Hybridity, Identity, and Belonging in the Poetry of Moniza Alvi and Choman Hardi: Writing Home

Hybridity, Identity, and Belonging in the Poetry of Moniza Alvi and Choman Hardi: Writing Home explores how contemporary British poets navigate the complex and often contested concept of ‘home’. Focusing on the works of Moniza Alvi and Choman Hardi, as well as other contemporary poets, this book examines how ‘home’ is constructed through language, memory, and lived experience, existing as both a physical place and an evolving process of becoming. Drawing on postcolonial theory, diasporic perspectives, and literary representations of place, the book investigates themes of exile, hybridity, and the intersections of personal and national identity. In doing so, it asks: how does poetry articulate the complexities of belonging in a world increasingly shaped by migration, displacement, and shifting cultural identities?

About the Author

James Davey is a researcher of place and identity in modern and contemporary poetry. He holds BA and MA degrees from Bath Spa University, where he also taught Creative Writing for several years, and earned his PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, he currently teaches research skills at the University of the West of England, International College.