WHY DESIST HYPHENATED IDENTITIES? READING SYED AMANUDDIN’S DON’T CALL ME INDO-ANGLIAN Susheel Kumar Sharma
[email protected] University of Allahabad, India Received November 12, 2018; Revised November 22, 2018; Accepted December 24, 2018 Abstract. The paper analyses Syed Amanuddin’s “Don’t Call Me Indo-Anglian” from the perspective of a cultural materialist. In an effort to understand Amanuddin’s contempt for the term, the matrix of identity, language and cultural ideology has been explored. The politics of the representation of the self and the other that creates a chasm among human beings has also been discussed. The impact of the British colonialism on the language and psyche of people has been taken into account. This is best visible in the seemingly innocent introduction of English in India as medium of instruction which has subsequently brought in a new kind of sensibility and culture unknown hitherto in India. Indians experienced them in the form of snobbery, racism, highbrow and religious bigotry. P C Ray and M K Gandhi resisted the introduction of English as the medium of instruction. However, a new class of Indo-Anglians has emerged after independence which is not different from the Anglo-Indians in their attitude towards India. The question of identity has become important for an Indian irrespective of the spatial or time location of a person. Keywords: hyphenated identity, hybridity, culture, English, Indo-Anglian, Syed Amanuddin Шарма Сушіл Кумар. Навіщо потрібно відмовитися від розщепленої ідентич- ності? Інтерпретація твору «Не називай мене індо-англійцем» Седа Амануддина. Анотація. У статті проаналізовано твір Седа Амануддина «Не називай мене індо- англійцем» з перспективи культурного матеріаліста.