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E
UR
A
MERICA
Vol. 47, No. 3
(
September 2017
)
,
263-297
©
Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica
http://euramerica.orgEngaging Politically from the Margin
—
Critical Cosmopolitanism in the Works of
Kamila Shamsie
*
Pei-chen Liao
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University
No. 1, University Rd., East District, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
E-mail:
pcliao@mail.ncku.edu.twAbstract
This essay explores Pakistani British writer Kamila
Shamsie’s engagement in local and global politics, focusing in
particular on her book-length non-fiction
Offence: The
Muslim Case
(2009) and two recent novels,
Burnt Shadows
(2009) and
A God in Every Stone
(2014), which mark two
significant temporal points in Shamsie’s life: 9/11, and her
acquisition of British citizenship. Bringing to the fore the
impact of international events, immigration, and national
allegiance on Shamsie’s political engagement, I argue that
these three books bear witness to Shamsie’s critical
cosmopolitanism, which is locally rooted, universally diverse,
Received Feburary 15, 2017; accepted June 21, 2017; last revised June 12, 2017
Proofreaders: Hsueh-mei Chen, Alex C. Chang, Kuei-feng Hu
*
This essay is the result of two research projects sponsored by the Ministry of
Science and Technology in Taiwan, grant number MOST 103-2911-I-006-502
and MOST 102-2410-H-006-090-MY3.
Part of this essay was presented at the
international conference “Creative Misreading and Evolving Paradigm” held at
National Cheng Kung University on June 12, 2015. I am indebted to Professor
Hsiu-chuan Lee for her valuable comments at the conference.