Arab American Literature Research Articles

Inhabiting the Hyphen: (Re)Negotiating Arab-American Identity in Poems by Lisa Suhair Majaj, Laila Halaby and Suheir Hammad

Like the many “ethnic” literatures in the United States, Arab-American literature is often caught up in attempts to define the “migrant subjectivities” of its authors. Focusing on a selection of poems by Arab-American women writers, this article looks into how such writers negotiate their hyphenated being, and how they view identity not as a fixed category, but rather as an interplay between its performance and its perception. This essay analyses how these writers express their own sense of being in order to highlight, destabilize, and/or reconcile the often “assumed” paradox inherent within their double identity, especially after the rise of anti-Arab sentiment following the events of 9/11. This article, thus, focuses on a reading of a selection of poems by Lisa Suhair Majaj, Laila Halaby, and Suheir Hammad in search of the poetics of subjectivity their work performs.

Unveiling the tapestry of Arab American writings

Arab Americans living in the United States are represented in the intriguing and varied body of Arab American Literature. It is a diverse and significant body of writing that reflects the experiences and perspectives of Arab Americans in the United States. It explores powerful examples of how difficult it is to deal with identity, heritage, and belonging concerns in a diverse community. Arab American writers, from Ameen Rihani to Naomi Shihab Nye, have made creative contributions with their viewpoints, illuminating the rich tapestry of life in Arab America in everything from provocative novels to tender poetry and perceptive essays. However, Arab American authors have faced numerous challenges, including prejudice, stereotypes, language barriers, and limited publishing opportunities. Despite these obstacles, they have persisted in using their literary works as a means of self-expression, cultural preservation, and empowerment. To promote the visibility and acknowledgment of Arab American voices, readers, institutions, and literary communities must actively support and endorse Arab American authors and their work. Arab American Literature contributes to a more inclusive and interconnected society, dispelling myths and fostering empathy and understanding across cultural divides.

Crossing the Border: Arab-American Literature and the Politics of Exclusion

Abstract 
 This paper attempts to trace the development of Arab-American literary tradition through three distinct generations—each of which responds quite differently to the identity politics, cultural hybridity, subversion of orientalist gaze, and the crisis of belonging amidst the inevitable multifacetedness of the Arab-American community. The literary works of the contemporary Arab-American writers are engaged with the idea of the American landscape as a long-term rather than a provisional home. In other words, this new generation of writers manages to hover over the divide between the two cultures and view the Arab world from the American soil. The paper finally approaches the Post-9/11 Arab-American novel in terms of receptiveness, characteristics, challenges, and future outlook. I argue that for the contemporary Arab-American novel to flourish, the integration of Arab experience into the American fabric, in the sense that themes and subject matters related to both sides of the hyphen, should be acknowledged as a cultural necessity. Ironically, this is the best way for Arab-American novelists to bring their distinct voices to the multi-vocal mainstream culture, to carve a niche for themselves. The useful analogy is the literary cultural expressions and experiences of the Asian, African or Canadian communities on the American soil; they are distinct, but not different from the cultural traditions of other diaspora communities. 
 Keywords: Arab-American, Cultural Hybridity, Identity Politics, Post-/911 Novel, Neo-Orientalism.

Arabian Jazz: The Challenges of Being an Arab American

This paper investigates how Arab-American literature depicted the challenges of being an Arab-American prior to the events of 9/11. It argues that before the terrorist attacks, the complications of being an Arab-American were not necssairly related to religion. This idea is studied through looking closely at Diana Abu-Jaber's novel Arabian Jazz (1993) where the novel’s main character Jemorah, the daughter of a Jordainian immigrant, finds herself in constant struggle to find a unique sense of identity. That is mainly caused by the fact that her identity is being torn apart between two conflicted worlds; while the first is limited to the constraints of her family and inside the home, the other is found everywhere where she needs to assimilate into the society where she lives in. To highlight the outcome of these conflicting worlds, the paper looks at W. E. B. Du Bois’ concept of double-consciousness where one’s sense of identity is always looked at through the eyes of others. The paper concludes that for the second generation of Arab-Americans, the sense of identity is lost between the insistence of the first generation to preserve their Arab heritage, and a white America where the customs, traditions, and values of this culture is regarded as outsider.

Photography and the Remapping of Home in Contemporary Arab American Literature

Cet article a pour but d’étudier les notions de « chez soi » et d’identité dans la fiction de deux auteures arabo-américaines à travers l’utilisation de représentations photographiques et de photos. Il se concentre sur la manière dont la photographie et les photos sont mises en œuvre dans les récits de deux romans de Mohja Kahf et Alia Yunis afin d’examiner comment les personnages immigrés des romans s’engagent dans un processus de reconfiguration de l’espace du « chez soi ».

Te “Concept – Image − Motive” Triad in Arab-American Fiction Literature

Arab-American multicultural, or cross-cultural, literature related to different time periods is closely examined in the article. Tese writings are part of borderline literature due to the fact that the central theme in them is the theme of dual (transitional) identity. Te author provides a defnition of “liminality”, which is necessary when considering the phenomena of bilingualism and biculturalism. Te relevance of the study is due to the growing interest in emigrant literature as a source of meanings scattered in the text, contributing to the understanding of the social and cultural context. Te motive, image and the concept are singled out in the works of Arab-American literature to decode hidden meanings. Te results of the analysis of the main motives, taken in diachrony, are presented, and their similarities and differences are revealed. Te fact that the same motives, for example, the motives of nature and music, are found in completely different works, speaks of their semantic, cultural and literary signifcance. Te novelty of the research is seen in the combination of linguo-literary and linguo-stylistic methods in the analysis of linguistic material, which helps to identify psychological, cultural and social aspects in the Arab-American fction discourse.

The Mosaics of National Identity in the Arab American Diaspora: Exploring Long-Distance Nationalism in Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent

Abstract Carol Fadda-Conrey (2014) points out that Arab American literature emerged remarkably in the early years of the 21st century, accompanying various political events and turmoil in either the USA or the Arab world, particularly the Middle East. One of the key aspects of this ethnic literature is the manifestation of the Arab national identity and the call for unity and solidarity among kin Arab communities, whether locally or across borders. This paper, as such, by taking Diana Abu-Jaber’s novel Crescent (2003) as an example of the Arab American fiction produced in the contemporary era, examines the components of nationalism as expressed from afar – long-distance nationalism. This type of national propensity has received little attention in contemporary literary studies. In addition to using critical and analytical approaches to the novel, this paper basically relies on a socioconceptual framework based on the perspectives of prominent theorists and critics, such as Carol Fadda-Conrey, Nina Glick Shiller, Gabriella Elgenius, and Tololyan Khachig, to name a few.

“Neither here nor there”: A Conversation with Laila Halaby

Arab American literature, especially the novel, according to the Arab American literary critic Steven Salaita, has developed “as a formidable art form in the Arab American community” (2011, 2). In Salaita’s view, Arab American literature “is undergoing something of a qualitative and quantitative maturation” (2). However, Salaita also points out that it is difficult to define Arab American literature because it is “diverse and heterogeneous” (4). The definition of Arab American literature is complex because the identity of its producers, such as novelists and poets, is even more complex per se. The diversity of Arab backgrounds for Arab-American authors is significant and their ties to both the Arab world and the USA hold political ambiguities and complex characterizations. Such diversity also plays a key role in determining the relationship between the Arab American community and other dominant minority groups. This relationship, as Fadda-Conrey suggests, features “common experience of struggle against marginalization and discrimination, as well as their continuous negotiation of issues related to identity politics, in-betweenness, multiple home fronts, and uneasy belongings” (2014, 8). It is, therefore, necessary to approach those who contributed to the creation of such a literary canon and understand how they reflect on their identity and also their writings. As such, I have conducted an interview with Laila Halaby – a prominent Arab American novelist – to shine a light on some of the components that form much of her own identity as a writer, as an Arab American, and also as an American citizen. This interview posits critical questions with regards to her two fascinating contemporary novels, West of the Jordan (2003), which won the prestigious PEN Beyond Margins Award, and Once in a Promised Land (2007). The former tells the story of four Arab female cousins of Palestinian origin in their adolescent years: Soraya and Khadija who live in the USA; Hala who lives between Jordan and the USA, particularly Arizona; and Mawal who lives in a small traditional Palestinian village known as Nawara. They live in differing conditions and encounter several bitter experiences due to cultural, political, social, and also economic reasons. The latter revolves around the story of a couple, Salwa and Jassim, who migrate from Jordan to settle in Arizona, in the USA, and search for better opportunities to lead successful lives. However, they encounter an inhospitable climate and experience the repercussions and the ravages of 9/11 events. They find themselves at a complex political crossroads and helplessly endeavour to straddle two different cultures. Laila Halaby was born in Lebanon to an American mother and Jordanian father. She spent most of the years when she was growing up in Arizona where she formed an understanding of her own identity as the meeting point of two conflicting cultures – a hyphenated identity. Halaby comments: “My father always lived in Jordan, my mother always lived in the States, so I’ve never felt like I’m Arab-American. I feel like I’m Arab and I feel like I’m American, but the hyphen is lost on me. Even though I feel like the hyphen is also where I live, you know? It’s funny” (https://americanwritersmuseum.org/my-america-laila-halaby/2020). Halaby justifies this claim with her answer in this interview: “When I was growing up and navigating these labels, Arab-Americans seemed like their own culture. I was two things, never a merged category. With increased immigration, ‘Arab-American,’ to me, is a much more general term than it was once.” She is currently working as a counsellor in psychosocial oncology at the Cancer Centre, University of Arizona on a Merck Foundation grant.

The Power of Recipes: Culinary Practice as a Strategy to Deconstruct Arab-American Identity in Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent

Abstract Crescent (2003) is an example of the kind of Arab-American literature that has emerged noticeably in the early years of the 21st century. It signifies a hypothesis that culinary practice is an essential cultural component for diasporic figures to define their identities, especially in a multi-cultural society. These figures embrace such component to strategically define themselves and assert their belonging and affiliation to their original homelands. This paper, as such, examines the extent to which Arab-American characters in the novel, namely Sirine and Han, consider culinary practice as a key tool to understanding their identity, locate themselves in a multi-cultural society, and re-discover their true belonging. The study of this novel shows that culinary practices, as indicated in the narratives, deconstruct Arab-American identity through various dimensions, including memory, nostalgia, hybridity, and essentialism. In addition to employing critical and analytical approaches to the novel, this paper relies on a socio-cultural conceptual framework based on perspectives of prominent critics and theorists such as Homi Bhabha, Brinda Mehta, Dallen Timothy, and Stuart Hall, to name a few.

The Politics and Aesthetics of Storytelling in Diana Abu-Jaber’s "Crescent": A Strategic Implementation of an Old Folkloric Arab Tradition

This paper discusses the politics and multi-functionality of storytelling in Diana Abu-Jaber’s novel Crescent (2003). I argue that the strategic use of storytelling places Crescent as a complex hybrid text that projects the nature, and development, of Arab American literature in the contemporary era. In addition to having the practice of storytelling as an apparatus to project identity in Crescent, Abu-Jaber re-appropriates its empowered status in Arab culture as well as politicizes its image in the mind of her readers. Besides employing critical and analytical approaches to the novel, this paper relies on arguments and perspectives of prominent postcolonial and literary critics and theorists such as Edward Said, Suzanne Keen, Walter Benjamin, and Samaya Sami Sabry, to name a few.

Arab American Novel: Development and Issues

The novel in the Arab-American literature is absolutely considered a modern writing in its existence and styles except The Book of Khalid (1911) which was written in the first decade of the twentieth century. It becomes the main genre in the body of Arab-American literature and the large numbers of Arab-American novels have been published as a result of the considerable efforts made after the eighties of 20th century. Arab-American novels generally tackle issues such as the problem of identity, anti-Arab racism, marginalization, immigration and situations of refugees, nostalgia, and exile. They also foreground social problems Arab-American communities face as heterogeneity, generational differences, oppression, stereotype, social injustice and anti-assimilationist discourses. Moreover, the Arab-American novels try to create reconciliation between the Western and oriented cultures and reconciliation between the culture and values of the West and the East, the displacement of Palestinians, war and poverty in the Middle East, and so forth. This paper aims at providing an overview of the development of Arab-American novel as well as exploring the most common issues and themes discussed by this kind of genre in the Arab-American literature. It also tries to investigate in detail the concept of identity as a debatable issue in the contemporary Arab-American literature.

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

<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>

Michelle Hartman. Breaking Broken English: Black-Arab Literary Solidarities and the Politics of Language.

While Arab American literary production began as soon as Arab immigrants arrived in the U.S., Arab American literary criticism has only recently begun to take shape as a distinct discursive field. Within the last two decades full monographs have been devoted to the topic, including Wail S. Hassan’s Immigrant Narratives (2014) and Carol Fadda’s Contemporary Arab American Literature (2014). Steven Salaita’s Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader’s Guide (2011) is one of the earliest books of cr...

FOREIGNISMS IN “THE BOOK OF KHALID” BY AMEEN RIHANI AS A MEANS OF SELF-IDENTIFICATION AND SELF-REPRESENTATION

Te article focuses on the foreignisms used in the multicultural novel “Te Book of Khalid” by Ameen Rihani. Foreign words in literature possess certain attractive power as well as produce esthetic and artistic effects. Along with creative force and meaning foreignisms may as well give the reader some notion of the author’s self-identifcation and self-representation as member of the literary intellectual community of Syrian and Lebanese frst emigrants in the frst half of the XX-th century. Te novel in question is characteristic of typical features related to Arab-American literature of that period. Stylistic and literary analysis of foreign words in the book gave the desired self-image of the author as a representative of the Arab community in the USA. Tis image comprises certain philosophical and religious principles, authentic social and cultural features, literary and stylistic uniqueness. Close analysis of foreignisms as a linguistic and stylistic means adds to the overall understanding of the novel including the underlying messages and conceptual implications.

Water Occupation and the Ecology of Arab American Literature

Water Occupation and the Ecology of Arab American Literature

National Literatures, Borders and Arab-American Diaspora Fiction

Literary texts are understood within bounded frameworks, principally within national borders. As Benedict Anderson and Homi Bhabha demonstrated, print culture gave shape to nations, and literary canons were seen to “narrate the nation.” But what happens to our “bordered” classification system when texts emerge from migrant or diaspora writers ? One approach has been to label these works with a hyphen that bridges two national spaces, such as an Arab-American fiction. But does this hyphen take our analytical strategies beyond the border or does it merely reinforce the bordering analytical practices that underpin the work of literary criticism ? This paper will address these questions by focusing on contemporary Arab-American fiction. It will provide an overview of how Arab-American literature has been assessed as Arab or American, or a combination of both. It will demonstrate that the hyphen ironically reinforces borders by reproducing the idea of national literatures. To escape the boundaries imposed by national labels, this paper will argue that it is necessary to contextualise the work of Arab-American writers within a diasporic frame.

Arab-American Diaspora and the “Third Space”: A Study of Selected Poems by Sam Hamod

Arab-Americans are an essential part of the multi-ethnic scene in the United States of America. They are increasingly making their voices louder. However, the process of Americanization has shaped Arab-American experience and literature both directly and indirectly. The early immigrants faced the pressures of assimilation into the American society, while also trying to preserve their Arab identity in the American-born generation. Cultural issues that are related to the immigrants’ experience, like biculturalism, bilingualism and dualism, are vitally depicted in Arab-American poetry. The American-born poets of Arab descent find in poetry a way through which they could express the dilemma of the Arab diaspora. Sam Hamod is one of the contemporary Lebanese-American literary figures whose works reflect the cultural conflicts from which the immigrants and their descendants suffer. Many of his poems deal with the concept of the “Third Space,” presented by the post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha. It is a hybrid space in which the hyphenated individuals are stuck. In the multicultural and multiracial environment of the United States, the immigrants’ offspring occupy this in-between position where diverse cultures meet and clash in an endless process of identity splitting.

Scheherazade and the Limits of Inclusive Politics in Arab American Literature

Scheherazade and the Limits of Inclusive Politics in Arab American Literature

To Paint and Die in Arabic: Code-Switching in Rabih Alameddine's Koolaids: The Art of War

I focus on multilingual usages, specifically code-switching between English and Arabic, in Lebanese American Rabih Alameddine's 1998 novel Koolaids: The Art of War. While the novel portrays English as the emancipatory language of coming out and self-acceptance for gay Lebanese men living in the United States between the late 1970s and mid-1990s, Mohammad, a painter, only comes to terms with his impending demise by reverting to Arabic during the final stages of his losing battle with AIDS. Drawing on findings from psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, translation, and medical/neurological studies, I compare and contrast verbal encounters between Mohammad and various Lebanese and American characters to foreground strategies intended to exclude and/or include certain parties, be they characters or readers. While Arabic words actually employed are few, I argue that implied code-switching and the dynamics of speaker(s), interlocutor(s), setting(s), and context(s) establish links among AIDS, Arabic, art, and acceptance of death; Arabic resurfaces, when Mohammad is on his deathbed, as the language of his childhood and even serves as the bridge toward his “afterlife.” The primary theoretical impacts of my reading are twofold: minimal code-switching does not, as some claim, showcase shallow multilingualism, and a language-minded approach adds a new dimension to the definition of Lebanese (Arab) American literature by focusing on the emotional rather than the national/ethnic facets of the embedded native language.

Arab-Australian Fiction: National Stories, Transnational Connections

Unlike the scholarly interest in Arab-American fiction, Arab-Australian literature has not received as much attention from literary critics, Australian-based or otherwise. Increased interest in Arab-American literature has been explained and often contextualized through the United States’ long-standing interference in the Arab world, as well as the tense relations between Arabs and Americans within the US. But these issues are not unique to America—like the US, Australia has not shied away from intervening in the region and also has its own troubled relations with Arab immigrant communities. And yet, despite these similar circumstances, no study of how Arab­Australian literature might apprehend or dramatize these particular relations has been undertaken. This paper provides some insights into the albeit nascent but growing field of Arab-Australian fiction. It explores how and in what ways Arab-Australian literature can be categorized as a form of Australian writing, and be seen as part of a transnational network of Arab diaspora fiction. Cover image: Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies