From Borders to Resilience - a Postmodern Corpus-based Analysis of Globalization and Identity Crisis in Hamid’s the last White Man

Abstract

Purpose. The research purpose to analyze the impact of globalization as postmodern phenomenon within Hamid’s fiction The Last White Man incorporating Corpus-based approach for quantitative analysis. The fusion of diverse cultures, traditions and social contexts has significantly transformed literature, leading authors across various continents to reshape both its content and structure. The blend of global influences has empowered them to offer innovative perspectives, establishing a more dynamic and interconnected literary legacy. This shift in literature is evident in Mohsin Hamid’s works.

Design/Methodology/Approach. A digital Corpus of the full-text novel, in PDF format is downloaded from web source. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques is employed as a corpus tool to identify significant linguistic features and literary threads related to globalization and identity crisis within the texts. Additionally, Yoshikoder corpus tool is used to extract word frequency data. A chi-square test and Zipf’s Law modeling are then employed to analyze the thematic patterns of linguistic features. The linguistic analysis is integrated with Jaen Francois Lyotard’s postmodern concept of fragmentation of metanarrative, providing a qualitative framework for the research.

Findings. The findings indicate that Hamid portrays the journey from marginalization to resilience through distinct narrative strategies. The characters in the novel experience racial fluidity and displacement, reflecting the broader forces of global movement and identity crisis. The use of emotive and existential lexicon highlights a significantly greater representation of identity crisis within the text, demonstrating that it is not merely an abstract phenomenon but has tangible effects on physical and cultural displacement, as well as on fragmentation and transformation.

Implications/Originality/Value. The research is unique in its exploration of implied thematic pattern within the novel through computational linguistics, specifically highlighting the passage from border to resilience.