Kamila Shamsie, a Pakistani English fiction writer in her epic novel, Burnt Shadows (2009), covers more than half a century, from fatal day of atomic bombing on 9th August 1945 at Nagasaki in World War II to the 9/11/ 2001 attack on World Trade Centre and the post-9/11 world. This study explores the traumatic displacement of innocent humans because of the major historical events caused by the world power politics. A Series of traumatic displacement is presented through the stories of two families which consist of individuals of various nationalities and a number of cross-cultural relationships. Norman Fairclough’s (1995) interpretative framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has been used to uncover the traumatic impacts of the misuse of power which according to Van Dijk(1990) is the most prominent theme of CDA. Postcolonial context of the writer and the text and inherent ideology and power relations embedded in the text have been explored. The outcome of this academic discussion provides a tapestry of emotional, psychological and social challenges caused by traumatic displacement and the enormity of damage it causes in the life of the poor victims.
Keywords: Displacement, Postcolonialism, Power Politics, Trauma
