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Title GLOBALIZATION AND YOUNG ADULT SOUTH ASIAN FICTION: AN IDEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE

Author(s) Ms. Asma Iqbal Qazi

Abstract ABSTRACT Title: Globalization and Young Adult South Asian Fiction: an Ideological Critique This research study has attempted to discover the role of fetish cultural products in the process of globalization. Owing to the stronghold of capitalism, globalization is now a mechanical process carried out by a systematically laid out framework as per the vested interest of the proprietors of capitalism. The sustenance of globalization is indebted to the tripods of economics, politics, and culture, whereupon culture is the most effective of these three as it is less coercively laid out and more hegemonically accepted by masses only because it has emerged as a culture industry. The culture Industry is not only a major source of economic benefits but also a cradle to project the ideology of the dominant capitalist groups. The tremendous influence of the culture industry has commoditized every cultural entity including art and craft. The major focus is upon six young adult fictions The Devil’s Kiss (2009)by SarwatChaddha,The Skunk Girl (2009) by Sheba Karim and Wanting Mor(2009) by Rukhsana Khan the Pakistani origin writers, and Born Confused (2003) by Tanuja Desai Hidier, Bamboo People (2011)by MitaliPerkins and Blue Boy (2009)by Rakesh Satyal, the Indian origin writers. I have applied a theoretical framework formed by adapting certain tenants of critical theorists as Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, and SlavojZizek in combination with certain post-colonialist theorists as Lisa Lau and Graham Huggan to analyze the selected fictions. The major characteristics of culture products found in these novels are i) standardization, ii) pseudo-individualization, ii) estrangement and iv) multiculturalism along with reassertion of stereotypes and postcolonial exotic. These major dynamics provide a fetish aspect to any cultural product to be assimilated in capitalistcontrolled globalization. The study also reveals that it is not the outer factors as packaging, branding, merchandising and extensive distribution that make any cultural product a fetish, a cultural product has to transform/ modify internally to align with the product of the external factors. Literature in general and young adult fiction, in particular, are the artifacts of culture. Young adult fiction by South Asian origin writers has regularly been nominated for international awards and have won prestigious laurels which are again controlled by capitalist entrepreneurs. The selected novels have either won or have been nominated for the awards. They have been critically acclaimed and aesthetically established. The analysis focuses that iv the fame and recognition of this Young Adult Fiction are partly due to their extensive merchandising, packaging, and merchandising but mostly because have internalized the ideology of the dominant capitalist groups. By applying the adapted theoretical framework, it is evident that these novelists have very successfully propagated the ideology of the superiority of the West over the East.

Type Thesis/Dissertation PhD

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2021-04-12

Subject English Literature

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