Identity Politics of Hijab in Selected Contemporary Anglophone Arab Women Novels

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the complex dynamics of identity politics in selected contemporary Anglophone Arab women’s literature, focusing on two representative novels, namely; Leila Aboulela's Minaret and Mohja Kahf's The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. These two novels, which were written by diasporic Muslim women authors, offer valuable insights into the lived experiences of diasporic Muslim women navigating multiple identities that were shaped by the intersections of religion, culture, and displacement. The study explores how these two novels challenge cultural and racial stereotypes of Muslim women in diaspora while criticizing the sociopolitical contexts in which these identities are fashioned and contested. By employing an identity politics framework, the thesis investigates the central female characters' quests of self-discovery, emphasizing their fight to achieve a reconciliation of their Islamic cultural heritage with the harsh realities of life in the West. Through multilayered exploration of faith, family, and diasporic community, Aboulela and Kahf give voice to the tensions between personal agency and collective identity as mediated by religious faith. This thesis also highlights how these narratives of identity politics of hijab engage with the framing discourses on racialization, Islamophobia, and the politics of representation in order to situate them within the framework of global dialogue on power and identity. This thesis argues that Minaret and The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf are sort of cultural interventions that act as counter-narratives to hegemonic Western stereotyping of Muslim women. These two novels disrupts this hegemonic Western construction of Arab and Muslim identities by foregrounding the spiritual quests and inner lives of their female Muslim protagonists offering alternative frameworks for understanding belonging and resistance. Ultimately, the study demonstrates how contemporary Anglophone Arab women’s literature contributes to the ongoing discourse on identity politics, creating spaces for more inclusive and intersectional representations.