This book is about Arab Anglophone fiction produced after 9/11 in the United States. It attempts to analyze how the writers of such a period portray the life of Arab Americans in a post-9/11 America. It shows how Arab Americans dealt with the consequences of 9/11. It reflects several aspects that characterize Arab American writing as a diasporic narrative, such as memory and home, racialization, anti-Arab sentiment and urgency of expression, and how Arab Americans responded to the terrorist attack of 9/11. The study also investigates the role of Anglophone Arab fiction in paving the way for more intercultural understanding and attempting to de-orientalize the Arab. What I found is that some writers often try to negotiate with the American culture in order to arrive at an identity that incorporates multiple elements from both the culture of origin and the host culture. Hybrid and cosmopolitan in their approach, such writers also attempt to be cultural mediators, and they show much concern about subverting the normative judgment and stereotypical image that has fixed the Arab American. Works of fiction produced by Anglophone Arab writers, such as Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land, Rabih Alameddine’s The Hakawati, and Alia Yunis’ The Night Counter represented how Arab Americans faced difficulties after 9/11 in terms of identity construction, cultural identification, and the conflicting sense of belonging and non-belonging. These works genuinely depict the life of Arab Americans and give a better understanding of who Arabs are. They also interlink both the Arab culture and American culture, celebrating both cultural identities.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
Chapter One: Anglophone Arab Fiction
2-1 Memory and Home
2-2 Double-Consciousness and Racialization of Arabs
2-3 Identity and Representational Dilemma
Chapter Two:Post-9/11 Politics of Writing
3-1 The Realities of Post-9/11 and Anglophone Arab Literary Responses
3-2 Anti-Arab Sentiment and the Urgencies of Expression
Chapter Three: De-oriantalizing the Arab
4-1 Hybridity and In-Betweenness
4-2 Towards Intercultural Understanding
5 Conclusion
Research Objectives & Themes
This book investigates post-9/11 Anglophone Arab fiction in the United States, analyzing how these narratives depict the experiences of Arab Americans navigating identity, belonging, and racialization. The study explores how writers utilize literary strategies to counter stereotypes and foster intercultural dialogue in the wake of systemic shifts and political tensions following the terrorist attacks.
- The impact of 9/11 on the life and self-perception of Arab Americans.
- The role of memory, nostalgia, and the concept of "home" in diasporic literature.
- Mechanisms of racialization, double-consciousness, and identity construction.
- The use of "third space" and hybridity as tools for de-orientalizing the Arab image.
Excerpt from the Book
1-1 Introduction
Anglophone Arab literature has been in existence for more than a century, but it only gained a wider recognition after the tragic incident of September 11, 2001. Since that time, there has been a dramatic increase in publication by Anglophone Arab writers. This literary burgeoning, as seen by Lisa Majaj, reflects in part the shifting historical, social, and political contexts that have pushed Anglophone Arab writers to the foreground, creating both new spaces for their voices and new urgencies of expression, as well as the flourishing creativity of these writers (62). Due to such and many other factors, Anglophone Arab fiction came to the limelight with many emergent voices, expressing the anguish and the harsh experiences of Arabs and Muslims in an attempt to talk to and negotiate with the American culture.
Geoffrey Nash explained that there is a qualitative difference between Arabic literature, Arabic literature translated into English, and a literature conceived and executed in English by writers of Arab background (11). Indeed, the Arab Anglophone novel is different from the one written in Arabic and translated into English. Since colonial time, there have been many Arabic novels which were translated into English and contributed to introduce Arabic culture to Western readers. But the Anglophone Arab novel is uniquely different in the sense that it encompasses various elements from the host literary tradition and culture as well as the literature and culture of its original place. In this regard, Zahia Salhi has also explained that such a hybrid literature is “neither entirely Arab nor fully English, but instead occupies a place where both home and host cultures converge, intersect, and even clash, resulting in a third culture”(45). Interestingly, it is the hybrid nature of the Anglophone Arab literature that makes it a promising literary and cultural field of research, not only for its minority status, but also because it would serve as a
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: An overview of the historical development of Anglophone Arab literature and its significant rise in visibility following the events of September 11, 2001.
Chapter One: Anglophone Arab Fiction: Examines how authors explore memory, the concept of home, double-consciousness, and the representational dilemmas faced by Arab Americans.
Chapter Two:Post-9/11 Politics of Writing: Analyzes the literary responses to the post-9/11 political climate, focusing on anti-Arab sentiment and the necessity for self-expression to counter dehumanization.
Chapter Three: De-oriantalizing the Arab: Investigates the concepts of hybridity and in-betweenness as strategies to foster intercultural understanding and challenge Orientalist stereotypes.
5 Conclusion: Summarizes the study’s findings on how post-9/11 fiction serves as a platform for Arab Americans to assert their presence and redefine their identity within American society.
Keywords
Anglophone Arab fiction, 9/11, Arab American, identity, hybridity, double-consciousness, Orientalism, de-orientalizing, diaspora, home, intercultural understanding, racialization, stereotyping, third space, cultural mediator
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this book?
The book focuses on Anglophone Arab fiction produced in the United States after 9/11, examining how these works portray the lives and identities of Arab Americans during a period of increased scrutiny and racialization.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
The central themes include the construction of bicultural identity, the tension between assimilation and cultural heritage, the impact of political narratives on the Arab American community, and the role of storytelling as a form of resistance.
What is the main research objective?
The main objective is to analyze how contemporary Arab American writers use literature to navigate identity politics, challenge Orientalist stereotypes, and establish a constructive dialogue between the West and the Arab world.
What research methodology is employed?
The author employs a mix of reading modes, including deconstructive, psychoanalytic, and narratological approaches to interpret the selected literary texts.
What does the main body of the work cover?
The main body covers the theoretical framework of memory and home, the political climate following the 9/11 attacks, and the literary strategies of hybridity used by authors like Laila Halaby, Rabih Alameddine, and Alia Yunis.
Which keywords best characterize the research?
The research is best characterized by keywords such as Anglophone Arab fiction, hybridity, identity, 9/11, and de-orientalizing.
How does the work interpret the concept of 'home' for Arab Americans?
The work argues that for many contemporary Arab Americans, 'home' is not a fixed, singular location but a fluid, reconstructed space that balances past memories and present realities in a diasporic context.
How do the authors discussed in the book address the 'Orientalist' narrative?
The authors use counter-narratives that humanize the Arab experience, moving beyond the stereotypes of 'terrorist' or 'alien other' to present pluralistic, complex representations of Arab heritage and culture.
Why is the revival of the figure of Scheherazade significant in Alia Yunis's work?
The revival of Scheherazade serves as a meta-literary tool to reclaim storytelling as a method of humanization and to bridge the gap between traditional heritage and contemporary American life.
- Citar trabajo
- Jameel Al Ghaberi (Autor), 2016, Post-9/11 Anglophone Arab Fiction. A Dialogue Between the West and the Arab World, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/374707
