Violent Intersectionalities and Experiences of Marked Arabness in Randa Jarrar&apos;s <i>A Map of Home</i>

Darwich, Lynn; Harb, Sirene

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.40.4.0300

ScienceOpen: research and publishing network

For Publishers

For Researchers

Blog
About

Search
Advanced search

406

views

recommends

If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

Arab Studies Quarterly is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journals. Furthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

scite_

Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 40, Issue 4

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Violent Intersectionalities and Experiences of Marked Arabness in Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home

Published

research-article

Author(s): Lynn Darwich , Sirene Harb

Publication date (Print): 1 October 2018

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Arab American literature, violence, gender, sexuality, class and race, Randa Jarrar, Arabness, feminism

Abstract

This article proposes an alternative analytical model to examine the shifting devaluation of racialized, classed, and gendered lives in Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home. As the novel depicts powerful instances of nonnormative practices, it lends itself to new analytical approaches for understanding the relationship between power, normativity, and value in Arab American fiction. The intellectual and political frameworks that inform this reading of the novel draw on Arab and Arab American feminisms, women of color feminisms, and queer of color critique. This emphasis marks a shift from existing criticism in proposing to interpret the characters' experiences, not as struggles of identity and belonging but as tense processes of gendered and classed racialization, self-representation, and political determination. In doing so, the discussion moves toward a critique of coercive practices that render Arab and Arab American lives in the United States vulnerable to threats of violence/exploitation in the context of neoliberalism.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005550

Journal ID (jcode): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 0271-3519

ISSN: 2043-6920

Publication date (Print): 1 October 2018

Volume: 40

Issue: 4 ( doiID: 10.13169/arabstudquar.40.issue-4 )

Pages: 300-318

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.40.4.0300

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.40.4.0300

SO-VID: feaa940f-f9b5-4140-9116-00e1379a5a87

License:

All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Custom metadata

lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Behavioral Sciences

Keywords: gender,Arabness,Randa Jarrar,feminism,class and race,sexuality,violence,Arab American literature

References

Abdulhadi, Rabab, Evelyn Alsultany, and Nadine Naber. Arab & Arab American Feminisms. New York: Syracuse UP, 2011. Print.
Abu-Jaber, Diana. Arabian Jazz. New York: Norton, 2003. Print.
Albakry, Mohammed, and Jonathan Siler. “Into the Arab-American Borderland: Bilingual Creativity in Randa Jarrar's Map of Home.” Arab Studies Quarterly (2012): 109–121. JSTOR. Web. 14 November 2014.
Cariello, Marta. “Coming of Age in the Solitude of the Lost Land: Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home.” Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World 12 (2014): 268–288.
Cohen, Cathy J. “Deviance as Resistance: A New Research Agenda for the Study of Black Politics.” Du Bois Review 1.01 (2004): 27–45. Cambridge Journals. Web. 14 November 2014.
Fadda-Conrey, Carol. “Arab American Citizenship in Crisis: Destabilizing Representations of Arabs and Muslims in the US after 9/11.” Modern Fiction Studies 57.3 (2011): 532–555. Project Muse. Web. 29 December 2014.
Farmer, Paul. Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues. Berkeley: U of California P, 2001. Print.
Handal, Nathalie. “Introduction.” The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology. Ed. Nathalie Handal. New York: Interlink Books, 2001: 1–62. Print.
Harb, Sirene. “Naming Oppressions, Representing Empowerment: June Jordan's and Suheir Hammad's Poetic Projects.” Feminist Formations 26.3 (2014): 71–99.
Hassan, Salah D., and Marcy Jane Knopf-Newman. “Introduction.” Arab American Literature. Spec. issue of MELUS 31.4 (2006): 3–13. JSTOR. Web. 26 October 2018.
Hatem, Mervat F. “The Invisible American Half: Arab American Hybridity and Feminist Discourses in the 1990s.” Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age. Ed. Ella Shohat. Cambridge: MIT P, 1998: 369–390. Print.
Hoffmann, Jessica. “Interview: Mapping Home with First-Time Novelist Randa Jarrar.” Bitch Magazine. Bitch Mag., Spring 2009. Web. 14 November 2014.
Hong, Grace Kyungwon, and Roderick A. Ferguson. Strange Affinities: The Gender and Sexual Politics of Comparative Racialization. Durham: Duke UP, 2011. Print.
Jarrar, Randa. A Map of Home: A Novel. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. Print.
Kadi, Joanna. Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists. Boston: South End Press, 1994. Print.
Kaldas, Pauline. “Beyond Stereotypes: Representational Dilemmas in Arabian Jazz.” MELUS 31.4 (2006): 167–185. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 November 2014.
Majaj, Lisa Suhair. “The Hyphenated Author: Emerging Genre of ‘Arab-American Literature’ Poses Questions of Definition, Ethnicity and Art.” Al Jadid Magazine 5.26 (1999). Web. 14 November 2014.
Majaj, Lisa Suhair. “Arab-American Literature: Origins and Developments.” American Studies Journal 52 (2008). Web. 14 November 2014.
Naber, Nadine. “Introduction: Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations.” Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Ed. Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2008: 1–45. Print.
Naber, Nadine. Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.
Salaita, Steven. Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures and Politics. Gordonsville, VA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 29 December 2014.
Salaita, Steven. Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader's Guide. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2011.
Van Gelder, Geert Jan. Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.
Yaman. “Randa Jarrar Discusses her Novel, A Map of Home.” KABOBfest. KABOBfest, 9 September 2009. Web. 3 November 2014.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Abdulhadi, Rabab, Evelyn Alsultany, and Nadine Naber. Arab & Arab American Feminisms. New York: Syracuse UP, 2011. Print.

[2] Abu-Jaber, Diana. Arabian Jazz. New York: Norton, 2003. Print.

[3] Albakry, Mohammed, and Jonathan Siler. “Into the Arab-American Borderland: Bilingual Creativity in Randa Jarrar's Map of Home.” Arab Studies Quarterly (2012): 109–121. JSTOR. Web. 14 November 2014.

[4] Cariello, Marta. “Coming of Age in the Solitude of the Lost Land: Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home.” Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World 12 (2014): 268–288.

[5] Cohen, Cathy J. “Deviance as Resistance: A New Research Agenda for the Study of Black Politics.” Du Bois Review 1.01 (2004): 27–45. Cambridge Journals. Web. 14 November 2014.

[6] Fadda-Conrey, Carol. “Arab American Citizenship in Crisis: Destabilizing Representations of Arabs and Muslims in the US after 9/11.” Modern Fiction Studies 57.3 (2011): 532–555. Project Muse. Web. 29 December 2014.

[7] Farmer, Paul. Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues. Berkeley: U of California P, 2001. Print.

[8] Handal, Nathalie. “Introduction.” The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology. Ed. Nathalie Handal. New York: Interlink Books, 2001: 1–62. Print.

[9] Harb, Sirene. “Naming Oppressions, Representing Empowerment: June Jordan's and Suheir Hammad's Poetic Projects.” Feminist Formations 26.3 (2014): 71–99.

[10] Hassan, Salah D., and Marcy Jane Knopf-Newman. “Introduction.” Arab American Literature. Spec. issue of MELUS 31.4 (2006): 3–13. JSTOR. Web. 26 October 2018.

[11] Hatem, Mervat F. “The Invisible American Half: Arab American Hybridity and Feminist Discourses in the 1990s.” Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age. Ed. Ella Shohat. Cambridge: MIT P, 1998: 369–390. Print.

[12] Hoffmann, Jessica. “Interview: Mapping Home with First-Time Novelist Randa Jarrar.” Bitch Magazine. Bitch Mag., Spring 2009. Web. 14 November 2014.

[13] Hong, Grace Kyungwon, and Roderick A. Ferguson. Strange Affinities: The Gender and Sexual Politics of Comparative Racialization. Durham: Duke UP, 2011. Print.

[14] Jarrar, Randa. A Map of Home: A Novel. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. Print.

[15] Kadi, Joanna. Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists. Boston: South End Press, 1994. Print.

[16] Kaldas, Pauline. “Beyond Stereotypes: Representational Dilemmas in Arabian Jazz.” MELUS 31.4 (2006): 167–185. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 November 2014.

[17] Majaj, Lisa Suhair. “The Hyphenated Author: Emerging Genre of ‘Arab-American Literature’ Poses Questions of Definition, Ethnicity and Art.” Al Jadid Magazine 5.26 (1999). Web. 14 November 2014.

[18] Majaj, Lisa Suhair. “Arab-American Literature: Origins and Developments.” American Studies Journal 52 (2008). Web. 14 November 2014.

[19] Naber, Nadine. “Introduction: Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations.” Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Ed. Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2008: 1–45. Print.

[20] Naber, Nadine. Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.

[21] Salaita, Steven. Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures and Politics. Gordonsville, VA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 29 December 2014.

[22] Salaita, Steven. Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader's Guide. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2011.

[23] Van Gelder, Geert Jan. Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.

[24] Yaman. “Randa Jarrar Discusses her Novel, A Map of Home.” KABOBfest. KABOBfest, 9 September 2009. Web. 3 November 2014.