Author Login IJIRT Partner Network (IPN) Login

From Village Tales to Urban Realities: Oral Traditions and Identity in Meera Syal’s Anita and Me

  • Unique Paper ID: 173739
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 10
  • PageNo: 1186-1194
  • Abstract:
  • This study examines Anita and Me by Meera Syal through the lens of cultural hybridity and postcolonial theory, focusing on oral traditions, cultural memory, and identity formation in diasporic contexts. Set in the fictional British town of Tollington, the novel follows Meena Kumar, a first-generation Indian immigrant navigating dual identities in 1970s Britain. Syal employs oral storytelling—folktales, family narratives, and communal rituals—as a means of bridging generational and cultural gaps between immigrant parents and their children. These oral traditions preserve cultural heritage while enabling hybrid identity negotiation in shifting diasporic landscapes. The study argues that oral storytelling in Anita and Me functions as both a resistance to cultural erasure and a tool for adaptation. By contextualizing Syal’s novel within broader migration, memory, and identity discourses, the paper highlights storytelling as a site of cultural negotiation. The novel intertwines rural Indian narratives with urban diasporic realities, emphasizing the persistence of oral traditions in shaping transnational identities. Ultimately, this research underscores the significance of storytelling in maintaining cultural continuity and fostering belonging in a globalized world.
Download article email to a friend

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 10
  • PageNo: 1186-1194

From Village Tales to Urban Realities: Oral Traditions and Identity in Meera Syal’s Anita and Me

Related Articles

13 Feb, 2025

Crossroads of Culture: Weaving Eastern Roots and Western Realities in Anita and Me and Brick Lane

Read More
Impact Factor
8.01 (Year 2024)
UGC Approved
Journal no 47859

Join Our IPN

IJIRT Partner Network

Submit your research paper and those of your network (friends, colleagues, or peers) through your IPN account, and receive 800 INR for each paper that gets published.

Join Now

Latest Publication

Archive

View More

Recent Conferences

NCSEM 2024

National Conference on Sustainable Engineering and Management - 2024 Last Date: 15th March 2024

Submit inquiry