Liminal Subjectivities and the Cartography of Identity in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines

Abstract

Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines presents a complex and compelling study of identity, belonging and cultural hybridity in a postcolonial context. Through characters like Tridib, the narrator, Ila and Tha'mma, Ghosh explores how diasporic consciousness and fragmented and liminal geographies shape multicultural identities. Drawing on the theories of Homi Bhabha, Frantz Fanon, Benedict Anderson and Salman Rushdie, this paper explores how the novel navigates the in - between space of postcolonial hybridity. The study also integrates recent critical perspectives about postcolonial memory, narrative and the politics of borders, demonstrating how The Shadow Lines remains a relevant and powerful text in contemporary literary studies.