Global Flows and Local Voices in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth

Abstract

This article investigates how Doreen Massey’s concepts of A Global Sense of Place and Geographies of Power can be applied to Zadie Smith’s White Teeth to analyze the dynamic construction of locality in multicultural London. By depicting intersecting lives across ethnic, cultural, and generational divides, Smith’s novel presents London as a fluid and contested space shaped by global migration, history, and power flows. The study examines how the novel translates the city’s audiovisual textures—urban landscapes, voices, and cultural signifiers—into narrative form. Massey’s framework allows for a reading of White Teeth where locality is seen not as fixed or nostalgic but as a site of mobility, interaction, and conflict. This approach emphasizes how Smith’s portrayal of North London captures the complexities of globalization and redefines the literary representation of place.