The Fourth Space as an Escape from Colliding Cultures in Mohja Kahf's "The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf"

Ishak Adel Berrebbah

doi:10.17951/lsmll.2019.43.4.63-75

Abstract

<p>The main axis of Arab American literature is its portrayal of the experiences that Arab Americans go through in their daily life inside and outside the USA. Taking Mohja Kahf’s novel as a literary sample, this paper examines the extent to which triple consciousness, faith development, and existentialist thought forge Khadra’s perplexity in understanding her identity – she struggles to explore her true self in two different cultural realms i.e., Mecca and Indianapolis. By employing points of view and criticism of well-known scholars and critics such as Erik Erikson, Henri Tajfel and James Fowler, this paper concludes that Khadra, as an escape from her psychological unrest in two incompatible cultures, locates herself in what I call as the fourth space.</p>

Highlights

Diaspora is a complex notion; its figures are always in continuous struggle to reconcile the host-country they are living in and the motherland they are attached to, whether for cultural, political, and in some cases, religious reasons
The novel is written in a form of a bildungsroman by Arab American author of Syrian origin Mohja Kahf
Khadra goes through several experiences, giving her the ability to exploring her true self as opposed to the identity that she inherited from her parents and reconsidering the meaning of life from different angle

Summary

Introduction

Diaspora is a complex notion; its figures are always in continuous struggle to reconcile the host-country they are living in and the motherland they are attached to, whether for cultural, political, and in some cases, religious reasons. The social and cultural rejection she gets from the wider American society in the city of Indianapolis, and the struggle she goes through when encountering the Arab culture and strict Islamic conventions in Mecca, pave the way for her to embrace the choice of isolating herself into a space in which she could re-define her identity, re-consider her true belonging, and re-examine her faith – a fourth space.

Results

Conclusion