TRANSCENDING BORDERS: TRANSCULTURAL IDENTITY FORMATION IN JASMINE DAYS BY BENYAMIN

Transculturalism is a new sphere of cultural development that transcends the borders of traditional cultures: ethnic, national, racial, religious, gender, sexual and professional. It is a contemporary theory of culture that transcends the constraints of conventional conception of culture. Transculturalism is emerging in various fields of literary studies, films, theatre, architecture, music and anthropology. It is characterized by cross cultural convolutions, leading to the formulation of a novel cosmopolitan culture. Transculturalism acts as a unifying force of cultural diversity. Transculture overcomes the isolation of their symbolic systems and value determinations and broadens the field of “supra-cultural creativity'. We acquire transculture at the boundaries of our own culture and at the crossroads with other cultures through the risky experiences of our own cultural wanderings and transgressions. It gives freedom from one's own culture in which one was born and educated. The article provides a close reading of the text Jasmine Days by Benyamin in the light of transcultural theory and aims to show how the amalgamation of different cultursw results in a kind of metamorphosis, creating a third space where an individual acquires a transcultural identity. Also from the analysis, it becomes clear that this transformation is not a regressive one but a progressive one.