Diasporic Home In Zadie Smith’s White Teeth

As one of the most prominent British women writers, Zadie Smith has been the focus of attention from publicity, journalists, writers, and prize committees. Her works explore and express racial and cultural concerns in contemporary urban life. In White Teeth, Zadie Smith raises the issue of diasporic home by centering on the varying degrees of displacement experienced by the diasporic characters populating the ethnically and culturally diverse post-imperial London.Based on relevant theories in diaspora studies, this thesis compares different diasporic homes in White Teeth, aiming to explore the possible solutions for the dilemmas faced by diaspora people in locating diasporic home. First, this thesis examines diasporic home in dichotomy. Growing up in different backgrounds, first-generation and second-generation diaspora people tend to polarize in locating diasporic home. By analyzing Samad’s persistence to Islamic roots and rejection to English culture as well as Magid’s deviation to Islamic roots and mimicry of Britishness, this thesis presents two polarized diasporic homes. Based on the homophony roots/routes presented by James Clifford, this thesis holds that the relationship between the home of origin and the home of settlement in diaspora is coexistent rather than contradictory. Second, this thesis deals with diasporic home in ambiguity. Caught between two different cultures and identities, diaspora people tend to oscillate between two diasporic homes, which cause them to be stuck in an in-between and rootless state. Alsana’s ambivalence about English culture and Millat’s confusion of his cultural identity are elaborated to illustrate diasporic home in ambiguity. Based on Stuart Hall’s studies on diaspora and cultural identity, this thesis maintains that diasporic home is malleable and multiple. Third, the thesis is devoted to diasporic home in the third space. Irie experiences a transition from denial to identification with her Jamaican roots and a process from rejection to acceptance for her hybrid origin. Irie’s identification of Jamaican “imagined community” and Irie’s acceptance of a mixed-race family are discussed to elucidate diasporic home as a virtual place or a hybrid space. Based on the concept “third space” put forward by Homi Bhabha, this thesis suggests that home in the third space characterized by virtuality and hybridity may serve as possible solutions for diasporic dilemma.Through presenting different diasporic homes in White Teeth, Smith suggests that the boundaries between the home country and host country are open to transgression, and the two contrasting diasporic homes can be reconciled through dialoguing and negotiating with one another. Besides, diasporic home is not unitary and fixed, and multiple homes imbued with different meanings in diaspora can be constructed. Smith implies her expectations of constructing a fluid, pluralistic, virtual and racially diverse diasporic home under the background of growing global mobility. To sum up, diasporic characters’ experience of locating diasporic home in White Teeth provides a new strategy for diaspora people in seeking a sense of belonging under the backdrop of multiculturalism.