Identity, Migration, and Transcultural Space

Abstract The multi-fold developments in science and technology have led to enhanced mobility among people in the present times. The desire to have a better life impels migration to far off lands even when it involves facing alien, different cultures, and unknown people. The struggle to adjust and adapt to the new surroundings takes them along various paths filled with numerous challenges. This leads to the creation of a space for them that is transcultural, imbibing the characteristics of more than one culture and often perceived as embodying the promise of an escape from the existing complexities, constraints, and norms governing national and communal identities. However, cross-cultural conflicts as well as those due to the implications of gender have to be negotiated before one can hope to achieve a coveted kind of existence. Additionally, the caste factor is a major construct in the formation of identity particularly in the Indian cultural context where it is deeply embedded in the social set-up and determines the social norms. Its implications are vast and it continues to impact identity even as people migrate to the new land. Sunjeev Sahota in The Year of the Runaways (2015) provides a realistic peep into the struggles identity undergoes on venturing into the transcultural spaces. The article explores Sahota's portrayal of issues such as factors impacting migration, negotiations of identity, caste, and gender conflicts in the transcultural space even as one strives to make a home of the outside world.