Revising Trauma Theory: Trauma as Identity Construction and the Discontented Self in Fadia Faqir’s My Name is Salma (2007)

Nuha Ahmad Baaqeel

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.10n.4p.135

Abstract

This essay will examine the concept of traumatic identity in My Name is Salma, exploring theories of traumatic identity and their relationship to the self in Arab Literature, the social context of the text and its historical resonance, and representation and identity via the female traumatic experience. The analysis will seek to reflect upon the impact and convergence of feminism, trauma and post colonialism within issues like the construction of the self, belonging, and the juxtaposition of homeland and exile. This essay argues, in part, that Arab women writers embrace trauma in their texts, while simultaneously critiquing the effects of trauma on the construction of personal identity. In particular, the work of Jordanian author, Fadia Faqir, in her novel, My Name is Salma (2007), provides a first-person narrative of the narrator and protagonist, Salma, who defines her personal identity as constructed from trauma, yet who is unable to process, mediate, or overcome her traumatic past. As she nevertheless attempts to construct a coherent narrative of self, the character of Salma allows readers insights into her thoughts, actions, and the way she views herself. This essay asserts further that the types of trauma that inform Salma’s narrative of self also speak to the experiences of many women in Arab states, such as the social stigmatization of so-called illegitimate birth, the violence of honour killing, racial abuse, Othering, and the dire circumstances and suffering inherent in life as a refugee.

Highlights

In his article “Trauma and Literary Theory,” literary critic, James Berger, notes the relationships between trauma and literary theory, stating that psychoanalytic theories of trauma have influenced several disciplines, including historiography and contemporary culture (1997; 569)
The work of Jordanian author, Fadia Faqir, in her novel, My Name is Salma (2007), provides a first-person narrative of the narrator and protagonist, Salma, who defines her personal identity as constructed from trauma, yet who is unable to process, mediate, or overcome her traumatic past
This essay has explored the relationship between trauma and identity formation through the representation of traumatic identity in Fadia Faqir’s novel, My Name is Salma

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In his article “Trauma and Literary Theory,” literary critic, James Berger, notes the relationships between trauma and literary theory, stating that psychoanalytic theories of trauma have influenced several disciplines, including historiography and contemporary culture (1997; 569). IJALEL 10(4):135140 this critical analysis is instead to examine the intersections of feminism, trauma theory, and postcolonialism as presented the novel in terms of how these contribute to identity construction and a sense of belonging for Arab women, as well as the fraught relationships between the memory of homeland and the sense of loss embedded within the experience of exile. The aim with this approach is to propose a newer theory of trauma and identity construction in the work of Arab women writers, by revealing a more nuanced theory of traumatic identity as one that necessarily embraces the discontented self. This revision of existing trauma theory provides a method for tracing trauma in Arab literature in ways that reveal how trauma shapes a sense of personal identity for many Arab women

ARAB LITERATURE AND THEORIES OF TRAUMATIC IDENTITY

THE TEXT AND SOCIAL CONTEXT

CONCLUSION