IDENTITY CRISIS AND SOCIAL ALIENATION IN ABDULRAZAK GURNAH’S FICTION: MIGRATION, FAMILY DISRUPTION AND THE SEARCH FOR BELONGING

Abstract

Abdul Razak Gurnah- the Nobel Prize winner of 2021 offers a profound exploration of migration, displacement and the psychological consequences of colonial and post- colonial transformations in East Africa. His novels frequently portray individuals caught between cultures, nations and memories, struggling to construct meaning full identities amid social fragmentation. This paper examines the interconnected themes of identity crisis, social alienation, migration and family disruption in selected novels by Abdulrazak Gurnah, particularly Memory of Departure, Admiring Silence, By the Sea and Gravel Heart. Drawing up on postcolonial theories of identity, diaspora and hybridity, the study investigates how migration destabilizes traditional notions of home and belonging while exposing characters to exclusion, cultural dislocation and emotional isolation.

The analysis demonstrates that Gurnah presents identity as fluid rather than fixed , shaped by historical violences, colonial legacies and personal experiences of exile .Migration in his fiction functions both as means of escape and as a source of psychological conflict. Characters often leave their homelands seeking freedom, education or economic opportunities, yet encounter alienation and uncertainty in new environments. Family relationships further complicate this process, as separation, silence ,abandonment and generational conflict disrupt the continuity of personal and cultural identity.

The paper argues that Gurnah’s narratives by challenging the simplistic understandings of migration by focussing its emotional and ethical dimensions. Rather than depicting exile solely as loss, he portrays it a s a complex condition in which individuals negotiate multiple affiliations and fragmented memories. In his novels, we can see nuanced characterizations and multi- layered narratives, Gurnah reveals how displaced individuals navigate the tensions between memory and forgetting, attachment and detachment, belonging and exclusion. Ultimately, his fiction illuminates the enduring struggle for selfhood in a postcolonial world marked by mobility, uncertainty and historical trauma.