RADICALIZATION AND IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE RUNAWAYS 2019 BY FATIMA BHUTTO A CRITICAL DISCOURSE STUDY

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04      10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04      Published : Fall 2025
Authored by : Nimra Nadeem , Tazanfal Tehseem , Asad Nazar

04 Pages : 30-42

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04      10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04      Published : Dec 2025

Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study

    The paper is a critical analysis of The Runaways by Fatima Bhutto (2019) using Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (transitivity system of Halliday) to analyze how language creates the radicalization and identity crisis, as well as gendered subject positions in the post-9/11 period. Through 55-60 paragraphs of the purposive sampling of analyzed clauses conducted through the UAM Corpus Tool, the research notes how radicalized youth are discursively represented as ideologically influenced subjects grappling with exclusion, disorientation, and belonging-seeking processes. With transitivity analysis, it is shown that material and mental processes focus more on justice, inner division, and identity conflicts, and female characters develop as victims as well as resisters, although their voice is not as low as that of narration.  This paper demonstrates that fiction is a discursive location in which global and local ideologies are brought together, influencing the vision of terrorism, identity, marginalization, and resistance.

    Radicalization, Disorientation, Discourse Analysis, Marginalization, Identity Crisis
    (1) Nimra Nadeem
    M.Phil Scholar, Department of Linguistics and Language Studies (DLLS), University of Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (2) Tazanfal Tehseem
    Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and Language Studies (DLLS), University of Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Asad Nazar
    PhD Scholar, Department of Linguistics and Language Studies (DLLS), University of Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.
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Cite this article

    APA : Nadeem, N., Tehseem, T., & Nazar, A. (2025). Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study. Global Political Review, X(IV), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04
    CHICAGO : Nadeem, Nimra, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Asad Nazar. 2025. "Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study." Global Political Review, X (IV): 30-42 doi: 10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04
    HARVARD : NADEEM, N., TEHSEEM, T. & NAZAR, A. 2025. Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study. Global Political Review, X, 30-42.
    MHRA : Nadeem, Nimra, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Asad Nazar. 2025. "Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study." Global Political Review, X: 30-42
    MLA : Nadeem, Nimra, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Asad Nazar. "Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study." Global Political Review, X.IV (2025): 30-42 Print.
    OXFORD : Nadeem, Nimra, Tehseem, Tazanfal, and Nazar, Asad (2025), "Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study", Global Political Review, X (IV), 30-42
    TURABIAN : Nadeem, Nimra, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Asad Nazar. "Radicalization and Identity Crisis in The Runaways (2019) by Fatima Bhutto: A Critical Discourse Study." Global Political Review X, no. IV (2025): 30-42. https://doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2025(X-IV).04