Fluid identities and Ambivalence of Connection: A postcolonial reading in Kamila Shamsie’s Best of Friends

Abstract

This study explores fluid identities and ambivalence of connection in Kamila Shamsie’s Best of Friends through the lens of Postcolonial theory. The objective of this study is to identify the complexities of identities and duality of attachment to eastern culture. The study also explored how Shamsie’s writing, rooted in British-Pakistani legacy, explores cultural hybridity and conflicting loyalties in a postcolonial city characterized as Karachi. This study applies postcolonial reading to analyse how people of the East mimic the western culture to adapt to different cultures. The study also aims at exploring the ambivalence of belonging and intercultural synthesis to draw optimistic anticipation for empowerment of women. The article examines representation of Karachi as a place of cultural intermingling. This research will contribute to the investigation of gender norms and fluid identities in the postcolonial context.