Mobility, Identity and Racism in Caryl Phillips’ "A Distant Shore and Foreigners: Three English Lives"

Ilias Najih

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2025
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783389105672
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Master's Thesis from the year 2023 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 16, Sultan Moulay Sliman University (Sultan moulay slimane university), course: British Carribiean Literaure, language: English, abstract: The following dissertation aims to examine mobility, identity and racism in Caryl Phillips' A Distant Shore and Foreigners Three English Lives. The following research finds it useful to rely on theoretical works pertaining to mobility, identity and racism. They contribute immensely to the comprehension and thus the close inspection of the concepts and works under scrutiny. The originality of the following dissertation lies in its examination of concepts that have not been discussed yet in the works under inspection. These include identity, mobility and racism. The present dissertation is divided into three parts. The first one is devoted to investigating mobility in the two literary works. Emphasis is placed on the meanings of mobility, mainly the literal and metaphorical meanings. Then the focus is on power and its immense contribution to mobilizing and immobilizing people. Thus, this chapter is intended to argue that mobility is conditioned by structures of power. Stress is also laid on the final outcomes of mobility. The second part revolves around identity in A Distant Shore and Foreigners; Three English Lives. Clearly, the spatial transition of the characters from one space to another gives birth to numerous changes in their identities. Hence, emphasis is put on the mobile nature of identity. The second chapter is a continuation of the first one in the sense that it examines the hybrid nature of identity. It is an attempt to contest the fixity and stability of cultures and identities by foregrounding their plural and hybrid nature. The main aim of the final chapter is to expose the complexity and problematic nature of the characters' identities. The final section of this research project tackles racism in the two chosen literary works of Phillips. It is meant to argue that the spatial transition of immigrants from their homeland to a host country brings about their exposure to all forms of racism. Equally important, racism is marked by many antagonisms, more particularly the Manichean Allegory. Last but not least, the ultimate chapter foregrounds the repercussions of racism by arguing that these consequences are detrimental to the immigrants' physicality and psychology.