Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 available at http://jurnalfahum.uinsby.ac.id/index.php/nobel/article/view/417 DOI: 10.15642/NOBEL.2021.12.2.168-187 IDENTITY NEGOTIATION IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL MIGRATION IN EXOPHONIC NOVELS Moh Zaimil Alivin Universitas Indonesia, Jl. Prof. Dr. Selo Soemardjan, Depok, West Java, Indonesia Article Info The vast changing of the cultural structure caused by globalization and migration has made the issue of identity more complicated. A higher number of migrants from numerous parts of the world has arisen lately, especially from Middle Eastern and Muslim countries facing various conflicts. Negotiating identities, thus, becomes inevitable, particularly for migrants. Identity negotiation has been frequently raised as an underlying issue in early 2000s literary works. Such an era becomes a worth researching topic on migration as portrayed in exophonic novels. Exophony refers to writing and producing literary works in a language that is not one’s mother tongue. The article covers the analysis of novels written by exophonic writers: Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003), Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul (2006), and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007). The analysis focuses on identity negotiation experienced by Muslim diaspora characters by employing Homi K. Bhabha’s cultural identity. This study reveals that identity negotiation often occurs in the context of power relations and can occasionally be hegemonizing. This notion is backed by the fact that the complexity of the identity negotiation process occurs not only at the intersection of opposed cultures or civilizations but also at the intersection of politics and power relations. Article History: Received March 2021 Accepted August 2021 Published September 2021 Keywords: Identity, early 2000s novels, exophony, global migration © 2021 UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya Correspondence: p-ISSN 2087-0698 Email: moh.zaimil@ui.ac.id e-ISSN 2549-2470 http://jurnalfahum.uinsby.ac.id/index.php/nobel/article/view/417 Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 169 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 INTRODUCTION The problem of cultural identity is often raised in literary works in the form of gender, race, ethnicity, or nationality. Identity itself is a complex and sophisticated issue. Scholars in the social and humanities field consider identity as a dynamic social construction that can be reconstructed. Yousef (2019) distinguishes what is termed as a personal and cultural identity. Cultural identity refers to someone’s sense of belonging to a particular group. Further, he explores the problematic side of cultural identity experienced by immigrants living in a new place with a different culture. The issue of identity becomes complicated when there are more changes in the existing cultural and social structures. Barker (2008) states that identity is never fixed. Instead, it is formed at the intersection of gender, class, race, and nation. It is due to the complexity and instability of identity influenced by significant changes in social conditions in human life. Consequently, Rutherford reveals that this significant change threatens the stability of identity, especially in the era of migration in the early 21st century (Howarth, 2002). The complexity of identity becomes increasingly unstable, especially in network societies, as Castells (2010b) refers to large-scale socio-cultural and economic transformations. Castells (2010b) states that such an era is a time of confusion for understanding many aspects of human life, including identity. Therefore, identity is believed to be a socially formed identification rather than just a simple idea that considers identity as a concept that contains a person’s sense of belonging to the geographic place. Consequently, it requires them to negotiate their cultural identity at the intersection of many forms of identity, such as nationality, ethnicity, religion, and gender. In addition, today’s global world is heavily influenced by changes that trigger other changes, especially in its social aspects. Castells (2010b) states that along with the technological revolution and global migration, the world is experiencing the spread of a collective identity that challenges globalization and cosmopolitanism in the name of human control over their lives. Therefore, this change is considered to include the process of forming and negotiating identity. The identity is formed from culture and history as a source of identity formation which later becomes the origin of various reactive movements such as feminism, cosmopolitanism, and other movements that aim to build resistance on behalf of nationality, ethnicity, religion, and family (Castells, 2010a). Global migration in the past few decades has become one of the most frequently discussed and debated topics in the various forums of disciplines. The era of global migration, which began in the early 21st century, has created massive transformations in many aspects of life, Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 170 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 especially in the socio-cultural one. Thus, globalization is capable of delivering humans to a concept known as the global village. International migration occurs because of many factors, including motivation to get a better life in economic, professional, or education aspects, the threat of war, terror, seeking asylum, natural disasters, etcetera. Li (2008) states that globalization –as an era of international migration, is often understood as a process of detaching and losing state boundaries due to the creation of interconnectivity and integration between countries. The works analyzed in this study are transnational works of literature published in the early 2000s, The Kite Runner (2003) by Khaled Hosseini, The Bastard of Istanbul (2006) by Elif Shafak, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid. These novels represent identity negotiation in the global migration era that has occurred since the beginning of the 20th century and has become a phenomenon in the early 21st century. The three novels are selected based on the background of the authors, who are exophonic writers. Exophony is a phenomenon that was discovered a long time ago but only became known by the term in the 21st century. It is a way of writing in a language other than the writer’s native language (Pugliese, 2012). Several previously conducted research mainly discusses the characters’ cultural identity problem yet has not examined the three selected novels within the context of global migration as a part of the 21st-century history and within the perspective of identity negotiation of the characters and the writers. This study examines identity negotiation and migration at the beginning of the 21st century and how such phenomena affect both characters and writers of the novels in negotiating identity. Thus, it is argued that identity negotiation varies from one context to another according to socio-cultural and political conditions. Furthermore, identity negotiation mostly happens in the context of power relations and sometimes can occur in a hegemonizing way. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Several previously conducted research discussed the problem of identity negotiation of a diaspora or a migrant character in a novel written by authors who either write their work, not in their native language, or were born with the duality of mixed blood. The first study is done by Kaid (2013), whose research focuses on the Arab American women protagonists’ struggle in finding a space for themselves within their bicultural identities. His research analyses Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006) and Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent (2003). Kaid (2013) reveals that Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf presents a strong female protagonist who challenges Western perceptions about Arab women often stereotyped as Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 171 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 passive and weak victims of their society. He also finds that food and culinary plays such a remarkable role in shaping the identities of Arab American women, as depicted in Diana Abu- Jaber’s Crescent. In addition to that, Kádár (2018) raises multicultural identity negotiation in the context of Canadian mixed-blood narratives, as illustrated in Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road (2005). Kádár (2018) finds a fluctuation between social identities, ethic choices, and reconnecting with tribal heritage. The third study is conducted by Nurcahyani and Kamil (2021), whose research focuses on the identity negotiation of second-generation Chinese Americans living in a multicultural society, as depicted in Lisa Ko’s The Leavers (2017). Nurcahyani and Kamil (2021) analyze the problem using Bhabha’s concept on postcolonialism, Said’s orientalism, and Dobois’ concept of twoness. Their study shows that Deming’s identity negotiation is influenced by various factors ranging from family to society. Nurcahyani and Kamil (2021) also state that the hybridity type of identity found in Deming creates a balanced identity which considerably solves his identity ambivalence influenced by the twoness. While regarding the selected novels analyzed in this study, it is found that several scholars focus their analysis on the novels themselves and the issues being addressed. The studies on The Kite Runner were done by Rohmatullah and Permatasari (2021), Kabeer and Chaudhary (2020), Hosseini and Zohdi (2016), Andrews (2010), and Walia (2017). Kabeer and Chaudary (2020) and Hosseini and Zohdi (2016) conducted their research on the problems of ethnic minorities in the novel, the Hazaras, who are considered a victimized and discriminated ethnic group in Afghanistan. In line with that, Rohmatullah and Permatasari (2021) whose research focuses on ethnocentrism reveals that the Pashtuns were somehow positioned as a more superior ethnic group compared to the Hazaras. The other two research aim at discussing the connection of the character’s identity to the political realm of the phenomena raised in the novel. In the case of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, some studies put their concern on integration, alienation, and identity crisis. Ghosh (2013) and Khan (2015) discuss the alienation and the process of integration as experienced by the main character. Those studies also link to the other ones which highlight the problem of ambivalent identity and identity crisis. The ideas that Kiran (2013) and Shirazi (2018) offer are to note the consequence of the alienation of the Muslim characters, which results in an identity crisis as found in the novel. Those who research The Bastard of Istanbul, like Chakraborty (2019) and Malika (2020), have not much explored identity as most of them raise the problem of social memory. However, there were at least two scholars whose research focused on identity. Furlanetto (2014) discusses the search for a hybrid post-Ottoman identity. Ameur and Kessal (2019) analyze the problem of hybrid cultural identity as found in the novel. Therefore, this study appears to fill the gaps of the study by Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 172 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 focusing on negotiating the identity of migrant and diaspora characters in dealing with global migration and exploring the linguistic and literary background of the authors as exophonic writers. This research is a literary study related to interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating literary works (Gillespie, 2010). As a study of literary history, this research views literary works as a reflection inspired by certain phenomena and world history as offered in the concept of mimesis by Abrams (1953). It is also in line with what Laurenson & Swingewood (1972) state that social and historical phenomena in literature should also be studied based on related perspectives, such as sociology and literary history itself. The data analyzed in this study are in words, phrases, sentences, or dialogues and then interpreted using the specified theoretical framework. The primary source of this research is a novel by Khaled Hosseini (2003), The Kite Runner, a novel by Elif Shafak (2006) entitled The Bastard of Istanbul, and a novel by Mohsin Hamid (2007) called The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The data obtained from the corpus were analyzed by incorporating close reading and critical analysis within the concept of cultural identity by Homi K. Bhabha (1994) to explore identity negotiation. In addition to using the novel as a primary source, this study also uses secondary sources in books and journal articles, both printed and electronic. DISCUSSION ON THE MAIN THEMES The encounter and interaction among various identities in the era of global migration are indisputable. Each individual or group tries to negotiate their respective identities based on the context in their surroundings. The migration of a person to a new place or even to a different country will influence how they perceive and identify their cultural identity. How negotiations are carried out between one individual and group with another also varies. Therefore, it aims to discuss how a migrant negotiates their identity in the era of global migration as presented in the selected novels. Besides, this study examines the authorship and linguistic background of the writers as exophonic writers. It is considered essential because the exophony phenomenon is also a part of the visible impact of the era of global migration. In other words, these writers are considered individuals involved in recording the history that occurred in the early 21st century. Identity Negotiation of the Migrant Characters in the Selected Novels In a time of globalization and massive migration in the early 21st century - when the world becomes a global village, it is possible to influence the negotiation process between personal Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 173 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 and collective identities. The meeting point between cultural identity, nationality, gender, and ethnicity are widely featured in contemporary novels. Therefore, the discussion in this study will analyze three novels written by exophonic authors in raising the issue of identity in the era of global migration. The three novels published in the early 2000s are Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003), Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul (2006), and Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007). Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (TKR) The Kite Runner is Hosseini’s first novel published in 2003 by Riverhead Books which was later adapted into a 2007 film of the same title. This novel became The New York Times’s first-ranked Best Seller book for two consecutive years. Aubry (2009) considers this novel “foreign” fiction because it talks about Afghanistan to readers in the United States. TKR talks about the relationship between Amir and his father and his best friend, Hassan, who lived in Kabul, Afghanistan, before the war between Afghanistan and the Soviets. This novel raises issues related to the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan, military intervention from the Soviets, and large-scale migration to Pakistan and the United States due to the war conflict. Another point raised in this story is the emergence of the Taliban regime and how Amir and his father’s migration to the United States have changed the construction materials of their identity. It consequently modifies their sense of admiration for the United States as their new home and Afghanistan as their old abandoned and longed home. Baba’s admiration for America is described as he has freed from the shackles of conflict in Afghanistan. America for him becomes a new hope, and he considers his own country as a destructed nation. Baba loved the idea of America. It was living in America that gave him an ulcer. I remember the two of us walking through Lake Elizabeth Park in Fremont, a few streets down from our apartment, and watching boys at batting practice, little girls giggling on the swings in the playground. Baba would enlighten me with his politics during those walks with long-winded dissertations. “There are only three real men in this world, Amir,” he’d say. He’d count them off on his fingers: America the brash savior, Britain, and Israel. “The rest of them” he used to wave his hand and make a phht sound “—they’re like gossiping old women” (Hosseini, 2003, p. 109). The expression “Baba loved the idea of America” above describes Baba –an Afghan character who has a sense of admiration for America. His admiration is reflected from adoring simple things in his surroundings that considerably represent peaceful and good life, one of which is through the word choice “giggling.” It might seem like something ordinary to find in Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 174 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 America. However, the excerpt shows that it is unique to Baba and is not affordable in Baba’s homeland during the conflict. Further, Baba compares and categorizes that only three countries in the world are considered significant. Those are the United States, Great Britain, and Israel, while the rest, including Afghanistan, is a country that he does not admire. Such classification that he made can also be seen as a form of power relations that exist between the countries. America, Britain, and Israel are symbolized as “real men” as well as “the savior.” On the other hand, the rest of the world, other than the three, were said to be “gossiping old women.” Through the symbolization, the contrast between these two groups is considered power relations between those who are considerably powerful and those in a more subordinate position. Not enough with the word “men”; they are said to be the “real” ones. Whilst, the Other is described not enough only as “women,” but also the “old” and the “gossiping” one. It is to note that the process of negotiating Baba’s identity not only involves the binaries of contrasted culture or civilization but also happens at the intersection of politics and power relations pulling up each other. Besides, the hierarchy of countries described above represents the power of the countries in extending their domination. Consequently, it leads to the birth of notion in Baba’s mind, believing that having and becoming a part of such identities will make him better and easier to survive. Therefore, the negotiation of identity that Baba had to experience is about moderating two different identities between his homeland and the new host country and about contesting two different identities between the powerful and the inferior one. Baba’s decision to flee the country is mainly motivated by the fact that he wanted to escape from the conflict in Afghanistan. Consequently, he feels the need to negotiate his identity by keeping and eliminating some of his previous identity-building materials and considering the new materials available around him in the U.S. The extract below illustrates how Baba attempted to embrace and internalize the American values while being in an ambivalent state, especially when dealing with his memories of his homeland. Baba was like the widower who remarries but can’t let go of his dead wife. He missed the sugarcane fields of Jalalabad and the gardens of Paghman. He missed people milling in and out of his house, missed walking down the bustling aisles of Shor Bazaar and greeting people who knew him and his father, knew his grandfather, people who shared ancestors with him, whose pasts intertwined with his. For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, a place to mourn his (Hosseini, 2003, p. 112). Identity negotiation that appears here is in the form of a love-hate relationship towards one’s own identity. Throughout the story, Baba is depicted as an Afghani who dislikes his own country, leaving him wounds and unpleasant memories. It is caused by Afghanistan’s failure Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 175 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 to bring peace and comfort to its citizens that makes them fled the country. Even so, Baba is still shown as an ambivalent figure because he somehow still looks like someone who misses Afghanistan despite feeling home in the United States that offers him a sense of security, assurance, and convenience. Several places and memories that Baba missed were mentioned above, such as “the sugarcane fields of Jalalabad,” “Shor Bazaar,” as well as the people he and his prominent families had been in contact. The state of ambivalence where Baba was trapped is described through imagery in the expression “the widower who remarries but can’t let go of his dead wife.” Baba is depicted as a confused and conflicted character as he has a great sense of admiration for America. Yet, he realizes that his longing for Afghanistan and its memories would not be accommodated during his life in America. Consequently, Baba often feels deep sadness because he is in a position between the two points - on the one hand, he is happy in the United States with peace and a better life. Still, on the other hand, he is inseparable from his memory and his old life in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is to note that there is a resistance between those two conflicting identities in the novel’s characters, both Baba and Amir. Such resistance is represented through the description of America as a place to bury Amir’s bad memories that happened back in Afghanistan. At the same time, for Baba, America was a place where he mourned his memories. Amir, in this case, has the tendency to carry out a reconstruction of his identity based on the context and material of identity available around him in America. He tends to repress his old identity and replace it with his new one as an American. On the other hand, Baba chose to negotiate between the two as conflicting identities, between being an Afghan and an American at the same time. Baba’s contestation of two identities is depicted in an ambivalent position, for he cannot fully decide whom he is through such a strong interaction of power and resistance as described above. The cause and motivation of fleeing the country are influenced by a massive change of Kabul from a previously safe, calm, and peaceful city to a city with no life. Changes that occurred at that time were primarily because of the political condition of Afghanistan at the time of war. Such a condition is illustrated in the excerpt below. I barely knew anyone in Kabul anymore, the city where I had lived my entire life. Everybody had fled. I would take a walk in the Karteh-Parwan section— where the melon vendors used to hang out in the old days, you remember that spot? —and I wouldn’t recognize anyone there. No one to greet, no one to sit down with for chai, no one to share stories with, just Roussi soldiers patrolling the streets (Hosseini, 2003, p. 183). The expression “I barely knew anyone” exposes how Kabul has significantly changed in the eyes of Amir on his visit after living in America for a long time. Everyone has fled to all Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 176 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 corners of the world, especially in Pakistan and the United States. Kabul became nothing more than a territory controlled by the Soviet army, as in the phrase “just Roussi soldiers patrolling the streets.” Massive migration occurred due to the conflict and security crisis in Kabul so that its citizens decided to flee and look for new homes in other parts of the world. It has become a phenomenon in the 21st century and encourages identity negotiation of the citizens by having to consider and reshape themselves according to the social and cultural conditions that exist in their new place. It is reflected in the extract above, in which Kabul is described as a city that is no longer alive because of the absence of values and human activities in it. The extract above affirms the fact that global migration is indisputable in the 21st century. Although the setting of time shown in TKR is many years before the publication of the novel, it confirms the existence of significant phenomena that drive significant transformations in human life in the 21st century. Those issues are mainly regarding the lives of migrant, diaspora, and exile communities. As these groups will never have a permanent and fixed identity, the process of negotiating an identity is inevitable. It is to say that a new geographical place that cannot be separated from its cultural values will also influence an individual, group, or community to construct and reconstruct their identity. Such identity negotiation often occurs by contesting conflicting identities between those considered better and more potent versus the dominated and subordinated ones. Therefore, it is to highlight that TKR attempts to illustrate the Afghan characters’ thrust for migration and how it affects the process of negotiating the identity of the people in a new country which is believed to always happen in the context of power relations. Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul (TBI) The Bastard of Istanbul is a novel by Elif Shafak (2006), a female writer who won various awards such as the Orange Prize for Fiction in London in 2008, the Marka Award 2010, the ALEF Prize 2011, and other awards. The Bastard of Istanbul (TBI) raises identity and its relationship with social memory in multicultural societies. This novel tells the story of two prominent families, the Kazanci family who live in Istanbul and the Tchakmakhchian, and the Armenian-American refugees’ family, survivors of the Armenian genocide residing in San Francisco. The Guardian classifies the TBI novel as one of two novels that boldly raises the identity crisis in modern Turkish society. An article by Bedell (2007) in the Guardian states that this novel shows how ambivalent Turks carried out the mass murder and deportation of Armenians. The review argues that TBI tries to expose Turkish identity while ignoring its dark history with extraordinary storytelling. Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 177 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 TBI raises the issue of identity that occurs in multicultural societies in the era of global migration. It is caused by migration from the homeland to a new host country and Turkey’s government system shift from a monarchy to a secular state. Such migration brings another significant change to society, one of which is as follows: “From this moment on I am going to cover my head as my faith requires.” “What kind of nonsense is that?” Grandma Gulsum frowned. “Turkish women took off the veil ninety years ago. No daughter of mine is going to betray the rights the great commander-in-chief Ataturk bestowed on the women of this country.” “Yeah, women were given the right to vote in 1934,” Auntie Cevriye echoed. “In case you didn’t know, history moves forward, not backward. Take that thing off immediately!” (Shafak, 2006, p. 68). Hamid (2017) states that migration is not just a process of moving from one place to another. Humans are essentially migrant creatures who also move from time to time. The quote above shows that the change in the governmental system in Turkey requires its citizen to negotiate their identity. Turkish women accustomed to covering their bodies must remove them, and their identity negotiation is marked by a material object removal that forms their identity. Auntie Banu’s intention to wear a hijab is considered “nonsense” represents the intersectionality between religious, national, and gender identity that a woman in Turkey has to experience. The expression “as my faith requires” illustrates Auntie Banu’s commitment to practicing her faith by wearing clothes covering her body and head. It is, however, in opposition with what her nation requires her. The rule made by the Turkish secular state forbids her from doing such action. It is also related to the fact that Turkish woman is given the right to no more extended cover her head since more than “ninety years ago.” As a Turkish woman character, Auntie Banu is positioned in a highly complex standpoint as she has to choose between her conflicting identities as a woman, a Turk, and a Muslim. In such a case, the process of identity negotiation is revealed to happen in the context of power relations: the more hegemonizing one identity, the more likely it is internalized in the individuals. In a different form, identity negotiation is also experienced by Turks on how other nations see them and how they perceive themselves. Turks see themselves as Western because they are part of the European continent and have a modern secular system like Western countries. However, non-Turks see Turkey as a Middle Eastern nation trapped in a state of denial of its Middle Eastern roots. Known as a nation of denial, Armanoush, one of the Armenian American characters, stated that this happened because of the Turks. “The problem with us Turks is that we are constantly being misinterpreted and misunderstood. The Westerners need to see that we are not like the Arabs at all. This is a modern, secular state.” Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 178 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 Why don’t you listen to your Middle Eastern roots?” “What do you mean?” Asya sounded perplexed. “We are Western.” “No, you are not Western. Turks are Middle Eastern but somehow in constant denial. And if you had let us stay in our homes, we too could still be Middle Easterners instead of turning into a diaspora people,” Armanoush retorted and instantly felt discomfited for she hadn’t meant to sound so harsh (Shafak, 2006, p. 178). As a Turk, the above dialogue shows that Asya feels like Turks are often “misinterpreted” and “misunderstood” as Arabs or Middle Eastern. A Turk character, in this case, sees herself as a part of the West, yet for others, Turks are somehow a part of the Middle Eastern. The problem of identity negotiation in this quote is that identity is not merely about how an individual or a group sees themselves but also how others perceive them. The gap and differences that are forged between those perspectives are the room to negotiate the identities. Such a case can be more complicated, especially when it happens in a broader context or more significant issues such as politics. Another identity negotiation process can also be found in the following quote, where Armanoush tries to form her identity more completely by negotiating her American identity and a part of her Turkish identity related to her family’s past. Her intention to visit Turkey is motivated by the fact that she wanted to complete the fragments of her identity absent. The following extract illustrates Armanoush’s need to find a part of her identity that she can only obtain if she comes to Turkey. Plurality means the state of being more than one. But that was not the case with me. I’ve never been able to become an Armenian in the first place, Armanoush wrote, realizing she was on the brink of making a confession. I need to find my identity. You know what I’ve been secretly contemplating? Going to visit my family’s house in Turkey. Grandma always talks about this gorgeous house in Istanbul. I’ll go and see it with my own eyes (Shafak, 2006, p. 117). For Armanoush, her Armenian-American identity would not be complete if she could not negotiate her Armenian identity with Turkish identity as an entity of the past. She attempted to find other pieces of her identity-building material that had been missing. Considerably, visiting and seeing firsthand her family’s situation in Turkey will complete the process of negotiating her identity. Moreover, Armanoush admits that her identity as an Armenian-American has never been as complete as that of other Armenian families. It is also supported in the following quote: You guys were all born into the Armenian community and never had to prove you were one of them. Whereas I have been stuck on this threshold since the day I was born, constantly fluctuating between a proud but traumatized Armenian Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 179 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 family and a hysterically anti-Armenian mom. For me to be able to become an Armenian American the way you guys are, I need to find my Armenianness first. The opposite. I have never felt more Armenian in my life. You see, for me to fully experience my Armenianness, I had to come to Turkey and meet the Turks (Shafak, 2006, p. 119). The extracts above show Armanoush’s need for a part of her identity, which she will make as materials for negotiating her identity –between Armenian-American and a descendant of the Turks. She felt that other Armenian families did not need to question this because they had evident family roots from the previous Armenian generation. Armanoush, on the other hand, felt that she had to find a part of herself. She attempted to do that to have a complete identity by finding out about his family in Turkey for the sake of negotiating the Armenian, American, and Turkish identities in Armanoush’s blood. The description of the two extracts above highlights the existence of hegemonic identity in spreading its influence on the resisting one. The expression “I’ve never been able to become an Armenian” and “I need to find my Armenianness” shows Armanoush’s inability of having her identity without visiting and knowing her Turkish roots. Such an idea results from the domination of the powerful one towards those in a more subordinated position. Whilst, concerning global migration, TBI also displays the process of oppression and discomfort practiced by groups that legitimize against groups who do not have much power. As a consequence, they felt the need to flee their country to escape from such domination. This migration occurs because the state or territory that existed in advance has failed to create a safe and convenient space for humans, “If they are oppressing you here, you can always come to America. There are many Armenian communities there who would be more than happy to help you and your family” (Shafak, 2006, p. 254). The clause “If they are oppressing you here” indicates the existence of power relations as well as the oppression experienced by the powerless groups or individuals. The process of identity negotiation, therefore, not only involves moderating someone’s previous and upcoming identities but also a contestation between the superior and inferior ones. It is to note that TBI exposes identity negotiations due to changes in the government system and its relation to the present and past. These factors can represent the identity negotiation process in multicultural societies such as Turkey and the United States in an era in which people decide to leave their home countries and move to countries able to guarantee peace and prosperity for their citizens. Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 180 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (TRF) The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel by Mohsin Hamid, which was first published in 2007 and adapted into a film of the same title in 2013. This novel is about Changez’s journey as a Pakistani who studied at Princeton University during 9/11. It is considered a global fiction in response to 9/11 and reconciling multiculturalism in the United States following the attack. The Guardian classifies this novel as one of the most remarkable books that define the decade in the 21st century. El Samad (2020) argues that TRF entails a subversion of familiar East and West binaries as it focuses on a re-centralization of the East. TRF’s story begins with a dialogue in Lahore, Pakistan, between Changez and an American character. Their conversation was about the American’s curiosity about Changez’s relationship with his former lover while he was in America. The issue of identity negotiation is one of the main problems featured in this novel. Compared to the other two novels described above, the character in TRF generally shows a relatively more straightforward identity negotiation process, which results in the hybrid one. As a Princeton University student from Pakistan, Changez is described as a brilliant, visionary, hard-working, and attractive person. Nevertheless, many things revolve around him, one of which is how he negotiated his Pakistani identity in the context of the United States at that time. Among the narratives raised in the novel, Changez is presented as a character who looks very much like other Pakistanis physically, but ideologically, he has modern thoughts and loves America. It is shown in the following extract: “Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact, you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services” (Hamid, 2007, p. 1). Changez’s expression above shows the concept of hybridity as proposed by Bhabha (1994) about his very “Pakistani” physical appearance through the phrase “my beard” with a rational, modern, and “American” way of thinking as in “I am a lover of America.” As someone who loves America, Changez also said that he was the right person to have a dialogue with because he was a native of Lahore and spoke the same language as the American. The combination of the Pakistani and American values in Changez symbolizes an identity negotiation process that then produces hybridity. On the other hand, Changez is like other migrants who sometimes miss home and must somehow negotiate their identity and sense of belonging with the context and materials of Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 181 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 identity construction available around them. Even so, he feels benefited that his migration to Manhattan in New York keeps him feeling home. One of the conceptual ideas in global migration identity is related to a sense of belonging to specific communities in multicultural countries. It can be seen in the following quote on which Changez misses his hometown, but he also feels happy because Manhattan feels like it. Like Manhattan? Yes, precisely! And that was one of the reasons why for me moving to New York felt—so unexpectedly—like coming home. But there were other reasons as well: the fact that Urdu was spoken by taxicab drivers; …. (Hamid, 2007, p. 20) In this way, the United States, especially Manhattan, is presented as a replica of Pakistani and Indian towns through the expression “like coming home” and “Taxicab drivers spoke Urdu.” The existence of such a community makes it easier for Changez to negotiate his identity. Consequently, he does not need to get to the level where he had to experience an extreme identity crisis, “It was a testament to the open-mindedness and—that overused word— cosmopolitan nature of New York in those days that I felt completely comfortable on the subway in this attire” (Hamid, 2007, p. 29). The discovery of specific racial, ethnic, or national communities in a global city as described above has become a part of the era of global migration. The concept of a global village gets even more natural and inevitable. Therefore, many ideas and concepts about multiculturalism at the beginning of the 21st century were more contextual, especially the notions related to cosmopolitanism - where a person is no longer part of only one nation or region. However, there is a sense of belonging to many places, for they are considered part of a global citizen. Such an idea is also represented in TRF as it states, “cosmopolitan nature of New York.” By having such qualities, New York feels like home for Changez, and it is one of the factors that make him face a minor identity crisis. However, this does not mean that Changez had never been through any challenges in negotiating his identity. The extract below illustrates the way he had to compromise and negotiate his existing identities. “But you are at war, you say? Yes, you have a point. I was not at war with America. Far from it: I was the product of an American university; I was earning a lucrative American salary; I was infatuated with an American woman. So why did part of me desire to see America harmed? I did not know, then; I knew merely that my feelings would be unacceptable to my colleagues, and I undertook to hide them as well as I could” (Hamid, 2007, p. 43). Regarding the complexity and challenges of identity negotiation experienced by Changez, America is a new home for him. Changez considers his new self as “the product of American Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 182 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 university,” and he felt like he was a part of America even though he said that he was “at war.” However, under the terror conditions at that time, he needed to emphasize that he was not one of the people who would threaten the realization of the American dream. The hybridity that exists within Changez is what he tries to convey when he is under investigation as being an object of suspicion of being involved in the attack. Responding with a statement saying that he “was not at war with America” and that America has always been close to him emphasizes the hybridity of Changez’s identity with internalized American identity. Being positioned at the periphery as an object of suspicion of terror in 9/11 requires Changez to redefine his identity. The description above states that TRF raises identity negotiation concerning education- motivated migration and suspicion of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack against certain groups. The identity negotiation process featured in this novel is more directed at hybridity in which a person or group decides to combine their old identity with the new one. In other words, they choose to become citizens of the global community as conceived in the concept of cosmopolitanism. With such notions, humans will arrive at global migration, emphasizing equality on behalf of the human race. Therefore, national and state boundaries must be set aside to create peace and a better life for all humanity regardless of nationality, religion, race, or ethnicity. Khaled Hosseini, Elif Shafak, and Mohsin Hamid as Exophonic Writers Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan American novelist who was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He moved to Tehran in 1970 to follow his family, who worked in Iran. He moved to France since he was 11 years old, and in 1980, he moved to the United States after obtaining political asylum through his father. He later became a citizen of the United States and currently lives in Northern California, working as a doctor. Hosseini’s mother tongue is Farsi. He could not speak English until he was 15 years old. However, currently, he chooses to write in English because he feels more comfortable writing stories in English and because he has not written Farsi fiction for so long (Hoby, 2013). Since 2006, he has been an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissionaire for Refugees (UNHCR). He has written four books, The Kite Runner (2003), A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007), And The Mountains Echoed (2013), and Sea Prayer (2018). Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British female writer who calls herself a cosmopolitan. She was born in Strasbourg, France, of Turkish descent. She spent her childhood in Madrid, Spain, and Amman, Jordan. Previously, she lived in Arizona, United States, and worked as an academic at the University of Arizona. She currently divides her time between Istanbul and London. In the 2017-2018 academic year, she worked as a lecturer in Comparative European Literature at Moh Zaimil Alivin NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 183 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 the University of Oxford. She is a native Turkish speaker who, at the age of 10, started learning English at the British School in Madrid. She writes in two languages, Turkish and English. Some of the novels she wrote are The Saint of Incipient Insanities (2004), The Bastard of Istanbul (2006), Black Milk (2007), The Forty Rules of Love (2009), Honor (2011), The Architect Apprentice (2013), Three Daughters of Eve (2016), and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (2019). Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani-British writer who has written four novels, Moth Smoke (2000), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013), Exit West (2017), and a collection of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York & London (2014). He was born to a family of Punjabi and Kashmiri ethnicity in Pakistan and spent his childhood in the United States following his father, who undertook doctoral studies at Stanford University. After that, he returned to Lahore, Pakistan, and attended Lahore American School. At the age of 18, he returned to the United States to pursue his studies at Princeton University and continued his studies at Harvard Law School. Since 2001 he started moving to London until, in 2006, he decided to have dual citizenship, Pakistani and British citizenship. Hamid’s mother tongue is Urdu. At the age of three, he stopped speaking for a month because the language he used to hear while in Pakistan, Urdu, was not heard when he moved to the United States. Only then was he able to speak again in English. He continued to speak English until he returned to Pakistan at six and was forced to relearn Urdu. This experience for him was a negotiation of culture and language. He also stated in a lecture in front of Stanford students that he has lived in Pakistan, the United States, and the U.K., so he cannot pretend to belong to one of these nations (Jabbar, 2014) The authors are exophonic writers who produce their works, not in their native language from the description above. Such an intention to write stories, not in their mother tongue, is considered one of the results of a long and complicated process of identity negotiation. They write their novels in English so that they are often seen as part of transnational or diaspora literature, global fiction, or ‘foreign fiction.’ In addition, the three of them are migrants who have moved to countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom with various motivations and reasons, ranging from conflict or war, educational motivation, or even following the careers of their parents who are currently serving in other countries. The three of them can also be said to be defenders of migrant rights that are rife in the 21st century and activists in the fields of migration and cosmopolitanism. Therefore, this exophonic writer can nevertheless be considered one of the crucial parts of history in the early 21st century through the works published in the early 2000s presenting identity and global migration as part of Identity Negotiation NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching 184 Volume 12, Number 2, September 2021, 168-187 contemporary world history. The three of them have differences and similarities, but their works create a diverse spectrum in a literary and historical context related to migration issues in the global era. CONCLUSION Analyzing the three selected novels above reveals that the characters and the writers’ motivation to migrate vary. Identity negotiations that are experienced between individual and group with another also considerably vary. Such identity negotiation is found to happen in the context of power relations and sometimes can occur in a hegemonizing way. This notion is bolstered by the fact that the complexity of the identity negotiation process does not only involve the binaries of opposing cultures or civilizations but also at the intersection of politics and power relations. As described in the analysis above, the process of identity negotiation often occurs through the contestation of conflicting identities between those deemed superior and more powerful versus those considered to be dominated and subordinated. In this case, identity negotiation primarily happens within the context of power relations: the more hegemonic one identity, the more likely it is internalized by the individuals. Therefore, the process of identity negotiation entails not only moderating someone’s previous and upcoming identities but also a contestation between the superior and inferior identities. The novels written by the exophonic writers in the early 2000s have significant dynamics in presenting an issue in the global community, most notably about the era of global migration. The early 2000s in the history of transnational literature are regarded as a formative period because they address issues of identity, negotiation, and migration in the era of globalization. The unique cultural background of exophonic writers has influenced how migration and globalization are depicted during this period, with the boundaries of language, nationality, and statehood becoming more oriented toward multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism in the global era. These concepts envision the world as a global village where individuals can feel a sense of belonging to multiple regions, nations, or countries. This study reveals that identity negotiation can take place in various ways, including assimilation, the formation of a new hybrid identity, or remaining and moving in the middle of an intersection. Additionally, this research demonstrates how the issue of global migration and identity has developed into a dynamic development of contemporary literature and a new spectrum of literary works created in the early 2000s. 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