Issues In Kiran Desai's 'The Inheritance Of Loss'

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Recommended: Diaspora and cultural identity

Statement of Interest
As the number of Nepali people grows in Canada, so as the need to explore their language, culture and ethnicity. Nepalis are often overlooked, and are considered as Indians, and their ethnic identity, language and cultural heritage are undermined. Some of the dominant markers of Nepali identity and nationhood such as Mount Everest, The Buddha and the Hinduism are constantly challenged by various South Asian cultural discourses in the diaspora, as these markers are frequently linked to South Asian disapora, which in most cases, Indian diaspora. First, I plan to unpack the current debates on South Asian diaspora study/research and its universalizing approach to heterogeneous cultures, ethnicity and nationhood of South Asian …show more content…

One of the characters says, "Neps can’t be trusted. And they don’t just rob. They think absolutely nothing of murdering, as well" (45). Desai 's work not only problematizes Nepali community and culture, but also questions a respectable space and identity for a Nepali community in India. Desai 's portrayal of Nepalis in her novel asks for a serious debate on the issues of Nepali identity and nationhood in the diaspora. Desai, while presenting the undercurrents of the Gorkha National Liberation Front 's (GNLF) agitation for rights and justice for the majority Nepalis in a northern state of India, depicts Nepali culture and community constantly criticized and undermined by Indian community. Although, all the Nepali characters in the novel are Indians of Nepali descent, they are treated as the outsiders, and are undermined and presented as being incapable of embracing India as their country. The idea of India as a nation derails and dismantles when its own citizens challenge its boundary, and its limitation to a narrow configuration of nationhood. I contend that the civic identity, the membership of a certain state, cannot be extricated from national identity, self-recognition as a member of a nation-state (Donald 173). As Desai 's presents, "A great amount of betraying, bartering had occurred; between Nepal, England, Tibet, India, Sikkim, Bhutan; Darjeeling stolen from here, Kalimpong plucked from there" ( (9) and without considering the historical contexts and territorial transactions, cultural and ethnic identity cannot be

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