Shaping Identity in a Globalised World: A Theoretical and Literary Approach

Abstract

The condition of individual displacement within a globalised context is here taken into consideration as the focus of the discussion. By examining the causes for such identity crisis and some of the reactions produced in order to cope with such problematic condition, the attempt has been made to understand whether there is the potential for building a positive identity within a globalised reality. In the first, theoretical part, nationalism is taken into consideration as an ideology employed to overcome the sense of displacement. In the second part, Guillermo Verdecchia’s play, Fronteras Americanas is analysed in order to explore a strategy for ‘building identity’ which results to be radically different from nationalistic discourses. Finally, a third perspective on the condition of the individual within a globalised reality will be illustrated through V. S. Naipaul’ novels, Half a Life and Magic Seeds. Postcolonial literature has thus been employed as the point of reference for developing the discussion.