African Social Science and Humanities Journal (ASSHJ) https://journals.jfppublishers.com/asshj _____________________________________________________________________________________________ African Social Science and Humanities Journal (ASSHJ) - ISSN: 2709-1309 (Print), 2709-1317 (Online) |1 Ethnicity, identity and the search for a new social order: A study of Zakes Mda’s The Madonna of Excelsior and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things Tse Valery Anye 1* 1 Department of Applied Foreign Languages, University of Dschang, Cameroon tsevalery7@gmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: This research paper examines ethnicity and identity as represented in Zakes Mda’s The Madonna of Excelsior and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. In the reading of these novels one realises that the South African and Indian societies still face ethnic rivalry which has been a perennial problem from time immemorial. The bone of contention underlying this research is the fact that Zakes Mda and Arundhati Roy in their texts present societies fragmented by ethnic rivalry and identity crises which have hindered the effective evolution of these societies. This paper thus, seeks to answer the following questions: How is the fragmented nature of South Africa and India presented by Mda and Roy and what strategies are adopted by characters in these novels to remedy this situation? As a follow-up to these questions, this paper hypothesised that Zakes Mda and Arundhati Roy in similar ways highlight the predicaments of their societies and propose reconciliatory strategies through which these societies can evolve. To proceed with this study, we have chosen the postcolonial theory which aims at scrutinising the inter-human relationships in these societies as presented in these novels. Throughout the analysis, we realised that in societies with many ethnic groups, relationships are developed based on colour or tribal lines, or upon the binaries of the Manichean Allegory, which have a great impact on the relationship between characters. This led to the conclusion that a future space of peace, harmony and fraternity can only be achieved if characters express tolerance, respect each other, and above all reconcile their differences. Keywords – Discourse, Ethnicity, Identity, Ideology, Postcolonial, Racial other 1. INTRODUCTION This paper seeks to explore ethnicity and identity which are topical issues in our contemporary societies. In formally colonised societies, identities are ascribed on characters based on their skin colour and ethnic background. South Africa and India have a rich history of oppression, racism and ethnic rivalries which have been a hindrance to the development of these post- colonial communities. In most cases, legislation has been passed as a measure to eradicate these trends but writers and literary critics propose strategies which reveal that the destiny of each community lies in the goodwill of its people towards fraternity. The stories recounted by authors about these communities are touching, and at the same time interesting since they give insight into the true nature of man in Research Article This article is published by JFP Publishers in the African Social Science and Humanities Journal (ASSHJ). Volume 3, Issue 1, 2022. ISSN: 2709-1309 (Print) 2709-1317 (Online) This article is distributed under a Creative Common Attribution (CC BY-SA 4.0) International License. Article detail Received: 21 May 2021 Accepted: 21 October 2021 Published: 13 December 2021 Conflict of Interest: The author/s declared no conflict of interest.