Author
Yakut AKBAY
LIMINAL IDENTITIES AND 
CULTURAL HYBRIDITY OF 
THIRD WORLD WOMEN IN 
WOMEN’S NARRATIVES
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Akbay, Yakut. 
Liminal Identities and Cultural Hybridity of Third World Women in 
Women’s Narratives/ Yakut Akbay.
Ankara : Akademisyen Yayınevi Kitabevi, 2025.
   269 p. ; 135x210 mm. 
   Includes References.
   ISBN 9786253757441
ISBN
978-625-375-744-1
Book Title
Liminal Identities and Cultural Hybridity of 
Third World Women in Women’s Narratives
Author
Yakut AKBAY 
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1557-232X
Publishing Coordinator
Yasin DİLMEN
Page and Cover Design
Akademisyen Dizgi Ünitesi
Publisher Certificate Number
47518
Printing and Binding
Vadi Matbaacılık
Bisac Code
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DOI
10.37609/akya.3885
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family for their 
boundless love and unfailing support throughout this journey. I 
thank my mother and father for their constant encouragement 
and belief in me; my husband for his patience and understanding; 
and my son, whose presence has been a continuous source of 
inspiration and joy. Their support has been the foundation upon 
which my confidence and dedication to this work have grown, 
allowing me to pursue it with purpose and determination.
I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Professor Joel Kuortti, 
Head of the Department of English at the School of Languages 
and Translation Studies, University of Turku, for his inspiring 
mentorship throughout my research. I especially appreciate his 
invaluable comments, careful reading, and patient guidance, 
which have significantly strengthened my work in writing this 
book.
My genuine thanks go to my friends and colleagues in the 
Department of English – Derya Duran, Henna Kortelainen, 
Teppo Jakonen and my office colleagues Selcen Erten Johansson, 
Georgios Vasilikaris, and Silja-Maija Spets – for their moral 
support. I will fondly remember the moments we gathered in the 
university cafeteria over coffee or tea, enjoying warm and lively 
conversations about everything.
I also thank Maija Österlund, Human Resources Specialist 
and Department Coordinator at the Faculty of Humanities, for 
handling the technicalities of my visit to the University of Turku.
iv
Acknowledgments
Finally, I would like to thank the Head of the Centre for 
Language and Communication Studies, Anna Väre, for allowing 
me to take Finnish language courses during my one-year 
research visit, and the University of Turku for providing the 
facilities and academic environment that made it possible for 
me to complete this project.
PREFACE
Yakut Akbay’s study Liminal Identities and Cultural Hybridity 
of Third World Women in Women’s Narratives focuses on three 
novels by three writers: Andrea Levy’s Small Island (2004), 
Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003), and Sefi Atta’s A Bit of Difference 
(2012). All these novels and writers are significant in the field of 
contemporary diasporic literature. Levy, an English writer with 
Jamaican parentage, writes about the life of Jamaicans in Britain, 
the Bangladeshi British Ali depicts Bangladeshi immigrant lives 
in London, and the Nigerian American Sefi Atta’s work deals with 
Nigerian experiences between London and Lagos.
Akbay’s careful scrutiny of the novels is a valuable contribution 
to the analysis of diasporic, immigrant conditions of women. 
Akbay analyses the novels’ women characters – especially the 
protagonists, Hortense, Nazneen, and Deola – and how they 
negotiate their hybrid in-between lives in London, a former 
colonial centre. The backgrounds, times, and conditions of the 
women are different, but they all face similar problems with 
adapting to their new environment. By locating the analyses of 
the novels in a postcolonial framework, Akbay is able to pinpoint 
the sore points of diasporic women’s lives, and the causes of their 
resistance to assimilate.
Key terms in Akbay’s analyses are Homi K. Bhabha’s concepts 
of hybridity, ambivalence, and the Third Space, all of which define 
the conditions of diasporic life. The ways in which Hortense, 
Nazneen, and Deola navigate in-between cultures, between 
possibilities and constraints, demonstrate evocatively strategies 
of facing the difficulties of transcultural life. The answer is not 
a wholesale assimilation into the host culture, nor a nostalgic 
vi
Preface
return to the original roots, but an acceptance of an ambivalent 
hybrid identity.
Besides the thorough academic analyses, Akbay’s text is also 
clear and pleasant to read. The detailed analyses in the chapters 
provide enlightening perspectives not only on the novels but, 
even more significantly, on the liminal identities and cultural 
hybridity of Third World women – just as the title of the book 
promises.
Joel Kuortti 
Professor 
University of Turku
To my mother, Almas – the diamond whose endurance, 
brilliance, and intelligence have illuminated, and will continue 
to illuminate, every step of my journey... 
ix
CONTENTS
A Vindication of the Postcolonial Woman:  
On the Necessity of Reading Andrea Levy,  
Monica Ali, and Sefi Atta Together ................................................. 1
Introduction: Women, Diaspora, and the Third Space .................. 5
Refusing Assimilation, Resisting Return:  
Diasporic Women in Literature ......................................................... 5
Hybridity, Ambivalence, and Belonging:  
Theorising Diasporic Women’s Subjectivities .................................. 7
Challenging Monolithic Constructions ........................................... 9
The Scope and Structure of the Book ............................................. 12
Contribution and Originality .......................................................... 14
References .......................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 1
Almost the Same, but Never Quite: Unsettling  
Mimicry and Identity in Andrea Levy’s Small Island ................... 17
Introduction: Andrea Levy and Caribbean Literature ................. 17
Journey from Jamaica to England ................................................... 20
Jamaica and the ‘Mother Country’ .................................................. 24
‘Proper’ English ................................................................................. 29
Roots of the Colonial Mindset ........................................................ 34
Colonial v. Caribbean Culture ......................................................... 41
Colonial Fantasy and Metropolitan Reality ................................... 46
“You’re not qualified” ........................................................................ 50
Internalised Mimicry ........................................................................ 58
Ideal English Home ........................................................................... 62
The Embedded Afterlife of the Empire .......................................... 67
Embracing the Space ......................................................................... 72
Which Is the ‘Small Island’ – Jamaica or England? ....................... 75
Conclusion: Transformation of Self, Space, and the Essence of 
Belonging ........................................................................................... 76
References .......................................................................................... 79
xContents
CHAPTER 2
From Cultural Fatalism to Personal Agency: Nazneen’s Journey 
through Hybridity in Brick Lane .................................................81
Conclusion ....................................................................................... 164
References ........................................................................................ 167
CHAPTER 3
Displacement and Self-Discovery: Exploring Transnational 
Identity in Sefi Atta’s A Bit Of Difference .................................... 171
Conclusion ....................................................................................... 238
References ........................................................................................ 241
CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 243
AFTERWORD ............................................................................. 253
GLOSSARY OF TERMS ....................................................................... 255
241
Displacement and Self-Discovery: Exploring Transnational Identity  
in Sefi Atta’s A Bit of Difference
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