Strategies of ATCKs' transcultural co-existence in Agha Shahid Ali's Ghazals

الملخص EN

In light of the high level of international mobility while growing up, issues related to Cross Cultural Kids (CCKs) in general, and Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs) have come to the fore due to the falling barriers among countries as well as world cultures.

Literature has revolved around the challenges, suffering and the merits of being one of those global nomads.

Taking global citizenship in a world characterized by “super-diversity” as its point of departure, this paper examines how the Kashmiri-Indian-American poet Agha Shahid Ali (1949 – 2001) presents a model for ATCKs who could achieve a sense of transcultural co-existence throughout his stay in the USA.

Ghazal, the 12^th century Persian genre which deals with loss and romantic love and consists of syntactically and thematically separate couplets, sets the tone for his vision of what has come to be called the "global citizen, " resolving the rootlessness and restlessness issues through a form of harmony between his home Eastern Muslim culture and the American host.

This vision stems from the kaleidoscopic nature of identity formation.

Introducing American poets to the genre, Ali could highlight the uniqueness of the former (i.

e.

Eastern background), and familiarize himself with the new attitudes of the latter (i.

e.

the American culture).

The study postulates that this transcultural achievement is possible due to ATCKs' ability to show higher rates of positive affect and greater acculturative balance, denoting an understanding of global co-existence in the 21^st century