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ABSTRACT
In this wide-ranging interview conducted in 2018, the award-winning poet, novelist, journalist and academic Tabish Khair discusses his early poetry and his recent fiction, as well as his critical writings. In the process, he talks about literature, representation, immigration, home, cosmopolitanism, and the culture of small towns, as well as more overtly political matters such as Islamophobia and Islamic fundamentalism. In particular, Khair insists on a complex reading of migration and alienation, and of the role of literature in combating fundamentalism. He discusses the notion of identity as a construct, and argues that migration should not be automatically associated with alienation or loneliness. While noting and criticizing the incidence of Islamophobia, Khair insists, perhaps controversially, on the need for religious Muslims to re-examine their assumptions about themselves, their world and others.
Acknowledgements
The photograph of Tabish Khair is reproduced with permission of Tabish Khair.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Goutam Karmakar
Goutam Karmakar is an Assistant Professor of English at Barabazar Bikram Tudu Memorial College, Sidhu Kanho Birsha University, Purulia, West Bengal. He is an Associate Editor (research section) of Setu: A Bilingual & Peer-Reviewed Journal of Literature, Arts & Culture (Pittsburgh, USA) and interview editor of Verbal Art and Phenomenal Literature. His research interests include Indian literature in English, Marxism and Post-Marxism, Postmodern and Postcolonial literature, Gender studies, Ecocritical studies, Dalit literature, Mythology, Folklore and Cultural Studies.