Cruelties of Occupation and Indignities of Dispossession: Advancing Palestinian Narrative as a Decolonial Praxis in Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin

Abstract

The proposed study explores the ways in which Abulhawa uses fiction to humanize the Palestinian condition of dispossession and displacement thus advancing the Palestinian perspective of the conflict. Analysing the important role of narratives in decolonizing the colonial imaginaries for example “Palestinians do not exist”, or “they are savages or terrorists”, it contends that, for Abulhawa, retrieving the Palestinian narrative is a fundamental praxis for seeking decolonization and to end dehumanization and exclusion. Reclaiming native narrative of the conflict will enable Palestinians to affirm their existence and propel their struggle against settler colonialism. The study will be done with the help of the analysis of Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin.