Hiraeth and other stories: Constructing a Pakistani-Welsh identity through autofiction

Mughal, Durre Shahwar 2024. Hiraeth and other stories: Constructing a Pakistani-Welsh identity through autofiction. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The stories that comprise Hiraeth and Other Stories, which is the creative component of this thesis, are based on my experiences as a Pakistani-Welsh person. Some are told in the first person and others recounted through the thinly-veiled lens of differently named protagonists who live out similar experiences to my own. While the stories are mostly based on real events, there are elements that have been fictionalised. Throughout, I have been driven by a need for fluidity, for crossing over and jumping back and forth between flights of storytelling, fragments of prose poetry, and slices of critical commentary interwoven with personal reflection. My curiosity led me to research genres that would allow me to explore ways of writing that are more fitting for the complexities and nuances of depicting multiple identities and themes, as my thesis does. Through my research and reading, I realised that not only could Hiraeth and Other Stories be seen as autofiction, but that elements of autofiction are present in my critical component also, since any reflection on one’s own writing process locates the author within an autoethnographic methodology which autofiction employs by nature. It was this that led me to focus my attention on researching and writing autofiction as the key genre within my thesis, which also seemed more in keeping with contemporary literary and cultural attitudes than a consideration or treatment of the traditional short story form. My thesis might therefore be regarded as the montage of reflections of a Welsh-Pakistani author, writing through the lens of autofiction.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Funders:	South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 May 2024
Last Modified:	09 May 2024 09:58
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/168797

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