This study explores the construction and negotiation of ethnic identity in the novels of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni through the theoretical framework of Fredrik Barth. Barth’s seminal argument that ethnicity is not a fixed cultural essence but a product of boundary-making processes offers a critical lens to examine diasporic subjectivities in Divakaruni fictional work. Through close readings of The Mistress of Spices, and Oleander Girl, this paper argues that Divakaruni’s characters actively participate in crossing, negotiating, and reconstructing ethnic boundaries and these boundaries are shaped by migration, gender, memory, and cultural interaction. The paper demonstrates that ethnic identity in Divakaruni’s fiction is fluid, relational, and continuously redefined through social engagement rather than inherited tradition.