Transcultural libanité in Amin Maalouf’s Origines (Published)
This article critically engages with Amin Maalouf’s novel Origines (2004). By drawing implicitly on Mikhail Epstein’s theory of transculture, I intend to explore the libanité paradigm, and to examine how it shapes the view of the Lebanese subject towards the West. By libanité, I refer to the religious and political elements that are central in defining Lebanese ethnic identity. I argue that within the Lebanese context, the transcultural process is not limited to immigrant characters who live in the West, but also it emerges in subjects who decide not to leave their homeland. What distinguishes this paper is its analysis of the relaxed, nomadic attitude adopted by characters when faced with issues linked to cultural allegiance. They appear to be ‘in place’ and ‘out of place’ whether they stay in Lebanon or decide to be geographically dislocated to a Western country. Furthermore, the main country of destination discussed in this novel is Cuba, which history has been mainly examined on the experiences of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and its impact on the Caribbean society. In terms of migration, therefore, very little investigation exists on the early 20th century Arab migration into Cuba. Maalouf’s Origines gives voice to Arabs to speak about their experience with the new island. On a larger scale, this introduces a new dimension to the study of minority communities from Muslim-majority Eastern regions who reside in the Caribbean societies today. This is a salient issue in the islands to develop further their cultural diversity.
Keywords: Identity, Migration, history, maalouf, transculture
A Diaspora Study of Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of Loss (Published)
In the postmodern age, under the effect of rapid means of communication and transportation, migration occurs and it has given rise to mutations in diasporic self. Ultimately, diasporic conflicting identity has become at the stake and diasporas often become an irreversible historical entity that leads to them towards home and homing desire. This paper explores the split identities of Indian-American diaspora in Desai’s prestigious novel, Inheritance of Loss (2006). It also underpins how troubled relationship between the first and second generation of immigrants have impacted their dispersed identity. It also unearths the lives of immigrants, their pungent diasporic experience with split identity and its fragmentations; and then their inevitable survival in the migrated locations. The paper practices diaspora theory to analyze the novel through the model of Avtar Brah as a theoretical framework that is drawn according to the research methodology.
Keywords: Diasporas, Home, Migration, diasporic self, homing desire, split identity