Intercultural Experiences as Transformative Paradigm: Reimagining Cultural Boundaries in Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Abstract

This research explores how Sherman Alexie views cross-cultural interactions as a means of progress in the contemporary world of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. This qualitative study examines the benefits of acculturation by using the theoretical framework of post-colonialism.  By amalgamation of different aspect of civilization, Sherman Alexie contributes significantly to the exposition of meaning and create different opportunities for the community members. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as a bicultural work provides a means for Native Americans to maintain their Indian identity while embracing the authoritative forms essential to their success in modern society. Alexie used this narrative to expose the Euro-American discourse through interdiscursivity, demonstrating how they initially exploited native cultures before attempting to preserve them. It is a response to Western fiction, and it serves as both a claim and a lesson for the capacity of Europeans to erase it and conceal it under practicality. All of Alexie’s metaphors and words in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are like bullets. Unlike other English writers, he does not glorify Western civilization. Even though Alexie acknowledge that the assimilationist policies shown in Momaday's or Dove's works are torturous, he still believed that Indians had to employ masters' tools to reverse the binary.  The protagonist in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, who suffers from hydrocephalus, does the same. Through hydrocephalus, Alexie challenges the stereotypical conduct of the Western community toward Natives and conveys the notion that native culture has very little chance of survival. The events in the novel are shown through drawings and tiny cartoons for the sake of life. Alexie use colonizer’s language creatively on their own terms to resist the disruptive forces of colonialism.  Alexie adopted and adapted writing as a discursive tool against colonialism and as a mimetic response to forced cultural assimilation. 

Key Terms: Post colonialism, Acculturation, Assimilation, and Tribalism.