Happy Multicultural Land? Reading Zadie Smith’s "White Teeth" as a Critique of Multiculturalism as an Ideology

Abstract

This essay explores the portrayal of multiculturalism in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth in order to show how Smith, rather than as an ideology, depicts it as a reality. Through its characters’ experience as immigrants of different generations and various ethnic backgrounds in London – one on the most “multicultural” cities in the world – the novel effectively questions the utopian idea of a “Happy Multicultural Land”, that is to say a trouble-free harmonious society. The study supports this critique by highlighting and analyzing the conflicts that some of these immigrants have to come to terms with, especially in the sense of identity. In this context, the myth of “Englishness”, as well as the ambiguity of “racial purity”, are also examined. In addition, and as a contribution to the overall study, an integral part of the essay is dedicated to the history of multiculturalism, with regard to its colonial past, and the political outcome of it in the form of multiculturalism as a concept.