歐美研究季刊 第45卷第1期

39 / 152

EURAMERICA Vol. 45, No. 1 ( March 2015), 39-72
© Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica
Identity Politics of South Asian Enclaves
—The (In)adequacy of (In)authenticity
and Multiculturalism
in Gautam Malkani’s Londonstani *

Pei-Chen Liao
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University
No. 1, University Road, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
E-mail:
Abstract
Reading Gautam Malkani’s debut novel Londonstani,
this article explores questions of place, identity, and
ethnicity with a focus on the (in)adequacy of
(in)authenticity and multiculturalism. I argue that, even if,
on the surface, the concentration of South Asian
immigrants in Hounslow may reflect ethnic segregation
Received December 16, 2013; accepted September 4, 2014; last revised July 15,
2014
Proofreaders: Yi-Hsin Lai, Han-Ju Yen, Hsih-Keng Yen
* Part of this article was presented at the international conference “Landscape,
Seascape, and the Spatial Imagination” held at the Center for the Humanities,
National Sun Yat-sen University, on November 2-3, 2012. I am indebted to the
members of the research group “Border Narrative and Space Discourse” for their
constructive comments on my proposal of the research project “London City
Novels and South Asian Enclaves” in 2011. I especially wish to thank Professor
Kim-Tong Tee, who kindly invited me to join the research group, and Professor
Yu-cheng Lee, who is always an inspiration to me. Finally, I would like to thank
the two anonymous reviewers. My revision has benefited a lot from their
invaluable comments and suggestions.