MohjaKahf’s Poetry: Promoting Intercultural Understanding Between Muslim and Non- Muslim Americans

  • Najwa Abdulkareem Khalid
Palabras clave: Arab- Muslim Americans, culture, hijab (veil), Islam

Resumen

MohjaKahf (b. 1967) is a Syrian- American poet whose poetry is characterized by its cultural opposition to any American stereotyping of Muslims and Islam in gen- eral and Arab - Muslim Americans in specific. The American mainstream culture has its own misconceptions about Arab-Muslims which result in a wave of Islamo- phobia and anti-Arab hate throughforming a stereotype of the Arab-Muslim people as ignorant terrorists. This paper examines the struggle between Kahf’s Islamic concepts and the concepts of the American culture in which she lives.Being a hy- brid Arab-Muslim American, Kahf is fully aware of both cultures and understands both languages which qualify her to play the role of a compromiser to bring the opponents into terms. The paper affirms that Kahf, through celebrating her Islamic identity, undertakes the task of a mediator between Islamic cultural customs and the modern American culture.

Biografía del autor/a

Najwa Abdulkareem Khalid
University of Baghdad- College of Arts

Citas

Abdelrazek ,AmalTalaat, 2007. Contemporary Arab American women writers: hyphenated identities and border crossing. Cambria

Press, New York, p. 68.

Abdu Al-Gabali,Mansoor Mohammed, 2016. Identity, culture, and politicsin contemporaryArab and Arab- Americanwomen’s literature. PhD.Diss,( University of Hyderabad), p.2.

Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Qur’an: English translation of the meanings and commentary, 1989, pp. 630-31.

Al- Qutami, Mais Yusuf, 2009.Feminist resistance in contemporary American women writers of color: unsettling images of the veil and the house in western cultures. PhD. Diss. Indiana

University of Pennsylvania p. 122.

Amer, Sahar, 2014. What is veiling?The University of North Carolina Press,North Carolina, pp. 181-182.

Hassan, Riffat, 2006. “Islamic Hagar and her family”, in Trible, Phyllis andRussell, Letty M (Eds.), Hagar, Sarah, and Their children:

Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives.Westminster John

Knox, Louisville, p.154

Hayes, Edwards Brent, 2003. The Practice of diaspora: literature, translation, and the rise of black internationalism.The President and Fellows of Harvard College. USA, p. 42.

Hoyt, Heather Marie,2006. An “I” for intimacy: rhetorical appeal in Arab American women’s literature. PhD. Diss. Arizona State University Press, p. 88.

Hussain, Salih Abdullah Abdulrahman, 2014. Modes of resistence and assimilation in contemporary Arab- American women’s poetry:

a study in MohjaKahf, SuheirHammad and Naomi Shihab Nye.

PhD. Diss. College of Arts, University of Baghdad, p. 78.

Kerkhoff,Ingrid, 2016.”Bridging cultures, building peace: MohjaKahf”, p.11. http://www.the-world-speaksenglish.com/en/bridging- cultures-building-peace-mohja-kahf/. Retrieved, February,

,2019.

Kahf, Mohja, 2003. E-mails from Scheherazad.University Press of Florida, Florida.

Kahf, Mohja, 2008 “Beyond stereotypes: being a Muslim woman is a joyful thing”.Los Angeles Timeshttps://www. twincities.

com/2008/10/12/beyond-stereotypes-being-a-muslim- woman-is-a-joyful-thing/. Retrieved, April, 2, 2019.

Kahf, Mohja, 2016. Hagar Poems.University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville.

Moghadam, Valentine, 1994. “Gender dynamics of nationalism, revolution, and Islamicization “. Valentine Moghadamed. Gender and national identity: women and politics in Muslim societies. Zed, New Jersey ,pp. 1-17, p. 12

Pazargadi, Leila Moayeri, 2017.”Re/calling Scheherazad: voicing Agency inMohjaKahf’s poetry”.Gender Forum, 65, pp. 28-49,p.28.

Revised Standard VersionoftheBible.2nd ed. 1973.The Division

of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches

ofChrist in the U.S.A.

Sahih al- Bukhari, Arabic- English.Translated by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.Beirut: Dar Al Arabia, 1985.vol.4, book 55, p.583, pp. 376-

Publicado
2019-06-09
Cómo citar
Abdulkareem Khalid, N. (2019). MohjaKahf’s Poetry: Promoting Intercultural Understanding Between Muslim and Non- Muslim Americans. Opción, 35, 28. Recuperado a partir de https://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/opcion/article/view/27397