Cultural Displacement and Identity Loss in Tayib Salih’s Season of Migration to the North

Abstract

This dissertation provides a textual analysis of the complex relationship between cultural displacement and identity loss within a postcolonial framework, focusing on Tayib Salih’s novel Season of Migration to the North. Conceptual and theoretical frameworks, including Edward Said’s Orientalism and Homi Bhabha’s Hybridity, unhomeliness and In-between condition, were employed. The research explores how cultural displacement and movement between two cultures can affect an individual’s sense of self, giving rise to alienation, isolation and internal struggles. It concludes that the novel depicts identity loss as a direct effect of cultural displacement, as strongly illustrated by the character of Mustafa Saeed. These narratives reveal that identity is fractured, divided, and constantly lost due to colonial influence. This examination emphasises the lasting effects of colonialism on postcolonial individuals and their identities, exposing these as unsettled struggles.