Surrendering to the Discourse of Representation in Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes.v23i2.450Keywords:
Arab American, cultural identity, discourse of representation, intellectual, multicultural societyAbstract
This paper explores the effects of the discourse of representation on the cultural identity of the protagonist Jassim in Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land by making specific reference to Stuart Hall’s notion “The Discourse of Representation.” Michel Foucault’s theory of power/ knowledge is also significant to reveal the hegemonic power of discourse in a certain culture. Besides Hall’s and Foucault’s theories, this article draws upon the works of some other theorists such as Homi Bhabha, Louis Althusser, and Antonio Gramsci. The study explains how the primary role of power produces a certain discourse that normalizes the individual. The personal options and experiences of the main character will be scrutinized in order to explain how Jassim ultimately surrenders to the discourse of representation.
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