Date of Award
Spring 4-16-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Modern Languages & Literature
First Advisor
Prof. Wael Salam
Second Advisor
Prof. James McGavran
Abstract
This thesis seeks to reinscribe the multifaceted experiences of Arab American Christians in contemporary Arab American novels. This paper analyzes how hybridity is constructed and negotiated in Diana Abu-Jaber's "Arabian Jazz," Susan Muaddi Darraj's "The Inheritance of Exile: Stories from South Philly," and Inaam Kachachi's "Al-Hafīda Al-Amrīkīyya" as a case study. These three novels feature Arab American Christian protagonists who undergo a profound reversal of embracing their Arab heritage. By embracing their liminality identities, these characters maintain their loyalty to the Islamicate community from which they originate, which allows them to develop an interfaith solidarity with Arab Muslims both in the United States and abroad as they resist essentialist discourses about citizenship and belonging. By spotlighting one sub-group of the Arab American community's experiences, this thesis advocates approaching Arab American literary scholarship in such a way that allows a better understanding of intergroup dynamics in the Arab American community at large.
Recommended Citation
Hynes, Olivia, "From Struggle to Resistance: Contemporary Arab American Christian Protagonists' Hybridity and Interfaith Solidarity" (2024). Honors Theses. 901.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/honorstheses/901
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