Unearthing Colonial Wounds: Tracing the Impacts of Trauma on Indian Identity in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA in India studies, Department of South and East Asia and Oceania Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of South and East Asia and Oceania Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of European Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The impact of colonization on identity construction has emerged as a critical area of inquiry, particularly among postcolonial writers, novelists, and theorists. This paper investigates the psychological and cultural ramifications of colonial domination on the identity formation of colonized individuals, with particular emphasis on experiences of alienation and identity loss. Kiran Desai’s novel The Inheritance of Loss (2006) is analyzed through the theoretical frameworks of Stuart Hall’s concept of cultural identity and Frantz Fanon’s exploration of colonial trauma and its effects on subjectivity. This study contends that colonization fundamentally disrupts the continuity of cultural identity and induces a condition of psychological fragmentation, resulting in enduring displacement, alienation, and a decentered sense of self among the colonized. The findings demonstrate that in The Inheritance of Loss, colonial trauma manifests through internalized cultural inferiority, linguistic alienation, and intergenerational identity rupture, particularly visible in the judge’s self-erasure and Biju’s diasporic disillusionment. These experiences reveal a uniquely postcolonial condition of fractured identity, marked by alienation, double displacement, and a decentered sense of self rooted in the enduring psychological legacies of colonial domination.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 18 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 10 September 2025
  • Accept Date: 23 September 2025

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