CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF MIGRATION IN THE WORKS OF MUKHERJEE, DIVAKARUNI, AND LAHIRI

Abstract

This research paper examines the shifting paradigms of migration in the fiction of Bharati Mukherjee, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and Jhumpa Lahiri. Moving beyond the dated tropes of "culture shock," the study analyzes how these authors address contemporary issues of transnationalism, global mobility, and the digital age. It explores the transition from the firstgeneration struggle for survival to the second-generation quest for a cohesive identity within the South Asian diaspora. The analysis highlights Mukherjee’s focus on the "metamorphic" immigrant who aggressively claims a new nationality, contrasting it with Divakaruni’s emphasis on gendered migration and the reclamation of cultural agency through myth and memory. These perspectives are synthesised with Lahiri’s portrayal of "rootless" cosmopolitans, whose alienation is no longer tied to a specific geography but to a permanent state of psychological flux.By comparing these distinct narrative voices, the paper argues that contemporary migration is a continuous process of negotiation rather than a linear movement between two points. The study concludes that the collective works of these authors redefine the "diasporic consciousness" as a fluid, multifaceted space where heritage and host culture perpetually intersect.