Shifting Identity/Shifting Discourse: Re‐Naming in Contemporary Literature by Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Salman Rushdie

Re­‐naming one’s self is an empowering act of self­‐definition; re­‐naming others is an attempt to codify, contain and censure identity. Re­‐naming emerges as a compelling theme in contemporary transnational literature, appearing in three notable texts: Zadie Smith\u27s White Teeth (2000), Jeffrey Eugenides\u27 Middlesex (2002) and Salman Rushdie\u27s memoir Joseph Anton (2012). These texts depict stories of diaspora, the forced migration or dispersal away from a homeland. Communities of diaspora negotiate between two cultures: an originary culture and the culture of the new geographic location. From these negotiations emerge a third, hybridized identity that reimagines the majority culture and challenges structural inequity. Personal acts of re­‐naming parallel diasporic experience, and this thesis demonstrates how re­‐naming and hybrid identities call for more plural epistemologies of belonging in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world