Farah Ali – författare

Let down by the uncertainties of memory, language, and their own family units, the characters in Harold Pinter’s plays endure persistent struggles to establish their own identities. Eroding the Language of Freedom re-examines how identity is shaped in these plays, arguing that the characters’ failure to function as active members of society speaks volumes to Pinter’s ideological preoccupation with society’s own inadequacies. Pinter described himself as addressing the state of the world through his plays, and in the linguistic games, emotional balancing acts, and recurring scenarios through which he put his characters, readers and audiences can see how he perceived that world.

Let down by the uncertainties of memory, language, and their own family units, the characters in Harold Pinter’s plays endure persistent struggles to establish their own identities. Eroding the Language of Freedom re-examines how identity is shaped in these plays, arguing that the characters’ failure to function as active members of society speaks volumes to Pinter’s ideological preoccupation with society’s own inadequacies. Pinter described himself as addressing the state of the world through his plays, and in the linguistic games, emotional balancing acts, and recurring scenarios through which he put his characters, readers and audiences can see how he perceived that world.

Growing up in Pakistan, Annie experiences the death of her mother, goesto college in Karachi, falls in love with a singer in a band, marries the wrongman, and all her life has visions and illnesses no doctor can explain. Shecomes to believe that external events can cause disruptions in the body, and episodes from other times and placesare interwoven with Annie’s narrative.

This book examines the intersectionality of gendered, religious identity among Muslim women in Catalonia, and illustrates how this identity is brokered through language use in a multilingual and diasporic context. Drawing on a mixed methods study of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant women, this book also examines how acculturation is a transgenerational process reflected in linguistic behavior. Through the use of questionnaire and interview data, the author constructs a story about informants’ experiences navigating life vis-à-vis language use; specifically through the use of Spanish, Catalan and native/heritage languages. This book offers a unique lens through which we can further our understanding of the role of language in the acculturation process in Catalonia. It adds to the ongoing discussion about language and migration in Catalonia and provides a valuable contribution to debates about immigrant women’s language learning and use.

This book examines the intersectionality of gendered, religious identity among Muslim women in Catalonia, and illustrates how this identity is brokered through language use in a multilingual and diasporic context. Drawing on a mixed methods study of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant women, this book also examines how acculturation is a transgenerational process reflected in linguistic behavior. Through the use of questionnaire and interview data, the author constructs a story about informants’ experiences navigating life vis-à-vis language use; specifically through the use of Spanish, Catalan and native/heritage languages. This book offers a unique lens through which we can further our understanding of the role of language in the acculturation process in Catalonia. It adds to the ongoing discussion about language and migration in Catalonia and provides a valuable contribution to debates about immigrant women’s language learning and use.

“A deep and powerful work of literary climate fiction” —Independent Book ReviewA poignant and powerful first novel following the breakup of a Pakistani family in the face of climate disaster, and their indefatigable search for stability, love, and belonging.In the rural town in Pakistan where Baadal grows up, children are named like talismans to sustain life and ward off unhappiness. At seventeen, Baadal has come to understand why his parents gave him that name, with hopes that their Big River will one day flow wide again, and their thirst will be quenched after years of drought. But in the final year of his schooling, abundance seems impossibly far away. As his parents’ marriage—full of rage, despair, and often violence—reaches a breaking point, the only comfort Baadal can afford is a budding kinship with Meena, a divorced older woman he meets on the banks of the drying river.Meena has only just escaped her abusive husband, but her resistance to remarry soon gives way to the promise of stability and companionship that Baadal offers. Together, they leave the Town in search of greater fortunes in the City. But even strong-willed, independent Meena finds herself bowed by the strain of Badaal’s punishing work schedule, her struggling beauty parlor, and the tension with Baadal’s mother, Raheela, who fights for control of her son as she seeks to leave behind a life of disappointments and discover a freedom she’s never known.Told in rotating perspectives spanning from 1966 to 1998, The River, The Town is an intimate portrait of a family unraveling in the throes of indigence, and a tribute to the wounded love that keeps them tethered to each other. With stark and candid prose, Farah Ali traces one family’s fortunes to illuminate the relentless cycle of inequity, juxtaposing the tragic and grueling realities of poverty with the enduring struggle for compassion and humanity.

“A deep and powerful work of literary climate fiction” —Independent Book ReviewA poignant and powerful first novel following the breakup of a Pakistani family in the face of climate disaster, and their indefatigable search for stability, love, and belonging.In the rural town in Pakistan where Baadal grows up, children are named like talismans to sustain life and ward off unhappiness. At seventeen, Baadal has come to understand why his parents gave him that name, with hopes that their Big River will one day flow wide again, and their thirst will be quenched after years of drought. But in the final year of his schooling, abundance seems impossibly far away. As his parents’ marriage—full of rage, despair, and often violence—reaches a breaking point, the only comfort Baadal can afford is a budding kinship with Meena, a divorced older woman he meets on the banks of the drying river.Meena has only just escaped her abusive husband, but her resistance to remarry soon gives way to the promise of stability and companionship that Baadal offers. Together, they leave the Town in search of greater fortunes in the City. But even strong-willed, independent Meena finds herself bowed by the strain of Badaal’s punishing work schedule, her struggling beauty parlor, and the tension with Baadal’s mother, Raheela, who fights for control of her son as she seeks to leave behind a life of disappointments and discover a freedom she’s never known.Told in rotating perspectives spanning from 1966 to 1998, The River, The Town is an intimate portrait of a family unraveling in the throes of indigence, and a tribute to the wounded love that keeps them tethered to each other. With stark and candid prose, Farah Ali traces one family’s fortunes to illuminate the relentless cycle of inequity, juxtaposing the tragic and grueling realities of poverty with the enduring struggle for compassion and humanity.

This book uses sociolinguistic approaches to explore how media discourse on undocumented migration informs Morocco-Spain political relations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, Migration Studies and Migration Policy, Media Studies and Political Communication.

This book uses sociolinguistic approaches to explore how media discourse on undocumented migration informs Morocco-Spain political relations. Historically, much of the contact between these two nations has been through conquest - first through the Umayyad Caliphate taking control of the Iberian Peninsula (then called Hispania) in the 8th century, and then through Spain’s occupation of northern Morocco in the 20th century. Though these historical roots have undoubtedly played a role in shaping present-day Morocco-Spain relations, migration has also become another critical element, as the majority of legally authorized migration to Spain comes from Morocco. Additionally, Morocco serves as a sojourn for much of the undocumented migration to the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, both of which are enclaves in Morocco and common entry points for North African and Sub-Saharan African immigrants. Migration to Ceuta and Melilla has therefore become a flashpoint for anti-immigration attitudes that are frequently perpetuated in political and media discourse. The author uses these cities as a case study, situating them within the wider context of both immigration-related policies and news articles in order to examine how migration is represented in Spain and Morocco. The book connects media discourse with policy discourse, and addresses how these mediums (1) co-construct anti-immigration and xenophobic ideologies, and (2) shape and are shaped by the somewhat strained relations between Spain and Morocco. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, Migration Studies and Migration Policy, Media Studies and Political Communication.