Fabricating the Other: A Saidian Reading of The Bastard of Istanbul

Abstract

Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul covers Edward Said’s postcolonial concepts of otherness and stereotypes in the study. The post-colonialism in English literature is a response towards colonialism how which make a general overview of the Orient that they called others. The otherness is a setup through which human beings are bisected. The Western construction of self and others is based on stigmatization by giving them their favourite colours such as exoticism, which aids the self to sustain their superiority more firmly. The researcher has analyzed the text critically. Each chapter of the novel is filled with racial discrimination. The significance of the study is to highlight the history of Turkish Armenian identities and Armenians struggling throughout the novel against genocide to retain their identity. The research will answer all questions regarding the study. The main objective of the study is to find out will be the output of the study. The study is qualitative, which suggests that the novel is pregnant with brutal racism in dehumanized content. The stereotypical representation in the light of Armenian minorities is the focal point of the study.