Digital Object Identifier
In India, language has never been a neutral medium of communication. It has always been recognised as the site of identity formation, political contest and cultural belonging. This paper examines the relationship between language, regional identity and the politics of belonging in contemporary India. Two literary texts have been selected for research, namely Raja Rao’s Kanthapura (1938) and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997). These texts demonstrate the conflict between the aspiration for a unified national linguistic identity and the assertion of regional linguistic belonging. It has always been deeply institutionalised and internalised into the very texture of Indian literature.
Ms. Saloni. “Language Identity and the Politics of Belonging in Contemporary India: A Study with Reference to Raja Rao’s Kanthapura and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 3, June 2026, pp. 331-342. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n3.22.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
the-criterion.com