Migration and Cultural Identity in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine and Desirable Daughters

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between cultural identity, migration, gender, and self-reconstruction in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine (1989) and Desirable Daughters (2002). Using a close reading of both texts, supported by critical scholarship, the paper analyzes how Mukherjee conceptualizes identity as fluid and migration as a transformative—often violent—process. Through the heroines Jasmine and Tara, Mukherjee portrays immigrant women who confront tradition, displacement, hybridity, and choices that remake their cultural selves.