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The Arab Diasporic Condition and the Representational in Selected Short Stories

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Negotiating Diasporic Identity in Arab-Canadian Students

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures ((PSEF))

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Abstract

This chapter offers an extensive understanding of the concept of diaspora as a force of cultural dispersion. It explores the links between diaspora and identity in terms of displacement, exile, and the sense of being trapped between two worlds. As part of its attempt to provide empirical evidence, this chapter examines how Arab-Canadian students negotiate a sense of double consciousness as they interpret short stories written by Anglophone Arab authors. The chapter explains how the three short stories, written by different Anglophone Arab writers, resonate with the notion of double consciousness as a representation of the Arab diasporic condition. It examines double consciousness in the context of terrorism, discusses how radicalization has infiltrated the diasporic condition and become a horrifying reality, and explains how the rise of the rhetoric of intolerance, marked by xenophobic behaviour and extreme political views, has undermined the safety and welcoming multicultural narrative of Canadian society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar

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  1. Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar
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Correspondence to Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar .

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Abdul-Jabbar, W.K. (2019). The Arab Diasporic Condition and the Representational in Selected Short Stories. In: Negotiating Diasporic Identity in Arab-Canadian Students. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16283-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16283-2_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16282-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16283-2

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