Abstract

This article examines the themes of acculturation and deculturation in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novel The Last Gift (2011), focusing on the complexities of cultural identity in the context of migration and displacement. It examines the process of cultural adaptation among the first-generation migrant characters (Abbas and Maryam) and the second-generation migrants (Hanna and Jamal). This generational divide reveals the complexities of acculturation, as the older generation struggles to reconcile their past with the present through integration, while the younger generation experiences a sense of in-betweenness or dilemma, marked by a lack of connection to their original identity and experiences of discrimination in the host country. The identity in transition, in the context of migration, is examined through concepts of cultural and psychological studies on acculturation framed by John W Berry. He distinguishes four acculturation strategies: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization to analyze how migrants balance maintaining their original culture with adapting to a new one. The notions of cultural hybridity and cultural identity, as discussed by Homi K. Bhabha and Stuart Hall, are also examined to explain the cultural clash and identity formation.