Acculturated Identities in Hanan Al-Shaykh's Only in London

Abstract

Hanan Al-Shaykh's novel Only in London (2001) represents an embodiment of John Berry's theory of acculturation in the sense that her characters cross borders to a new culture that necessitates various degrees of adaptation. Those characters have been gathered on a turbulent plane operating from Dubai (East) to London (West) in their attempts to reconstruct their deformed identities. At home, conditions differed for each one of them and imposed a certain kind of psychological exile that hindered any specific social or economic fulfillment. Thus, acculturation has been their fatal choice, and each one has come into contact with the host culture through Berry's acculturation strategies: separation, marginalization, assimilation and integration. The study investigates the four cases of acculturation in light of their original culture and reflects on the degree of fulfillment; if any, to which they could be evaluated as acculturated identities. In addition, it uncovers the hindering factors that contributed in thwarting full acculturation of the four protagonists.