Paper Title
Racism in My Beautiful Launderette by Kureshi
Abstract
Study examines racist psychology in My Beautiful launderette by Kureshi through viewpoint of postcolonial intelligentsia of W.E.B. Du Bois’ stance of veil and double consciousness explored in The Souls of Black Folk (1903). Stereotypical racial discrimination experienced by immigrants lead to the double consciousness of individuals. This enables black to see their identity from their own unique perspective as well as at the same time from the perspective of others, making it hard to have one unified identity. White Americans consider themselves as superior to black on the basis of their false self- conception. West took this concept of superiority for granted, self-assumed and un-questioned just to exploit the rights and resources of third world. Unable to remove the lens of racial prejudice whites remain adhere to their false consciousness deprived to see blacks from a unique independent perspective. Dubois regards blacks having greater epistemological knowledge due to their ability to see themselves and others as they really are. Thus racial prejudices created by main stream culture leads to an imaginary obstacle that separates whites and blacks. My Beautiful Launderette deals with the struggle of Asian immigrants and their experience particularly with regard to contemporary Britain. Kureishi is a significant post-colonial writer and much of his writings illustrate the relationship between colonizers and colonized in post-colonial world. Thisarticle aims to explore significant issue of racial tensions and its drastic effects upon society within the framework of Dubois’ racial theory.
Index Terms - Postcolonial, racial discrimination, double consciousness, Identity, Black/White, assimilation