Who is “Us” and who is “Them” in Hounslow? Gautam Malkani’s answers
Anna Maria Tomczak
Uniwersytet w BiałymstokuAbstract
The aim of the author is to recommend Gautam Malkani’s novel Londonstani as authentic material for classroom use to teach British culture and raise students’ awareness of stereotypes and cultural difference. The article presents an analysis of the novel, focusing on the question of ‘othering’ and the way South Asian (desi) identity is built and developed through membership of a street gang. Attention is also paid to the use of argot as a means of identification. Although the novel was published after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA, it does not concern Muslim assertiveness. The “us”/“them” distinction that permeates the narration arises from generational conflict and cultural difference between the protagonists and the external world, rather than religious conflict. Various stereotypes employed in the novel function as signposts in the complex world of multicultural London not a way of stigmatizing.
