| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
In delving into the world of minority literature, I argue that contemporary Arab American writers provide a unique and previously overlooked perspective on the United States, particularly concerning the legacy of September 11, 2001 (9/11), and the unfolding narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the proposal is to draw attention to the poetry of Samuel Hazo, Nathalie Handal, and Naomi Shihab Nye as representative of an Arab American identity struggle. Their experiences left them feeling marginalised and alienated in both societies. The special nuances of hybridity, resistance, and identity echoed in their poetry, and identified them as one of the ethnic American minority groups. The study also explores the writers’ post-9/11 experience, affected by the United States’ long history of marginalisation and discrimination against people of colour. As a result, Arab American literature along with that of other ethnic American groups, contributes to art characterised by the aesthetics of cultural hybridity, cultural complexity, and the politics of minorities to promote solidarity and coalition building. The three selected Arab American writers have found a link between their narration and the identity of the exiled by establishing an identity that is a kind of synthesis of diverse identities of Western reality and Eastern nostalgia. The approaches applied in this thesis include historical/biographical and postcolonial. I use the first one to emphasise the influence of the biographical aspects related to the community, identity, and resistance of the three poets in their poetry, and the second to study the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism on these poets and their responses, to establish them as representative poets in their perceptions as postcolonial subjects. This study is significant because it will help shed light on the importance of the Arabic hybrid identity in creating resistance to hegemonic discourses. I also argue that Arab American writers engage in unique and previously understudied ways with contemporary issues. | en_GB |
