Rethinking Hybridity in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane

Abstract

The London neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets does not at first glance seem like a place that Muslim immigrants would struggle to accli¬matise to: the local high streets boast not just mosques and cultural centres, but Islamic schools, halal grocers, shops selling everything from “halal toothpaste” to “Islamic toys”—even organisations offering “Islamic medical advice.” In 2011, posters appeared proclaiming the area a “Shariah Controlled Zone.” In the eyes of many (particularly in the right-wing press), it is no longer simply an immigrant neighbourhood, but a kind of independent region (the “Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets”) where Christians must assimilate to Muslim law and ritual rather than the other way around. It is “Londonistan” come to life. It is, we are breathlessly told, a place where immigrants are in complete control.