Postcolonial Identity, Cultural Representation, and Digital Narrative Techniques in Contemporary English Literature and Interdisciplinary Language Studies

Abstract

Contemporary English literature is a vital medium through which postcolonial identities such as hyphenated, diasporic, gendered, ethnic, racial, and marginalized identities could be represented. This study seeks to examine the intersection between postcolonial identity, cultural representation, and digital narrative strategies in contemporary English literature and interdisciplinary language studies. First, the study suggests that postcolonial identity is not monolithic in nature but a fluid and negotiated identity influenced by factors such as colonialism, migration, language, cultural memories, marginalization, and resistance. Furthermore, this literature seeks to debunk the colonial myths and recover the lost and buried histories associated with these identities. Secondly, the study looks at the impact of factors such as globalization, trauma, memory, and transcultural exchange on cultural representation. The study then delves into the effect of digital narrative strategies such as hypertextuality, multimodality, interactivity, fragmentation, digital life writing, and participatory storytelling on literary expressions. In this respect, digital platforms, blogs, narratives in social media, electronic literature, and online archives become vital mediums for creating narratives among marginalized communities in resistance of mainstream representations of their cultures and identities. By engaging in disciplines such as postcolonial theory, cultural studies, digital humanities, media studies, discourse analysis, and language studies, this study attempts to develop a postcolonial digital narrative framework.