migration literature of noncolonial settings. The presence in central Europe of Gastarbeiter communities, for example, is not a
result of colonialism, yet their literature does have much in common with, say, British-Asian literature.

Categories in migrant literature[edit]

A number of categories have been developed for discussing migrant literature. Some of these are
the standard categories of post-colonial theory, while others have been worked out precisely to cope
with non-colonial settings.

Displacement[edit]
Displacement is a key term in post-colonial theory which applies to all migrant situations. It refers
both to physical displacement and a sense of being socially or culturally "out of place".

Guest and host communities[edit]

Picking up on the term Gastarbeiter and using it affirmatively, Rafik Schami has used the terminology
of guest and host to express some of the dynamics of migrant situations.

Emigrant versus immigrant perspectives [edit]

It is possible to distinguish the "emigrant perspective" of the migrant whose main focus is backwards
to the country of origin from the "immigrant perspective" of the migrant who is reconciled with the
prospect of permanent residence in the country of arrival. [1]

Primary and secondary migration[edit]

In contexts of work migration, it is common for one member of a family, typically the father, to travel
in search of work, the rest of the family following later. "Secondary migration" is the emigration of
relatives to join the primary migrant.

First and second generation migrants[edit]

First generation migrants are those who, as adults, themselves made the move from one country to
another. Second generation migrants are the children of migrants, who were either very young at the
time of migration or were born in the country of arrival. The perspectives across the generations can
differ enormously. Some critics have even used the term "third generation migrants", though it is
highly questionable whether this is meaningful: if a third generation is still culturally distinct it is
probably more useful to speak of an established ethnic minority.

Between cultures[edit]
In literature of second generation migrants, a location "between" two cultures is often mentioned as
a way of expressing a sense of belonging in neither the guest nor the host community. Those whose
experience has been more positive may reject the notion of "between" and feel that they live, rather,
in the cultural overlap, not a void but a place of particular richness.

Hybridity[edit]
Hybridity is another catch-phrase from post-colonial theory which applies also in many non-colonial
migrant situations. It refers to the migrant's culturally mixed identity as the opposed forces of
assimilation and the search for roots force a middle way. (In post-colonial theory, the term hybridity is
also used in non-migrant situations to refer to the impact of the culture of the colonisers on the
culture of the colonised.)

Bilingual theory[edit]
Bilingualism is an essential component of hybridity. Results of socio-linguistic research are therefore
of importance to work on migrant literature.

Crossing the Border, A Study of Immigration Though Literature

by
Jennifer Kennedy

Contents of Curriculum Unit 96.04.07:

Narrative
Sample Lessons
Peer Editing
Student Bibliography
Teacher Bibliography
To Guide Entry
Immigration is the story of our country; we are a nation of
immigrants. Though the study of immigration, children learn how
and why numerous, diverse cultures have woven their way into the
societal fabric of the United States. On a more personal level,
studying immigration allows students to gain a appreciation for their
own family histories as well as a understanding of the hopes ad
challenges faced by immigrants. This unit, designed for the
Language Arts classroom, will consist of three parts: investigating
family histories, the reading of In the Year of the Boar and
Jackie Robinson and Lupita Manana. Throughout the unit, students
will be keeping Immigration Response Journals in which they will
have the opportunity to record thoughts and questions about the
topic. The unit will stress reading and writing as processes and will
provide students with opportunities to hone their reading and
writing skills. It is hoped that the unit will give students accurate
background knowledge about contemporary immigration so that
they can appreciate the complexities of the issue.

The Language Arts classroom is an authentic setting in which the students can explore
the issues of immigration and assimilation. Enabling students to develop strong
speaking and listening skills is among the many goals of the Language Arts
curriculum. The first segment of this unit will allow students to accomplish this goal
through studying the oral histories of immigrants. This portion of the unit will provide
the foundation for our study of immigration and assimilation and will introduce
students to the vocabulary, concepts and contemporary issues surrounding
immigration in the United States. The novels that will be read later in the unit will
reinforce the ideas introduced in the oral history segment and will encourage students
to think critically about these ideas.
Many of New Havens students are immigrants. It is especially important, then, for
their own stories to be heard. Students will be researching their families
backgrounds, interviewing family members and/or writing about their own
experiences with immigration. Students will be learning interviewing, note taking, and
organizational skills in order to write a character sketch of an immigrant in their
families. Students will be asked to relate any first-hand knowledge of migrating to the
United States. Students will be asked to interview parents, relatives, or neighbors that
have immigrated to the U.S. The results of these interviews will be shared among
small groups of students. This type of personal connection is vital to the motivation of
middle school students.
The interviews will serve as the framework for the study of some of the issues
involved in contemporary immigration. The state of the U.S. economy, the current
political culture of the U.S., and the media all play roles in the restrictive overtones
felt in contemporary America. In an effort to temper misinformation that can circulate
in this type of atmosphere, it is important for the teacher to address social, economic
and political issues involved in contemporary immigration. The oral history segment
of the unit provides an excellent forum for such a discussion.
Students will need to learn how to conduct a good, informative interview. In an effort
to model this process, a guest speaker, Mrs. Saskia Braat, an immigrant from the
Netherlands, will be invited to speak to the class about her own experience with
immigration and assimilation into the American culture. In preparation for Mrs.
Braats visit, the class will devise a list of questions to ask her. It will be important
for the teacher to ensure that the questions asked by the students will enable them to
gain a clear and accurate view of the process. Students themselves will probably

construct a list of basic questions such as: What is your country of origin?, Why did
you emigrate?, How old were you when you came to the U.S.? However, it will be
essential for the teacher to ensure that questions go beyond the basics and are aimed at
correcting common misconceptions. Three of the most publicized pieces of
misinformation center around the numbers of immigrants currently entering the U.S.,
the idea that immigrants do not want to learn to speak English if it is not their native
language, and the idea that immigrants enter the U.S. in order to take advantage of our
government welfare system.
It is hoped that the interview portion of the unit will give the teacher the opportunity
to touch on issues such as the numbers of foreign-born people currently residing in the
United States. According to the 1990 census, only 7.9% of the U.S. population was
foreign-born. This is dramatically lower than the 14.7% reported in the 1910 census
(Pedraza and Rumbaut, 1996). Our nation has experienced heavier waves of
immigration than we are currently experiencing. It is clear, then, that America is not
being inundated by immigrants, a notion that the media and restrictionists promote.
The current restrictionist movement is largely related to the present state of the U.S.
economy. The work place has shifted from high-paying jobs in the manufacturing
industries such as steel and even automotives to more low paying jobs in service
industries such as restaurants and health care; and part-time jobs are replacing fulltime jobs. In this atmosphere of economic frustration, with many unemployed or
under-employed, it is easy to find scapegoats. Newly arrived immigrants fit the bill
nicely. Undocumented immigrants are especially vulnerable to this type of backlash.
In 1986, the U.S. Congress, in response to economic pressure, enacted the
Immigration Reform and Control Act. Although the Act had several components, the
one most pertinent to this discussion is the one that enacts employer sanctions. Under
this Act, it became illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers.
This law requires that new employees complete the I-9 form on which they must show
their eligibility to work in the United States. Although this law is difficult to enforce
because of the sheer numbers of forms that would need to be reviewed by the
government, it can be said that this law clearly makes it more difficult for
undocumented immigrants to secure work in the U.S. In many cases, immigrants take
jobs that native born citizens will not take; those with little pay, no benefits, and little
or no chance for upward mobility.

These are important concepts for both the teacher and student to understand. In her
interview Mrs. Braat, will be asked to explain how she was able to secure working
papers in the U.S. In her case, as with many other immigrants, she came to the United
States highly educated and highly skilled. This made it easier for her to assure the
government that she would be able to secure work as a nurse. Thus, the students are
introduced, in a very personal way, to the economics of immigration. This facet of
immigration will become even more evident to the students as they conduct their own
interviews and read the two novels included in this unit.
It is hoped that the interview that the class conducts with Mrs. Braat and the
interviews the students conduct on their own will also touch upon some of the facets
of assimilating into the American culture. Language Acquisition is a key element of
the assimilation process. Mrs. Braat came to the United States with a moderate
command of English. She had studied English during her schooling in the
Netherlands, but had no authentic opportunity to practice her English skills. Like
many immigrants, she was eager to improve her English and welcomed the
opportunity once she moved to the U.S. Although she and her family still spoke Dutch
at home, her young daughters primary language was English. This is true of many
second generation immigrants. In a 1992 study of second generation youth in South
Florida, 98% of children under the age of 13 reported being able to speak English well
or very well (Portes and Schauffier, 1996). Generally, immigrants are willing and
eager to learn to speak and write English proficiently. The fear that the dominance of
the English language is threatened in todays United States is very much unfounded.
Another key issue that I hope will be raised in the interview portion of the unit is the
motivating factors for people to leave their country of origin and move to the United
States. It is important for students to see that there are economic, social and political
reasons for one to leave his/her country of origin and come to the United States.
Again, I will use the class interview to demonstrate. Mrs. Braat moved to Connecticut
from Amsterdam because she felt that there would be better economic opportunities
for her here. She came here with a desire to work hard and have that work lead her to
a better life.
It is my belief that the interviews that the students will conduct, will show that many
immigrants come with this same work ethic. In this age of restrictionism, it is
important for teachers to underscore this idea. Immigrants are not coming to the U.S.
with the intent of taking advantage of our government welfare system. Indeed, they

cannot. One must reside in the U.S. for at least five years to qualify for any
government assistance. Immigrants are coming to the U.S. with a strong desire to
make it on their own. Additionally, undocumented immigrants have the added burden
of finding work illegally and are in the unenviable position of being exploited, but
having no where to turn. If they speak out against their employer, they risk being
deported. Often, however, the long hours and poor conditions spent working in the
U.S. are their only hope for economic survival.
The reality of the economics of immigration is one aspect of the process to be
explored during the interview portion of the unit. In their interviews students should
ask questions that focus on some of the deeper issues of immigration and assimilation
(A list of suggested questions can be found in the Unit Overview). The interview with
Mrs. Braat and the interviews subsequently conducted by the students will provide
human faces and real stories to the study of immigration.
The results of the students initial writing and interviews will be shared in a small
group setting. This creates a non-threatening atmosphere where students can feel a
sense of belonging and are more likely to openly discuss issues. Here, students can
learn about the immigration histories and character sketches of those interviewed by
the members of the group, thereby broadening the scope of each childs background
knowledge about immigration and assimilation. Students will be asked to write their
impressions of the interviews in their Immigration Response Journals. As the unit
progresses, students will be asked to modify these impressions as they learn more
about the complexities of immigration and assimilation.
As a teacher of Language Arts, it is my goal to make my classroom a colorful and
lively place where students feel comfortable taking the risks necessary to become
good readers and writers. The focus of my teaching is on leading children to see
reading as a process of drawing meaning from the printed text. This transactional view
of reading allows children to see that their own thing process brings the words on the
page to life. It is as equally important for students to see the authentic connections
between reading and writing. Writing, too, can help students discover their own
thinking. Another objective of this unit is that students will use reading and writing to
make personal connections with the topic by comparing and contrasting their life
experiences with those of immigrants studied.

In order to reach this goal, reading and writing will be combined in the form of
Immigration Literature Response Journals. Students will keep journals in which they
will respond to two novels about immigration, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie
Robinson and Lupita Manana. The journals will help students to make personal
connections to the topic of because they provide students with a forum to question,
explore immigration thoughts and to discover their own reactions to the characters and
events in the novels.
Through the journals, students can create an on-going dialogue about the issues that
surround immigration and assimilation. The Immigration Literature Response Journals
will develop the students higher order thinking skills because students will be
gaining an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, reflecting upon personal
experiences with immigration and assimilation, and comparing and contrasting their
own experiences with those of immigrants. The journals also foster a sense of
ownership in the topic because each childs will be unique.
It is my hope that the on-going dialogue created will encourage more emotional
involvement with the characters and will, hopefully, move students toward fulfilling
the objective of having empathy with immigrants, both documented and
undocumented; and will allow children to break from stereotypes of immigrants and
to realize that each immigrants experience is unique.
In addition to developing personal connections, students will need to build
background knowledge about the process, the hows and whys, of immigration. At the
beginning of the unit, students will be asked to respond to an Anticipation Guide (see
Guide in Sample Lessons) about immigration, in which they will be asked to agree or
disagree with a series of statements about the process of immigration and assimilation.
After investigating family histories and reading the two novels in the unit, students
will have the opportunity to revise their opinions. The Anticipation Guide is an
important tool for increasing reading comprehension because it provides students with
a framework for changing and modifying background knowledge. This will activate
the students prior knowledge of the topic and will give the teacher insight to any
misperceptions the students have. As we discuss the experiences of those interviewed,
and the experiences of the main characters in each of the novels, students will have
the chance to reshape their thinking and perhaps gain a more complete understanding
of the complexities of immigration.

The journals, novels, and discussion groups will be used to achieve several of the
units major objectives. Students will use literature as a vehicle for understanding
immigration and assimilation processes. Students will read two high-interest
novels, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson and Lupita Manana. These
books, used in conjunction with the Immigration Literature Response Journals, will
help the students focus on different aspects of immigration such as: reasons for
immigrating, living conditions in the country of origin, reception in the U.S., language
acquisition, and future outlook. The journals are an excellent tool for connecting
reading to writing, for extending the meaning of the text, and for giving readers
ownership of their literary experience.
The students will participate in small discussion groups where they will discuss their
responses to the open-ended questions used as prompts for journal writing. Students
will also use the journals to free write and to keep a log of vocabulary words they
encounter in their study of immigration and assimilation. The small groups will give
the students an opportunity to develop a vocabulary about immigration, listen to
others viewpoints, and construct their own opinions on the topic.
Teacher directed journal prompts and group discussions will help to get each group
focused on particular aspects of the process of immigrating and assimilating. It is
especially important for teachers and students to have the chance to correct any faulty
or stereotypical thinking they might have about the realities of the issues surrounding
undocumented immigrants. Although these issues are countless, it is important for
students and teachers to develop a solid understanding of three aspects of the
undocumented experience.
Foremost for most undocumented immigrants is the quest for work, which is at the
center of the decision to come to the U.S. Many undocumented immigrants are driven
from their country of origin because the local economy is too poor to support them.
Some come to the U.S. with the goal of earning a certain amount of money and then
returning to their home countries. Others come embracing the idea of the American
Dream and hope to build new, financially successful lives for themselves even if that
means taking jobs for which they are significantly overqualified. Whatever the
motivation, the goal for most undocumented immigrants is to find steady work in the
U.S..

While work is at the center of the undocumented immigrants life it is important to

consider the role of the network of familial and social connections already established
in the U.S., plays in achieving this end. It is often a family member living in the U.S.
that provides the information, housing and financial support needed to become rooted
in the society. It is not uncommon then, for numerous people from the same country
of origin to settle in the same geographic area in the United States. This network
serves to increase the immigrants sense of belonging to the common culture of the
U.S. as well as providing a support system through which immigrants can maintain
some cultural identity with their country of origin. These social networks are
described in Patricia Pessars A Visa For A Dream. This book would serve as an
excellent background for teachers because its ethnographic style makes the process
come to life through the stories of those featured in the book.
Undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of being apprehended by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service. An understanding of the lives of the
undocumented immigrants in this country is greater when one considers the
pervasiveness of the worries about apprehension and its affects on the daily routines
of undocumented immigrants. This fear is an unsettling force that requires the
immigrants to exercise caution in almost all aspects of everyday life. For example, an
undocumented immigrant cannot obtain a drivers license or even have bills put in
his/her own name. Families can be separated when one or two members are caught
and deported, while others are not. The American children born to undocumented
immigrants are especially vulnerable because although they cannot be forced to leave
the U.S., their parents can. Undoubtedly, this puts added strain on family life.
Leo Chavezs Shadowed Lives is an excellent resource for teachers looking for
background information about the experiences of undocumented immigrants. It
chronicles the compelling stories of undocumented Mexican immigrants. Chavez
closely follows the lives of several people who reveal their thoughts and real life
experiences. It is from these stories that teachers can gain insights to this complex
problem facing our society.
Students participation in this unit will learn about the complexities of immigration
(both documented and undocumented) as they read two young adult novels. The first
novel, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson is a charming story that chronicles
the immigration and assimilation process of a young Chinese girl who emigrates to
the United States in 1947. Having moved and settled in New York the year before,

Shirleys father excitedly welcomes her into the new home he has established for
Shirley and her mother. Shirley is warmly welcomed at her new school. Although she
initially doesnt speak English, she assimilates relatively easily.In the Year of
the Boar and Jackie Robinson has a positive, hopeful tone. Its humorous style will
engage the students. Shirleys character is infectious and one cant help wanting to
learn more about her Chinese heritage, and to empathize with her.
Lupita Manana offers students both a view of contemporary immigration issues and
an account of undocumented immigration that is engaging and realistic. The economy
of Mexico is quickly deteriorating and many families are struggling desperately to
make ends meet. After her father is killed in a fishing accident, 14 year old Lupita and
her brother must cross the border from Mexico and find work to support their family
back home. The two come to the U.S. with the expectation that they will be able to
live with their aunt in California. This aspect of the fictional story is based largely on
the reality that many undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. with the help of
family and friends already established in this country. The novel offers a realistic
portrayal of the risks and dangers of illegally crossing the border.
Lupita is a very real character and she will show students that undocumented
immigrants are very real people with hopes and dreams like the rest of us. Lupita,
unlike Shirley, has a very difficult life in the U.S. She does not speak English and
assimilation into the popular culture is not her goal. The stark differences between the
girls characters and life situations provide teachers and students with opportunities
for discussing the many facets of the process of assimilation including the acquisition
of English, the internal feelings and struggles with issues of abandoning native
culture and becoming American, and the reception and prejudices faced by those
trying to assimilate.
The use of this novel in conjunction with the Immigration Literature Response Journal
gives students an authentic reason for reading and writing because it will give them a
chance to think about real issues facing our society. For example, students will gain an
understanding of why some people are undocumented immigrants and the special
hardships faced by this group. Students will be asked to consider and evaluate
Lupitas reasons for becoming an undocumented immigrant. Responding to and
discussing this piece of literature will help students understand the dynamic process of
assimilating into a culture that is continually trying to define what it is to be

American. It will also build a background knowledge and a sensitivity to a topic

that is currently receiving much media attention.
As they read In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson and Luita Manana, students
will be asked to reflect on the difficulties each girl faced. It will be especially
important for students to gain an appreciation of the tremendous hardships faced by
undocumented immigrants. This is critical as students try to relate to contemporary
real-world people and issues. Students will be asked to imagine that they are the
characters in the novel. This exercise in visualization and problem solving should help
students understand that there are no clear cut answers to the problem of
undocumented immigrants.
The issue of undocumented immigrants is indeed a complex one. These immigrants
have provided a low-wage labor force for the United States for many years. As
America moves more toward a service industry oriented economy, it is these
undocumented immigrants who are willing to accept the low wages and poor working
conditions that most American workers will not. It is clear then, that there is a need for
these workers. However, this need is clearly at odds with the political stance taken
with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. However, one provision of the
law, the Special Agricultural Workers program, adds to the numbers of immigrant
workers because agricultural employers need foreign workers to work the land
(Calavita, 1995). So, there is the law and the loophole to the Law. The U.S.
government seems to be pulled in two directions at once. While in this time of
economic recession, the policy makers are called upon to limit the numbers of
workers allowed into our country, the employers see the reality that it is only the
immigrant worker who can and will withstand low-wages and poor working
conditions. The U.S. government does not seem to have a clear answer to this
troubling economic reality, so the the law is weak and the system of using
undocumented workers continues.
Students will be introduced to the Immigration and Reform and Control Act by the
teacher. However, the focus of the unit will be on reading as a lived-through
experience rather than lectures about issues of immigration. Through the novels, the
journals and the discussion groups, students will gain and understanding of why
people immigrate to the U.S., the hardships they face and that each immigrants
experience is a unique one. Specifically, students will be asked to reflect in their
journals about the reasons that surrounded the immigration of the main characters.

Although the conditions under which each girl left her country origin were starkly
different; each girl left hoping to find a better life for herself in the United States.
The novels, the Immigration Response Journals and the discussion groups lend
themselves nicely to my next objective. In this unit, students will compare and
contrast the immigration and assimilation process of documented and undocumented
immigrants. It is my hope that students will acquire an appreciation for all
immigrants. However, I would like students to become sensitive to the plight of the
undocumented and to be able to give careful thought and consideration to the reasons
they are drawn to the U.S., why they take risks of being deported, and why the U.S.
needs these workers.
In my unit on immigration, students will also study the novels in terms of their
predominant literary themes: courage, loyalty and responsibility. It is hoped that these
themes will teach the students as much about themselves as they do about the
characters in the books. Additionally, I want students to recognize literature as a
vehicle for understanding and exploring critical issues that face our society.
Abstract
The main purpose of the present study was to detect and compare the signs of hybridity in
immigration literature and translated literature. The research was designed to answer these
questions Are there any similarities between the literature produced in Persian and in
English by immigrant writers and the literature translated into Persian, in terms of
hybridity? If yes, what are the similarities?. To answer these questions, the researcher
adopted an analytical comparative corpus-based approach. First a large corpus was
established. It had two sub-corpora consisting of Persian and English literary works
produced by immigrant writers and best-selling literary works translated into Persian. The
collected data was classified into two large classes: Level of hybriditry and Type of
hybridity. Each of these classes had its own categories. Level of hybridity had 6 categories
and Type of hybridity had 12 categories. The frequency and percentage of hybrid signs
were calculated and shown in the form of table, pie chart and bar graph. The results showed
that: There were many similarities between immigration literature and translated literature
in terms of hybridity. More or less, all levels and types existed in both of them, but some
levels or types were more prominent in one than in the other.
The frequency and percentage of each level and type in each sub-corpus were very
different. Thus the hypothesis of this research was confirmed.
It was concluded that translated literature seems to be more hybrid in essence than
immigration literature.
Keywords: Hybridity, hybrid text, immigration literature, in-between space
1. Introduction

Nowadays, we live in a changing world in which nothing is stable and borders have been
mixed. As a result of these changes and mixtures new concepts like 'hybridity' have come
into being. This concept has a wide scope and it is discussed in different fields of study like
Cultural Studies, Biology and Translation Studies.
Hybridity means mixture and originates from the Latin word hybrid, a term used to classify
the offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar (Wikipedia, 2009). Basically, this term belongs
to the field of biology. It was used in linguistics and racial theory in 19thcentury. Hybridity
has had a wide range of usages, for example it was a useful tool in forming a discourse of
racial mixing that came into being at the end of 18th century. Hybrids are considered as
inferior races, weak and second rate persons.
In 1994, Homi K. Bhabha wrote "The Location of Culture" that had a great effect on the
development of hybridity theory and is considered as "Bible of Hybridity". Homi Bhabha's
argument has a key role in the discussion of hybridity and he is the first scholar who has
developed this concept in the field of Cultural Studies. Hybridity has its own rhetoricity that
is called hybrid talk and has association with the emergence of post-colonial discourse and
its critiques of cultural imperialism (Wikipedia, 2009). The rhetoric of hybridity is applied to
sociological theories of identity, multiculturalism and racism.
Different theorists have different views to this concept and each has proceeded to a new
aspect. Some theorists like John Hutnyk have criticized hybridity as politically void. Others
like Kraidy and Nederveen Pieterse consider hybridity as a cultural effect of globalization.
One of the most disputed terms in postcolonial studies, 'hybridity' commonly refers to "the
creation of new transcultural forms within the contact zone produced by
colonization."(Laragy, 2008, p.1).
This study intended to detect signs of hybridity in immigration literature and translated
literature. The findings of this study will hopefully contribute to the body of the knowledge in
Translation studies.
To the best of researchers knowledge very few studies have been done about hybridity and
hybrid signs in immigration literature and translated literature specially immigration
literature in English. Thus, the present research would provide unique and interesting
information in this case and paves the way for subsequent research and studies.
Hybridity is a new concept in the field of Translation Studies. For this reason, we will start
our discussion by dealing with the definition and introduction of this concept from different
scholars point of view. It should be noted that different scholars have different views to this
concept and the definition proposed by each of them is not flawless. In this part, we tried to
give the most comprehensive definitions of this concept.
2. Review of the Related Literature
2.1. Hybridity
From Bakhtin's point of view 'hybridization' is a mixture of two social languages within the
limits of a single utterance, an encounter, within the arena of an utterance, between two
different linguistic consiousnesses, separated from one another by an epoch, by social
differentiation, or by some other factor(BenBeya, 1995,p.1).

Compared to other scholars, Homi Bhabha has made a greater contribution to the
development of discussions on hybridity. As Bhabha is the post-colonial scholar, he looks at
this concept from post-colonial point of view and argues that hybridity subverts the
narratives of colonial power and dominant cultures. The series of inclusions and exclusions
on which a dominant culture is premised are deconstructed by the very entry of the
formerly-excluded subjects into the mainstream discourse. The dominant culture is
contaminated by the linguistic and racial differences of the native self ( Bhabha, 1994 Cited
in Ben Beya,1995,p.3).
Also noteworthy is the fact that hybridity is an inevitable result of globalization and
internationalization. In fact, because of globalization, cultural borders are mixed and they
are subject to great changes. All of these facts had great importance in the creation of new
concepts like hybridity. Schaffner and Adabs words confirm this claim. What comes below is
their point of view in this case.
Hybridity has been shown to be a constituting characteristic of social interaction resulting
mainly from the contemporary globalization of communication and from the effects of
communication in spaces of fuzzy or merging borders, which in turn affect cultural and
linguistic identities (Schaffner & Adab, 2001,p.301).
In the discussions about hybridity most scholars believe that hybridity is the product of
cultural process, but Lull believes that this view to the concept of hybridity is a simplistic
one and he has a contrary view in this case in comparison with the first group.
Hybrids are not simply the cultural products of everyday interactions; they are the sources
and media through which such phenomenological interactions take place (Lull, 2001,
p.157).
It should be noted here that the concept of 'Third Space' is of vital significance in discussion
about hybridity. 'In-between space' is a term that all scholars, who have theories about
hybridity, believe in the existence of it, although each of them use his/her own terms to
refer to this notion; for example, Michaele Wolf (2007) proposed the notion of mediation
space in order to refer to this space.
Some scholars consider 3rd space as contact zone within which different cultures encounter
and hybridity is an inevitable result of this cultural encounter. The Third Space results from
the overlapping of cultures understood as "hybrid" and can be understood as contact zone
between cultures and as the encounter of spaces, which now, as the product of "translation
between cultures" can generate borderline affects and identifications(Pratt, 1993; Cited in
Wolf, 2007, p.113).
Some scholars believe that translation is hybrid text that comes into being in a 3rdspace. In
fact, translators live between two languages and two cultures and they reflect this
belongingness in their translations. In short, we can say that translators themselves have
hybrid identity. Allan Duff (1981) pointed to the hybrid nature of translated texts.
Language of translation is the "third language" which lies, as it were, in-between the source
and target languages: all words are known but put together in an unfamiliar way. A text can
be perceived as a coherent entity only if the translation does not represent a mixture of
styles and languages, or a 'patchwork' made up of SL and TL elements. (Allan Duff, 1981
Cited in Zauberga, 2001, p.266).

Investigating the relationship between hybridity and other concepts will hopefully help move
the discussion forward.
2.2. Hybridity and Translation
More or less, all types of translations are hybrid texts. The degree of their hybridity depends
on translators decision i.e. to what extent a translator wants to preserve foreign elements
in a translated text. Neubert in his article Some Implications of Regarding Translations as
Hybrid Texts asserted this fact. He stated that Sometimes translator intentionally wants to
keep the target text aloof from textual integration in to the prevalent discourse of the target
culture. Underlying this "alienating" tendency on the side of the translator can be a desire
not to "violate" the original. The result is 'resistant' translation, which is the credo of recent
attempts of poststructuralist theoreticians as well as practitioners (Neubert, 2001, p.183).
Different scholars have different views about the relationship between translation and
hybridity. Pym believed that translation works against hybridization and generally
translations are agents of dehybridization. Horace had a contrary view and stated that
translation is an agent of hybridization. Adab & Schaffner said that translations are hybrids.
In Descriptive Translation Studies, the notion of translation itself is described as hybrid. For
example, Hermans argued that translation is irreducible: it always leaves loose ends, is
always hybrid, plural and different (Hermans, 1994; Cited in Schaffner & Adab, 2001,
p.170).
As it was mentioned before, to some extent all types of translation are hybrid, but in some
kinds of translation like interlinear translation hybrid signs are more obvious. The outcome
of interlinear translation process is a hybrid text, because it disregards target language
norms and conventions. The definition of interlinear translation proposed by Shuttleworth
and Cowie confirms this claim. Interlinear translation is a type of extremely literal
translation in which TL words are arranged line by line below or above the ST items to which
they correspond. As a result of using this type of translation, what frequently happens is
that the linguistic norms of TL are violated( Shuttleworth and Cowie, 1997, p.81).
2.3. Immigration Literature
Some scholars have their own terms to refer to a kind of literature that is called immigration
literature in general. For example, Susan Bassnett used the term 'Travel Literature' instead
of 'Immigration Literature'.
As Bassnett (Cited in Kuhiwczak & Littau, 2007, p.22) puts it, Travel literature, like
translation, offers readers access to a version of another culture, a construct of that other
culture. The travel writer creates a version of another culture, producing what might be
described as a form of translation, rendering the unknown and unfamiliar in terms that can
be assimilated and understood by readers back home. The travel writer operates in a hybrid
space, a space in-between cultures, just as the translator operates in a space between
languages, a dangerous transgressive space that is often referred to as 'no-man's land'.
Hutnyk examined the effect of migration and movement on the production of cultural
products and he classified the writings of diaspora under the heading of immigration
literature.

According to Hutnyk (2005, p.98) migration and movement produce much cultural productwriting, film and art. Writings of diasporic character, so often marketed under the signature
of hybridity, have been among the most often acclaimed, and most debated items in
theorizing the socio-political predicament of our times.
The immigrant & exiled authors and/or actors of each realm have created an especial
literature with its own peculiarities in their artistic & literary activities at the host countries.
This literature which differs from the domestic literature both in content & register is
typically known as immigration/exile literature (Yazdani, 2006, p.15).
Based on Farahzad (2004, p.79), immigration literature is a part of Persian literature
produced by Iranian immigrant writers who live out of Iran.
3. Methodology
The present research is an analytical comparative corpus-based research aiming at
detecting the signs of hybridity in immigration literature and translated literature.
The large corpus of this study which included immigration literature originally written in
English, immigration literature originally written in Persian and translated literature added to
the novelty of the study. This survey was laid upon the best-selling books of translated
literature and immigration literature.
A noteworthy point to be underlined here is that because the main purpose of this research
was to detect signs of hybridity in immigration literature and translated literature, a large
corpus consisted of eight books was chosen to fulfill the criteria of practicality. Generally, the
corpus of this study consists of two sub-corpora. Each of these two sub-corpora consists of
four books.
As it was stated before, the aim of this study was to detect signs of hybridity in immigration
literature and translated literature. In the following part, first the particularities of subcorpus one which is immigration literature are described and in the next part, the
particularities of sub-corpus two which is translated literature are discussed.
The first sub-corpus is immigration literature which has two parts and each part contains
two books. The first part is immigration literature originally written in English and the
second part is immigration literature originally written in Persian.
The second sub-corpus is translated literature from English to Persian which has two parts
and each part contains two books. The first part is translated books originally written by
immigrant writers who wrote their books in Other tongue (English)which was different from
their mother tongue (Indian or Persian). The second part is translated books originally
written by native speakers of English who wrote their books in English which was their
mother tongue.
The researcher had several criteria in mind, as the research sampling frame, when selecting
the research materials through the following processes. She chose these eight books after
full viewing of many others. These eight were chosen because they were more appropriate
for the purposes of this study. In order to ensure that no instance of hybridity is left out, the
researcher read each book more than once and examined each sub-corpus very carefully.

An endeavor was taken to select books from among the best sellers. Most of them won at
least one literary prize inside and out side Iran. What is more, only those books which were
published during the recent decade; i.e. from 2001 onwards more than once were included.
It is noteworthy to mention that the sub-corpus of immigration literature contained the
works of those writers who were born in Iran and then they immigrated from Iran to Europe
and USA.
Generally, the hybrid signs of this study were English and Persian. To achieve this purpose,
the works of those writers who immigrated from India or Iran to U.S.A or Europe and their
second language (not their mother language) was English were chosen as the corpus of the
study. The works of those writers who had other types of hybrid signs in their works for
example German and Arabic ones were excluded.
Another point not to be skipped is that the books of English immigration literature were
published in U.S.A, but the books of Persian immigration literature and translated literature
were published in Iran.
Since the research has been merely concerned with signs of hybridity in immigration
literature and translated literature, only the works of immigrant writers were considered as
the corpus of this study and the works of those writers who were in exile were ignored.
What is more, only those books that their genres were novel and short stories were
considered as the corpus of this study.
It should be noted here that one omnipresent pitfall in doing this corpus-based research was
to find the right and necessary sources. Access to immigration literature whether in English
or Persian, especially English inside Iran was indeed a difficult, if not impossible, task.
Access to other parts of corpus had its own difficulties.
As a final point, it should be added that Farahzads model was chosen as the theoretical
framework for this study, because it was more practical and comprehensive.
On the basis of Farahzads model Level of hybridity and Type of hybridity are two
classifications of hybrid signs in this article shown in the following tables.
Table 1: Classification of Levels of Hybridity

Levels of Hybridity

Letters of
Alphabet

Word

Phrase

Clause

Sentence

Table 2: Classification of Types of Hybridity

Paragraph

Types of Hybridity

Name

Food

Clothes

Social life

Loan word

Date/Time

Unconventional
syntax

Religious
concept

Political
concept

Codeswitched
language

Foreign
spelling

Idiom

Bibliographical information of the selected books is presented below. Attempts have been
made to provide full and precise bibliographical specifications.
Immigration literature in English:
1. Modarressi, T.(1986).The Book of Absent People. New York: Doubleday &Company Inc.
2. Seraji, M.(2009).Roof Tops of Tehran. New York: Penguin.
Immigration literature in Persian:
1. Sharifian, Roohangiz.2008. Postcard. Tehran. Morvarid Publication.
2. Ghasemi, Reza.2005. Ham Navai-e Shabane-ie Orkestr-e Choobha. Tehran. Niloofar
Publication.
Translated literature originally written by immigrant writers:
1. Lahiri, Joompa. 2008. Unaccustomed Earth (Translated by Haghighat, Amir Mahdi).
Tehran: Mahi Publication.
2. Dumas, Firoozeh.2005. Funny in Farsi: A memoir of Growing Up Iranian American
(Translated by Solleimani Nia, Mohammad) Tehran: Ghesseh Publication. Translated
literature originally written by native speakers of English:
1. Lessing, Doris. 2007. The Fifth Child (Translated by Ghabraie, Mahdi). Tehran: Sales
Publication.
2. Chevalier, Tracy. 2002. Girl with a Pearl Earring (Translated by Seddighian, Tahereh).
Tehran: Tandis Publication.
5. Findings and Results
By doing this research in addition to finding answers for research questions, researcher
could draw other conclusions from the study. All of them are stated below.

1. Are there any similarities between the literature produced in Persian and English by
immigrant writers and literature translated in to Persian, in terms of hybridity?
Based on the findings obtained from the study, answer to this question is positive. There are
many similarities between immigration literature and translated literature in terms of
hybridity.
2. If yes, what are the similarities?
This question is fully answered and discussed. At first, their similarities in terms of level of
hybridity are stated. Then, their similarities in terms of type of hybridity are explained.
The total number of Level of Hybridity in translated literature is 426 which is greater than
that of Level of Hybridity in immigration literature which is 407. In both of them Word has
the most frequent instances and Clause has the least frequent ones.
The total number of Type of Hybridity in translated literature is 442 which is greater than
that of Type of Hybridity in immigration literature which is 407. In both of them, name has
the most frequent instances, but the least frequent ones in each of them are different. In
translated literature, the least frequent instances are Political concept and Code-switched
language with a frequency of zero and in immigration literature the least frequent instances
are Food, Clothes and Unconventional syntax with a frequency of zero.
From the total number of 407 instances of type of hybridity in immigration literature, 16
instances of it which is equal to 3.93% were dehybridized. Also, from the total number of
442 instances of type of hybridity in translated literature, 23 instances of it which is equal to
5.20% were dehybridized. The total number of dehybridization in translated literature was
greater than that of immigration literature.
The theoretical discussions and the findings of the study approved the hypothesis underlying
the study that both immigration literature and translated literature are hybrid.
6. Discussion and Conclusion
Nowadays immigration literature is one of the branches of contemporary literature.
Generally, Iranian immigrant writers proceed to these two themes in their works: They write
about their previous life in Iran and they write about their present life in the host country.
Most works of immigrant writers that are published inside Iran are from the second type.
The results of this study showed that some of the immigrant writers reflect the political
themes of IRIs revolution in their works. Also most of the immigrant writers lived in the
traditional families so their works are full of religious and traditional elements. They widely
talk about the social life of Iranians in their works.
As immigrant writers live in an in-between space (See Farahzad 2004), this type of life
creates some problems for them which are reflected in their works. They have to live in a
society that is very different from the society they lived in for many years. Most of these
problems are specific to the first generation of immigrants; the second generation of
immigrants (children of the first generation) doesnt share these problems. The problems of
the first generation of immigrants in a new society are one of the themes of immigration
literature.

Also this study showed that most of the immigrants suffer from homesickness and other
psychological problems. The other issue that immigrant writers proceed to it in their works
is psychological problems of immigrants.
Another point highlighted in this pioneering work is Nostalgia for by-gone times (See
Zauberga 2001) which is very prominent in the works of immigrant writers, specially those
writers who write about their present life in the host country. Continually through their
writings, they flash back to previous memories of their life in their homeland.
The findings of the study revealed that those writers who write their works in English, by
means of which they introduce Iranian traditions, cultures and customs to foreigners. Some
of the Iranian cultural elements are not tangible and comprehensible for foreigners;
therefore, these writers proceed to dehybridization in their works.
The corpus investigation has revealed that the works of some immigrant writers have multicultural atmosphere. The writer shows this type of atmosphere by code-switching between
two different languages.
The works of some immigrant writers are like autobiography. In this type of immigration
literature they write about their previous life in Iran and continually they compare it with
their present life in the host country.
Another point worth mentioning is that Sympathy with the immigrants of other countries is
another theme which is seen in the works of immigrant writers. More or less, immigrants
from different nationalities and countries have the same problems, because all of them are
considered as foreigners and second rate citizens in the host country.
The concepts of Self and Other came from post-colonial literature to discussion about
immigration literature. In post-colonial literature Self is superior to Other. Whatever
belongs to Self is positive, superior and good and whatever belongs to Other is negative,
inferior and bad. All of these are true about the immigration literature. Immigrants depart
their own country and reside in the host country. In fact they live in an in-between space
(See Farahzad 2004). In this space and in the society of the host country, they are
considered as Other and residents of the host country are Self. Immigrant writers reflect
their situation as Other in their works. Most of them are deprived from legal and human
rights and they are considered as second rate citizens. All of these cases have
representation in immigration literature.
Also, the results of this study showed that Sense of ambivalence (See Bhabha 1994) is
another element which is seen in the works of immigrant writers. As these writers live in an
in-between space, they dont exactly know which culture and society they belong to and
how they should act in this new situation.
The first thing that attracts immigrants attention is the prominent contradiction between
their own culture and the culture of the country they immigrated to. So they reflect this
contradiction in their works. Continually they compare the culture of the Self with the
culture of the Other. Representation of Self and representation of Other (See Baker
2006) are the elements that are seen in the works of immigrant writers.
Nostalgia for by-gone times, Sense of ambivalence, Representation of the Self vs.
Representation of the Other are seen in immigration literature. When this type of literature

is translated to other languages, it carries all of these features with itself. Sometimes
translators intentionally preserve these features, because they want to render a special
work and indicate the difference between source culture and target culture.
It is important to mention that as immigrant writers think in their own language and write in
the language of the Other (See Adejunmobi 1998, Cited in Schaffner 1999), they reflect
some of their ideological, cultural, political and religious backgrounds in their works. What is
classified under the heading of cultural concepts, political concepts and religious concepts
are results of their cultural, political and religious backgrounds.
The variety of types of hybridity in translated books originally written by immigrant writers
is greater than the variety of types of hybridity in translated books originally written by
native speakers of English.
More or less, all types of hybridity except one or two types exist in translated literature
originally written by immigrant writers, but in translated literature originally written by
native speakers of English only these five types of hybridity are seen: Name, Loan word,
Religious concepts, Social life and Date/time.
According to the findings of the research, it can be inferred that the symbols of culture
including food and clothes that preserve the local color of a text are limited to translated
literature originally written by immigrant writers. Name is the only element of culture which
is seen in both types of translated literature.
Also, the results of this study showed that depending on the approach of the translator,
translation can have hybridizing and dehybridizing effect. By using foreignization strategy,
the translators intend to preserve foreign elements in a translated text. In fact they proceed
to hybridizing act but by adopting domestication strategy, translators have the purpose of
finding equivalence for every feature of source text; they proceed to dehybridizing act.
Dehybridization and its frequency were the other specific findings in this pioneering work.
The frequency of dehybridization in translated literature originally written by immigrant
writers is greater than that of translated literature originally written by native speakers of
English.
The corpus analysis showed that Phrase is the most frequent Level of hybridity and
Name is the most frequent Type of hybridity in immigration literature. Word is the most
frequent Level of hybridity and Name is the most frequent Type of hybridity in translated
literature.
Last point, but obviously not the least is that foreignization is the most frequent strategy of
translation in translated literature originally written by immigrant writers. In fact, a
translator wants to show the differences between the source language and culture by means
of resisting against the norms of the target language and culture.
Finally, although the hypothesis of this research was confirmed, similar studies appear to be
worth spending more time and effort. Future studies are suggested to be carried out by the
use of larger corpora covering more text types and time spans.
The writer of this article welcomes any criticism and suggestion and voices her readiness to
cooperate with enthusiasts to the subject.

A few reminders lang (before I forget about it), mostly for clearance purposes
1. Aside sa seminar unyang 2 PM sa gym (which is a clearance item sa college), naa puy PreEmployment Seminar for graduating students tomorrow, 8:30-4:30 sa CON Function Hall. Clearance
item pud ni sya. I know we have papers to write, which are due tomorrow evening or so. I suggest we
bring our laptops na lang during the seminar so we could do what we also have to do,
simultaneously.
2. I was told by Maam Jinggay to remind the batch about the payment for the projector rental. Diba
we paid 200 pesos na last sem, which is only half of how much we were supposed to pay at that
time. So, if i-add karon na sem, 400 pesos na dayon atong bayran sa department ron. smile
emoticon Pwede pa di ni sya bayran agad, especially kay daghan pa pud tag other expenses. I
guess basta within this month para daridaritso na atong pagprocess sa atong clearance karong
April. smile emoticon

I understand na gasabal-sabal lang ning clearance items on top of our academic requirements. This
is just a friendly reminder kay hago jud kaayo ang pagpaclearance after grad na kanang daghan pa
kaayo ug sangit. smile emoticon kiss emoticon Love love love kiss emoticon