Essentialized Ethnicity - A Tool of Anti-Assimilationist Politics? A Probe into the Veracity of Cultural Hybridity through the Exploration of Hanif Kureishi's 'The Buddha of Suburbia' and M.G.Vassanji's 'The Gunny Sack'

Those embroiled in favour of Multiculturalism often face a sharp critique: Isn't Multiculturalism under constructed categories like cultural diversity and integrity, a fiction that cleverly masks socio-eco-pol inequalities faced by migrants with a history of Colonization? This paper explores immigrant experience in rapidly changing multi-ethnic societies with two specific texts under the radar: Hanif Kureishi's 'The Buddha of Suburbia' (1990) and M.G. Vassanji's 'The Gunny Sack' (1989). It attempts to designate 'Buddha' and the 'Gunny sack' as signifiers (sites/spaces) of cultural hybridity and heterogeneity that can counter/refute any fetishized idea of a pure and monolithic cultural identity. The paper challenges the clichéd opposition between Nativism and Assimilation that is often played out through the trope of a generational feud in diasporic societies. It also raises an unsettling focus on Sexism, underpinning hybrid societies; and evaluates Double Colonization and Gender issues that are often side-tracked in the context of such immigrant experience.