Cultural Hybridity and Transnationalism in Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth and The Namesake

Cultural hybridity and transnationalism are two important concepts in contemporary literary studies, especially when discussing immigrant writing. In the age of globalization migration has become a common human experience. People move from one country to another for education, employment, marriage, safety, and better opportunities. Such movement creates complex identities because migrants often live between two cultures. They carry memories, traditions, and emotional ties from their homeland while adapting to the customs and expectations of a new country. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the most significant contemporary writers who explores these experiences in her fiction. Her works, particularly The Namesake (2003) and Unaccustomed Earth (2008), portray the lives of Indian immigrants and their American-born children. Through her characters, Lahiri examines the struggles of identity, belonging, family expectations, cultural conflict, and emotional displacement. This paper discusses how cultural hybridity and transnationalism are reflected in these two works and how they shape the lives of Lahiri’s characters.