Migration to Postcolonial London: Zaide Smith White Teeth and Hanif Kureishi The Budha of Suberbia / Sömürgecilik Sonrası Londra’ya Göç: Zaide Smith White Teeth ve Hanif Kureishi The Budha of Suberbia

Abstract

According to Edward Said, ‘colonialism’ means regional invasion and settlement (2003, s.8). Post Colonialism can be described as the opposite of colonialism. That is, those who come from the old colonies may try to invade and settle the region. What attracted particular attention in the migration movements that took place after the Second World War is the immigration to England. The post-1950 British novel is a period in which the writers who migrated from old colonies are more prevalent. In particular, the former imperial capital, London, is filled with writers who emigrated from the former colonial countries. These authors describe in their novels the literary reflections of the identity crisis of British born children who immigrated to England from the former colonial countries after the Second World War. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present how Zaide Smith of Jamaica and Hanif Kureishi of Pakistan, who immigrated to post-colonial London after the colonialism, in their novels White Teeth and The Budha of Suberbia, reflect migratory and cultural problems immigrants and later generations experienced. This study concludes that, as second generation authors, British-born Kureishi and Smith, who do not know a homeland other than England, have introduced new definitions to the British identity and new perspectives on the multicultural British society.

Keywords

• colonialism
• post-colonialism
• London
• migration
• culture
• Zaide Smith
• Hanif Kureishi