Abstract

Burnt Shadows (2009) deconstructs, decentres and challenges the popular post-9/11 western discourse and presents a counter narrative advocating a transnational world and the possibility of dialogue between the western and the Islamic world. Shamsie revisits the nationalist rhetoric through her protagonist's journey during the various phases of state violence in different parts of the world triggered as an aftermath of their capitalist policies. This paper highlights the need for revision and reconstruction of history as a significant and an alternate mode of exploring and questioning the past. It is in the context of postmodernist and Linda Hutcheon's poststructuralist critique of history that this paper analyzes Burnt Shadows as a narrative which is intended to explore and revise some of the key historical moments of the last few decades. Moreover, the paper establishes that Shamsie, as a political commentator, uses her text to neutralize the hegemonic ideologies purported by these events and argues in favor of a meaningful dialogue between the west and the Islamic world.