مجلة ريحان للنشر العلمي مجلة علمية، محكمة، شهرية، مفتوحة الوصول
This study aims to offer a postcolonial reading of Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin through the notions of Homi Bhabha’s ”unhomeliness” and Edward Said’s ”between worlds”. It probes deep into the diasporic experience that Palestinians are thrown into due to the ongoing Palestinian- Israeli conflict, feeling displaced in their own stolen home as well as a round the world. Such case creates a perplexing and intricate meanings to the notions of home and identity. It gives a shifting and mobile meanings to home and identity instead of the fixed and stable interpretations, shaping an ambiguous existence and a confused sense of self as well. It reveals that Abulheja family members experience the sense of unhomeliness which negates the pure sense of home and identity and have more to do with their lack of sense of belonging. Memory appears as a strategy upon which they can capture a sense of home, having no real home to belong to but sweet memories to remember. Home is, thus, touched throughout imagination and memory. Furthermore, as home is deeply linked with the question of identity, Abulheja family members find themselves in Said’s ”between worlds” position which gives their sense of home and identity another far reaching dimensions and implications. They straddle two or more worlds simultaneously, adopting a borderline existence as well as a dual sense of identity. It can be said that Abulheja family members are forced to re-define their sense of home and identity throughout their diasporic life-journey around the world.
Keywords: Susan Abulhawa,Diaspora,Self,Home, Identity.
Ulfat W. Hussein, PhD-Researcher, Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Sana’a University & College for Women, Hadhramout University, Department of English – YEMEN
