Disability, Illness and Cultural Belonging in Akhil Sharma’s Family Life

Abstract

espanolEl objetivo de este articulo es demostrar como los discursos de discapacidad/enfermedad e inmigracion se entrelazan en la novela Family Life (2014), de Akhil Sharma. Sostengo que la negociacion de las identidades culturales por parte de los personajes ocurre en la interseccion de su estatus en cuanto a raza, etnia, clase, migracion y (dis)capacidad, cuyo examen revela la experiencia unica de opresion sufrida por una familia de inmigrantes indios. Reconociendo la semejanza de la narrativa con la “narrativa del caos,” exploro en particular la sensacion de devastacion del narrador y su resistencia a la expectativa cultural del discurso del exito. El estudio aborda cuestiones de pertenencia cultural y es sensible al contexto sociohistorico de la inmigracion india a EUA, en un intento de mostrar algunos aspectos de como la cultura influye en la percepcion de la discapacidad y la enfermedad. EnglishThe aim of this article is to demonstrate how the discourses of disability/illness and immigration are intertwined in Akhil Sharma’s novel Family Life (2014). I argue that the characters’ negotiation of cultural identities occurs at the intersection of their race, ethnicity, class, and immigrant and ability status, the examination of which reveals a unique experience of oppression of an Indian immigrant family. Recognizing the narrative’s resemblance to the “chaos narrative,” I explore in particular the narrator’s sense of devastation and the narrative’s resistance to the cultural expectation of the discourse of triumph. As the study deals with questions of cultural belonging and is sensitive to the sociohistorical context of Indian immigration to the US, an attempt is undertaken to show some aspects of how culture influences the perception of disability and illness.