The Testimony of Tablets in Dunya Mikhail's Poetry

Abstract

The formation of diasporic identity is inextricably linked to the collective memory of home culture: its history and traumatic experiences. This study argues that there is a vast connection between diaspora and traumatic memories of the past and that both affect the formation of the exilic identity. It tackles significant concepts such as diaspora, displacement trauma, home, and nostalgia. This study focuses on the poetry of the Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail (1965–). Besides, it discusses how Mikhail adopted a new type of poetry called Tablet poetry. In addition, it significantly shows how diasporic experiences and traumatic memories can affect the formation of the identity of first-generation immigrants. It contends that what happened in the past will affect immigrants in the present and that they will be permanently haunted by it.