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Title DETERRITORIALISING THE MODERN STATE: A POSTMODERN STUDY OF THE SELECTED WORKS

Author(s) Waqar ul haq

Abstract This study analyses Teju Cole's Open City and Joseph O'Neill's Netherland to show how the nomads deterritorialise the modern state by problematising the binary of citizen/alien created by the logic of dualism. Drawing on nomadology and micropolitics by Deleuze and Guattari, and historiographic metafiction by Hutcheon in a supporting role, this thesis discusses how Julius in Open City and Chuck in Netherland deterritorialise themselves and the modern state. Firstly, the study attempts to explore how the nomadic characters portrayed in the novels deterritorialise themselves. The analysis of my primary texts reveals that Julius achieves deterritorialisation and creates his nomadic subjectivity through his practice of psychiatry, aimless wanderings, choice of music, and rejection of racial categorisation. Chuck does so through contingencies, the deterritorialisation of friendship and romantic relationship, and detachment from his homeland. Secondly, the analysis shows how the nomadic characters deterritorialise the modern state. Julius, in Open City, uses his wanderings through the city as a medium of deterritorialisation of the modern state. He along with Chuck in Netherland carries out historical inquiry to challenge the internal coherent self, which is central to the formation of national identity. The historical inquiry, performed by the nomads, challenges the state’s ability to define who is included and who is not within its boundaries. Furthermore, both Open City and Netherland use the gray zone of the immigrants to challenge the logic of dualism of the modern state. Thirdly, the study highlights the dangers of the line of flight as portrayed in the novels. It contributes to the scholarly debate on 9/11 fiction by focusing on the deterritorialisation of the modern state

Type Thesis/Dissertation

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2025-11-12

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