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relations of power” (Keith & Pile, 1993: 38). Although often read
as a suburban Asian London novel, it can be argued that, through
the invention of a white teenager as the narrator of the story,
Londonstani
poses a challenge to such “hegemonic constructions of
place, of politics and of identity” (1993: 38). Although Jas is a
white Briton, locally born and raised in Hounslow, he loves desi
culture to such an extent that he prefers the desi name “Jas” to his
first name “Jason” (Malkani, 2006a: 24) and continues working on
his Punjabi though he proudly claims, “I reckon I already know
more than most coconuts do” (2006a: 67). When Jas chooses to
become a desi, and passes so successfully that he makes the reader
believe it until the surprising revelation at the end of the novel, he
deconstructs the authenticity of desi identity in light of the
inherited traditions of Indian or South Asian diaspora. In
opposition to the policies of multiculturalism built upon race and
ethnicity, he exemplifies the important role that freedom plays in a
truly multicultural society in which, as Amartya Sen argues in
Identity and Violence
, cultural practices are not “imposed in the
name of ‘the culture of the community,’” but rather “freely chosen
by persons with adequate opportunity to learn and reason about
alternatives” (2006: 152). Similar examples in the novel are
“coconuts,” also called “gora lovers” or “gorafied desis,” who, as
Jas has observed, “made a choice just like I made a choice when I
started kickin bout with Hardjit” (Malkani, 2006a: 22-23). On the
other hand, as the mediator, or the transgressor, between the white
British culture and the South Asian culture, the in-between
positionality of Jas as well as the “coconuts” in the novel showcases
the multiplicity of Hounslow, which cannot be reduced to either
purely white or brown. In other words, Hounslow provides and
represents an in-between and dynamic space, not only for South
Asian immigrants, but also for white British people to reshape their
identities and to resist the dominance of any hegemonic power of
control.