EXPLORING EPIDERMALIZATION OF INFERIORITY IN SHAMSIE’S JUNGLE JIM: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES

Abstract

This research delved into Muneeza Shamsie's short story "Jungle Jimi," analyzing it through the lens of Fanon's (1967) concept of the epidermalization of inferiority. The idea is that constant reiteration of the colonized subject’s inferior status creates a deep-rooted feeling of inferiority in the subject’s psyche which festers and grows till the subject is unable to see himself as anything other than what the colonizer’s perspective paints him to be. The research methodology is qualitative content analysis and explored how the colonized subject depicts the epidermalization of inferiority in Jungle Jim. It has been found that the colonized subject still considers the colonizer as superior, even though colonialism has long ended. Moreover, the colonized subject suffers from mixed identities and is thus unable to create a compact sense of ‘self’, which leads to a shattered identity and a troubled psyche.