Reading Jhumpa Lahiri: Women, Domesticity and the Indian American Diaspora

This book explores Jhumpa Lahiri's Indian American female characters' diasporic house space, using domesticity and the house as an analytical tool to interpret their maladies, limitations, and opportunities. It reveals the political, intellectual, emotional, and sexual dispositions of middle-class Indian women in America and their social, cultural, and economic positions within the hostland. It offers insights into how migration acts as an opportunity for establishing new, often hybridized identities, and proposes an unconventional mode of understanding diasporic realities and representations in cultural studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 196 pages
Publication date: 10 May 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive and groundbreaking exploration delves into the intricate world of Jhumpa Lahiri's Indian American female characters, shedding light on their lived and imagined diasporic experiences within the confines of the house. By employing domesticity and the house as analytical tools, the author uncovers the hidden domestic spaces these characters inhabit, unveiling their maladies, limitations, and opportunities.

The book delves into the profound symbiotic relationship that exists between houses and their inhabitants, revealing how their implicit and explicit responses to various aspects of their diasporic house space offer valuable insights into their well-being, constraints, and potential. Particularly striking is the plight of Indian American diasporic women, particularly homemakers, who find themselves grappling with issues of socio-cultural invisibility in the hostland. With limited spaces to interact outside their homes, the global corona crisis has exacerbated their sense of isolation.

A close reading of this multi-layered relationship between houses and their women provides a rich understanding of the political, intellectual, emotional, and sexual dispositions of middle-class Indian women in America. It also sheds light on their social, cultural, and economic positions within the hostland. By examining the represented domestic interstices, the book reveals the underlying oppositions and complexities that exist beneath the acceptance of normative Indian family values in the diaspora.

Furthermore, the book offers insightful perspectives on how migration acts as a catalyst for establishing new and often hybridized identities. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing the connections between these identities and their house space, as they shape and influence each other in profound ways.

In presenting an alternative methodology for reading real and imagined lives of women in the Indian American diaspora, the book proposes an unconventional approach to understanding diasporic realities and representations in cultural studies. It challenges prevailing notions and offers fresh insights into the complexities of cultural identity formation.

This book will be of immense interest to scholars, students, and anyone passionate about exploring the rich tapestry of Indian American culture and its diasporic experiences. It provides a valuable contribution to the field of cultural studies and offers a deeper understanding of the lives and experiences of women in the Indian American diaspora.

Weight: 540g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032081571