Narratives From The Margins: A Comparative Study of Exile and Subalternity in Dina Nayeri’s Refuge and Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

Abstract

Using Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss and Dina Nayeri’s Refuge as primary texts to analyse, with a focus on asylum seekers, refugees, and women as marginalized and subaltern voices, this dissertation tries to examine how marginalization, recurrent displacements, and exile affect one’s identity and culture while examining how the subalterns have been silenced and marginalized in different cultures and situations. The study draws on the theoretical perspectives of Salman Rushdie, Edward Said, and Azar Nafisi to analyse the consequences and impacts of exile and displacement physiologically and culturally. In addition, it uses Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s ideas of subalternity and Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s critiques of the concept of “global sisterhood” to assert the uniqueness and disparities of women’s struggles worldwide. Therefore, it argues that such marginalized voices should be acknowledged and heard, which will allow them to represent themselves and foster understanding.