CAUGHTBETWEENTWOWORLDS-TheRoundTable.docVIP

CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS The Confusion of Cultural Identity in Three British Asian Novels éva Pataki University of Debrecen, Hungary In today’s multicultural countries, hybridity and the confusion of cultural identity are key issues. Whether in Hungary or in the United Kingdom, immigration has resulted in a multi-ethnic society and cultural diversity as well as the problems of discrimination, assimilation, social and demographic change, which not only affected the society itself but the lives of the various ethnic groups and the individuals alike. In this lecture I intend to provide an insight into key terms such as cultural identity and hybridity, in the light of the position and problems of the British Asians in Great Britain compared to Hungarian minorities such as the Slovene diaspora, attempting to classify the treatment of the confusion of cultural identity from age and gender perspectives through three landmark novels of contemporary British Asian writers: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureish, White Teeth by Zadie Smith and Brick Lane by Monica Ali. Throughout my research I have found that although immigrants have similar difficulties in settling and adjusting in their new countries, there may be differences in their situations and conditions. In Hungary the main ethnic groups have all been present for a number of centuries, thus they have gone through a long process of assimilation and trying to find the right balance between taking up a new culture and preserving their own roots. However, it was only in the past few decades, mainly after the change of regimes in 1989, that minority groups recognized the importance of the revival of their old traditions and national language, and at the same time they were given the possibilities to open bilingual schools, to found cultural and political associations or to be represented in the parliament (M. Kozár Mária, ?A magyarországi szlovének asszimilációja az 1980-as évekt?l napjainkig”). Today, the largest minori