HOME IN CONTEMPORARY ARAB AMERICAN LITERATURE: RANDA JARAR'S A MAP OF HOME

Abstract

Theoretical works written on diaspora vary from positive to negative conceptions of homelessness. Some theories defend that lack of home causes constant uneasiness and instability. It is true especially for the migrants with hyphenated identities as they don’t know which home they belong to. But according to some other theories although rootedness and homelessness create a sense of lifelong discomfort, this feeling can be positive in some ways for the individuals. This time moving in and out of homes or cultures brings development for the migratory selves. It also creates an aura of freedom and transformation. Arab American writer Randa Jarrar discusses the concept of home in her 2008 novel A Map of Home. The protagonist of the novel offers a new dimension to the abovementioned discussions and theories on diaspora by offering her own concept of home. As a diasporic person living between homes and identities, she finds her way home in the novel through a process of awareness consisting of three phases. The first phase is the quest of home as a result of the uneasiness of non-belonging. The second one is the realization and the acceptance of her in betweenness, thus reconciliation with having no home. The third step brings out her celebration of non-belonging to any particular home. Home for Randa Jarrar remains in fluidity and built as a process rather than a place.