Cultural and Religious Conflicts in Bapsi Sidhwa’s An American Brat: A Postcolonial Perspective

Abstract

This sudy explores the theme of cultural conflict in Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel An American Brat through a postcolonial lens. The novel presents a powerful narrative of identity crisis, generational divide, and cultural dislocation within the Parsee community, particularly through the character of Feroza. Using Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of “Othering” as the theoretical framework, the research highlights how characters negotiate between Eastern traditions and Western modernity. The study is qualitative in nature, and the close reading technique is applied to selected excerpts from the novel to critically analyze moments of cultural collision, religious practice, and resistance to traditional values. Furthermore, key passages have been purposively selected for their relevance to the central themes of identity and cultural transformation. The discourse between Feroza and her mother Zareen reveals a deep cultural gap, reflecting the societal influence of religious conservatism under General Zia's regime. The narrative also presents symbolic cultural moments such as religious announcements by the mullah and Parsee communal gatherings, that illustrate a hybrid, often conflicted, postcolonial identity. The analysis suggests that the novel critiques rigid cultural norms and exposes the psychological burden of navigating conflicting cultural affiliations. In short, the paper demonstrates that An American Brat serves as a rich postcolonial text, foregrounding issues of identity, belonging, and the complexities of cultural inheritance in a globalized world.

Keywords: Postcolonialism, Cultural Conflict, Identity Crisis, Parsee Community, Othering, Homi K. Bhabha, Close Reading, Bapsi Sidhwa, An American Brat, Cultural Hybridity