Bangladeshi Novels in English

Umme Salma’s Bangladeshi Novels in English: Cultural Contact and Migrant Subjectivity is the first full-length study to examine Bangladeshi migration and diaspora through English-language fiction. Drawing on eight novels from the late 20th and 21st centuries, Salma places these literary texts within the wider social, cultural and historical contexts of Bangladesh and its diasporas showing how migration is experienced in everyday, deeply personal ways. Rather than presenting migration as a simple story of adjustment or failure, she treats it as an ongoing process in which identities are shaped through family life, gender roles, religion, race, memory and changing senses of home and belonging. In doing so, the book challenges narrow or stereotypical portrayals of Bengali Muslim migrants and instead highlights the complexity and diversity of their lives. By taking fiction seriously as a source of insight into lived experience, Salma offers a valuable contribution not only to literary studies but also to broader conversations in migration, cultural and Muslim studies.