Cultural Deconstruction in Abdulrazak Gurnahs Refugee Narratives: A Postcolonial Reading

This study explores the intricate process of cultural deconstruction in the refugee-centered narratives of Abdulrazak Gurnah, specifically focusing on By the Sea, Desertion, and Afterlives. Through a postcolonial lens, the paper examines how Gurnah dismantles fixed notions of cultural identity by portraying characters caught between memory, migration, and historical erasure. His refugee protagonists challenge the binaries of homeland versus exile, tradition versus modernity, and self-versus other. The paper argues that Gurnah’s fiction presents culture as a fluid and contested terrain, shaped by colonial histories and diasporic realities. By employing fragmented narrative techniques and hybridized language, Gurnah reclaims marginalized voices and reconstructs the cultural self in exile. This research contributes to broader conversations in postcolonial and refugee studies by highlighting how literature can become a site of cultural resistance and transformation