Written Culture and Identity – serie

This book offers an in-depth engagement with the growing body of Anglophone Arab fiction in the context of theoretical debates around memory and identity. Against the critical tendency to dismiss nostalgia as a sentimental trope of immigrant narratives, Qutait sheds light on the creative uses to which it is put in the works of Rabih Alameddine, Ahdaf Soueif, Hisham Matar, Leila Aboulela, Randa Jarrar, Rawi Hage, and others.Arguing for the necessity of theorising cultural memory beyond Eurocentric frameworks, the book demonstrates how Arab novelists writing in English draw on nostalgia as a touchstone of Arabic literary tradition from pre-Islamic poetry to the present. Qutait situates Anglophone Arab fiction within contentious debates about the place of the past in the Arab world, tracing how writers have deployed nostalgia as an aesthetic strategy to deal with subject matter ranging from the Islamic golden age, the era of anti-colonial struggle, the failures of the postcolonial state and of pan-Arabism, and the perennial issue of the diaspora's relationship to the homeland.Making a contribution to the transnational turn in memory studies while focusing on a region underrepresented in this field, this book will be of interest for researchers interested in cultural memory, postcolonial studies and the literatures of the Middle East.

This book explores queer identity in Morocco through the work of author and LGBT activist Abdellah Taïa, who defied the country’s anti-homosexuality laws by publicly coming out in 2006. Engaging postcolonial, queer and literary theory, Tina Dransfeldt Christensen examines Taïa’s art and activism in the context of the wider debates around sexuality in Morocco.Placing key novels such as Salvation Army and Infidels in dialogue with Moroccan writers including Driss Chraïbi and Abdelkebir Khatibi, she shows how Taïa draws upon a long tradition of politically committed art in Morocco to subvert traditional notions of heteronormativity. By giving space to silenced or otherwise marginalised voices, she shows how his writings offer a powerful critique of discourses of class, authenticity, culture and nationality in Morocco and North Africa.

This book offers an in-depth engagement with the growing body of Anglophone Arab fiction in the context of theoretical debates around memory and identity. Against the critical tendency to dismiss nostalgia as a sentimental trope of immigrant narratives, Qutait sheds light on the creative uses to which it is put in the works of Rabih Alameddine, Ahdaf Soueif, Hisham Matar, Leila Aboulela, Randa Jarrar, Rawi Hage, and others.Arguing for the necessity of theorising cultural memory beyond Eurocentric frameworks, the book demonstrates how Arab novelists writing in English draw on nostalgia as a touchstone of Arabic literary tradition from pre-Islamic poetry to the present. Qutait situates Anglophone Arab fiction within contentious debates about the place of the past in the Arab world, tracing how writers have deployed nostalgia as an aesthetic strategy to deal with subject matter ranging from the Islamic golden age, the era of anti-colonial struggle, the failures of the postcolonial state and of pan-Arabism, and the perennial issue of the diaspora's relationship to the homeland.Making a contribution to the transnational turn in memory studies while focusing on a region underrepresented in this field, this book will be of interest for researchers interested in cultural memory, postcolonial studies and the literatures of the Middle East.

The 1979 Revolution in Iran caused the migration of millions of Iranians, many of whom wrote, and are still writing, of their experiences. Formed at the junctions of Iranian culture, English language and Western cultures, this body of work has not only formed a unique literary space, offering an insightful reflection of Iranian diasporic experiences and its shifting nature, but it has also been making a unique and understudied contribution to World Literatures in English as significant as Indian, African and Asian writing in English. Sanaz Fotouhi here traces the origins of the emerging body of diasporic Iranian literature in English, and uses these origins to examine the socio-political position and historical context from which they have emerged.Fotouhi brings together, introduces and analyses, for the first time, a significant range of diasporic Iranian writers alongside each other and alongside other diasporic literatures in English. While situating this body of work through existing theories such as postcolonialism, Fotouhi sheds new light on the role of Iranian literature and culture in Western literature by showing that these writings distinctively reflect experiences unique to the Iranian diaspora. Analysing the relationship between Iranians and their new surroundings, by drawing on theories of migration, narration and identity, Fotouhi examines how the literature borne out of the Iranian diaspora reconstructs, maintains and negotiates their Individual and communal identities and reflects today’s socio-political realities. This book will be vital for researchers of Middle Eastern literature and its relationship with writings from the West, as well as those interested in the cultural history of the Middle East.

The 1979 Revolution in Iran caused the migration of millions of Iranians, many of whom wrote, and are still writing, of their experiences. Formed at the junctions of Iranian culture, English language and Western cultures, this body of work has not only formed a unique literary space, offering an insightful reflection of Iranian diasporic experiences and its shifting nature, but it has also been making a unique and understudied contribution to World Literatures in English as significant as Indian, African and Asian writing in English. Sanaz Fotouhi here traces the origins of the emerging body of diasporic Iranian literature in English, and uses these origins to examine the socio-political position and historical context from which they have emerged.Fotouhi brings together, introduces and analyses, for the first time, a significant range of diasporic Iranian writers alongside each other and alongside other diasporic literatures in English. While situating this body of work through existing theories such as postcolonialism, Fotouhi sheds new light on the role of Iranian literature and culture in Western literature by showing that these writings distinctively reflect experiences unique to the Iranian diaspora. Analysing the relationship between Iranians and their new surroundings, by drawing on theories of migration, narration and identity, Fotouhi examines how the literature borne out of the Iranian diaspora reconstructs, maintains and negotiates their Individual and communal identities and reflects today’s socio-political realities. This book will be vital for researchers of Middle Eastern literature and its relationship with writings from the West, as well as those interested in the cultural history of the Middle East.

The Lebanese civil war, which spanned the years of 1975 to 1990,caused the migration of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens, many of whom are still writing of their experiences. Jumana Bayeh presents an important and major study of the literature of the Lebanese diaspora. Focusing on novels and writings produced in the aftermath of Lebanon's protracted civil war, Bayeh explores the complex relationships between place, displacement and belonging, and illuminates the ways in which these writings have shaped a global Lebanese identity. Combining history with sociology, Bayeh examines how the literature borne out of this expatriate community reflects a Lebanese diasporic imaginary that is sensitive to the entangled associations of place and identity. Paving the way for new approaches to understanding diasporic literature and identity, this book will be vital for researchers of migration studies and Middle Eastern literature, as well as those interested in the cultures, history and politics of the Middle East.

Beirut is the cultural, commercial and economic hub of Lebanon. But to what extent has the city affected and shaped the formation and perceptions of Lebanese national identity? Ghenwa Hayek here explores how anxieties over the past, present and future of Beirut have been articulated through a sense of dislocation present in Lebanese writing since the 1960s. Drawing on theories of cultural studies, geography and history, the author uses an interdisciplinary framework to explore the role that spaces - from rural to urban - have played and continue to play in the defining, and re-defining, of national identity in the seventy years since the creation of the Lebanese nation state. This theoretical perspective coupled with a close reading of little-explored contemporary writings lead Hayek to question the predominant assumption that Lebanese novelists only became engaged in discourses about place identity and individual and social belonging with the start of the fifteen-year civil war and the destruction of Beirut's city centre.Instead, the book shows that particular geographical imaginaries have been mobilized to describe, question and debate Lebanese identity since the 1960s and that some go back even further into the late nineteenth century. This re-reading calls for a re-evaluation of some of the most predominant assumptions about Lebanon and the processes of Lebanese identity formation across the country's modern history. Examining a wide range of modern and contemporary literature, Hayek charts the rise to cultural prominence of the city of Beirut as a significant player in shaping perceptions of Lebanese culture and identity.

From the First Gulf War to the present upheaval in Syria, the Kurdish question has been a crucial issue within the Middle East region and in international politics. Spread across several countries, the Kurds constitute the largest stateless nation in the world. In this context, a striking question arises: how are Kurdish identity and the idea of the homeland - both as a symbol and as territorial space - constructed in writings from Turkish Kurdistan and its diaspora? Through a comparative analysis of Kurdish writing, Ozlem Galip here provides the first comprehensive look at modern Kurdish literature. Drawing on theories of space and collective memory and exploring the use of the historical past and personal memories in the literature of stateless nations, this book analyses the construction of the imaginary homeland and the concept of Kurdish identity.

Mahmoud Darwish is the poet laureate of the Palestinian national struggle. His poems resonate across the entire Arab world and, more than any other single figure perhaps since the death of Yasser Arafat, he represents a unifying figurehead for Palestinian national aspirations. In this, the first comprehensive biography of Darwish in English, Muna Abu Eid examines the poet's intellectual status on two fronts - both national and public - and offers a critical assessment of Darwish's national and political life. Based on Darwish's own writings and interviews with people who worked with him and situating Darwish's poetry within the wider context of Palestinian struggles inside Israel, this book explores the influence of Darwish's life and work in the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora: from the destruction of his Galilee village and displacement of his family during the 1948 Nakba; to his return and 'infiltration' back into the homeland and the struggle for survival inside Israel; to his internal and external exiles in Haifa, Moscow, Cairo, Beirut, Tunisia, Paris and even Ramallah.

Edward Said was an exiled individual - the 'out of place' Palestinian in the USA. He saw the consequences of the 1948 dismantling of Palestine and the establishment of Israel through his parents' experiences and through the collective statelessness imposed on the Palestinians. His own personal experience of exile intensified when he moved to the USA. Yet despite the significance of exile to Said's life and work, no scholarship has yet focused on this theme in his writings or traced its ongoing applicability and importance. Rehnuma Sazzad fulfils this pressing need in literary and cultural research by providing the first comprehensive definition of Said's theory of exile and revealing its legacy in relation to five Middle Eastern intellectuals: Naguib Mahfouz, Mahmoud Darwish, Leila Ahmed, Nawal El Saadawi and Youssef Chahine. Sazzad argues that for Said, the ideal intellectual is a metaphorical exile. This exile does not have to be spatially disconnected from a homeland, but must demonstrate a willing homelessness through specific strategies and techniques.By selecting a novelist, poet, feminist, filmmaker and essayist, Sazzad shows how intellectuals from diverse fields become part of the Saidian discourse through the expression of these 'exilic' qualities. The book creates a portrait of redoubtable intellectual practice and in the twenty-first century context, when the frontiers of belonging are constantly redrawn, Edward Said's Concept of Exile adds new depths to discourses of resistance, home and identity.

Saudi women writers belatedly came to the attention of the international literary scene in 2007, with Girls of Riyadh by Raja al-Sanae. This English translation of a 2004 Saudi novel, Banat al-Riyadh, is written in the form of emails exchanged between four young women. At home, it acted as a catalyst for a rash of Saudi mass-market novels with suggestive titles, such as Samar al-Migrin's Women of Vice and Athir Abdullah's I loved you more than I should, while in the West it fed a growing appetite for, and fascination with, works that reveal the secret lives of Muslim women. Represented in these novels is a relatively privileged generation; through the licit use of the internet and international travel, they have been exposed to cosmopolitan mores and have come to expect basic levels of freedom of expression and movement. However, the international acclaim for al-Sanae was for the most part not accompanied by insights into where such novels could be situated in a Saudi literary canon. This book explores and evaluates the achievements of Saudi women fiction writers from the 1960s up to the present day, many of whose works have yet to be published in English translation. It explores how succeeding literary generations approached the common theme of women's lives thwarted by practices and laws justified in the name of religion and culture, and how their writing is a form of resistance to oppressive patriarchal norms. Through themes such as `Gender and Violence', `Globalization, Women and the City', `Revealing and Concealing' and `Incarcerated Bodies', the book uses Saudi literature as a lens through which to explore what it means to be a woman in Saudi society today.

The Lebanese civil war, which spanned the years of 1975 to 1990,caused the migration of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens, many of whom are still writing of their experiences. Jumana Bayeh presents an important and major study of the literature of the Lebanese diaspora. Focusing on novels and writings produced in the aftermath of Lebanon's protracted civil war, Bayeh explores the complex relationships between place, displacement and belonging, and illuminates the ways in which these writings have shaped a global Lebanese identity. Combining history with sociology, Bayeh examines how the literature borne out of this expatriate community reflects a Lebanese diasporic imaginary that is sensitive to the entangled associations of place and identity. Paving the way for new approaches to understanding diasporic literature and identity, this book will be vital for researchers of migration studies and Middle Eastern literature, as well as those interested in the cultures, history and politics of the Middle East.

This book explores queer identity in Morocco through the work of author and LGBT activist Abdellah Taïa, who defied the country’s anti-homosexuality laws by publicly coming out in 2006. Engaging postcolonial, queer and literary theory, Tina Dransfeldt Christensen examines Taïa’s art and activism in the context of the wider debates around sexuality in Morocco.Placing key novels such as Salvation Army and Infidels in dialogue with Moroccan writers including Driss Chraïbi and Abdelkebir Khatibi, she shows how Taïa draws upon a long tradition of politically committed art in Morocco to subvert traditional notions of heteronormativity. By giving space to silenced or otherwise marginalised voices, she shows how his writings offer a powerful critique of discourses of class, authenticity, culture and nationality in Morocco and North Africa.

Addressing the question of how neoliberal ideology has served to conflate the radical left with extremism, this book examines how the Arab left has asserted itself in the context of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism during and after the Arab uprisings. It examines how the Arab cultural left has offered a critique of the signifying practices of political hegemonies in the region and argues that though creative expression as constituted in the very language of the Arab uprisings, it has put forward its own alternativesUsing a wide array of texts and sources, both Arab and non-Arab, the opening chapters of the book identify how ethical and radical values pertaining to sociality are co-opted by political leaders in the Middle East and turned into jargon. Later chapters outline resistance to this co-option through a poetics of inter-subjectivity that takes structures of feeling into account, ranging from disappointment, despair and distrust, to dignity, solidarity and reconfigured senses of the sacred. In showing how psychological and affective states relate to signifying practices, the book offers an original conceptual framework for differentiating ‘radicalization’ from the creative radicalism of the Arab avant-garde.

In the face of vicious oppression and years of authoritarian and neoliberal ideology, how did the Arab Left assert itself during the Arab Uprisings? In this bold new account, Caroline Rooney outlines the importance of aesthetic strategies and creative expression in the left’s critique of authoritarian and Islamic extremist discourse during the revolutions. Using a wide array of texts and sources, both Arab and non-Arab, the book engages affect theory to show how a poetics of disappointment, despair and distrust, to dignity, solidarity and reconfigured senses of the sacred, offered a way for the left to reclaim ethical and progressive ‘radical’ values co-opted by political leaders and extremists in the Middle East. In so doing, the book offers an original conceptual framework for differentiating ‘radicalization’ from the creative radicalism of the Arab avant-garde.