Popular Testimonial Literature by American Cultural Conservatives of Arab or Muslim Descent: Narrating the Self, Translating (an)Other

Abstract

Bridgette Gabrielle, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, and Wafa Sultan, American writers of Arab or Muslim descent, have written testimonial narratives. They, I contend, take up the role of ethnographers or cultural insiders and produce highly problematic, yet popular, works which, neither purely literary nor solely political, allow them to play on their target audience’s expectations by performing as ethnic Americans. Yet, they manipulate their readers into believing that ethnic diversity and cultural and religious plurality are dangerous. In their testimonial narratives, they therefore imagine the United States as a white Judeo-Christian nation, thus erasing all pluralities, multi-ethnic diversity, and multicultural bodies whose rich fabric they make. Although their narratives marginalize Arab and Muslim Americans, their ultimate target is American multiculturalism.