Deconstructing Arab Masculinity in Diana Abu-Jaber&apos;s <i>Crescent</i> (2003): The Return of the Unheimlich

Wisam Abdul-Jabbar, null

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.39.1.0741

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Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 39, Issue 1

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Deconstructing Arab Masculinity in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent (2003): The Return of the Unheimlich

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Author(s): Wisam Abdul-Jabbar

Publication date (Print): Winter 2017

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Arab masculinity, Abu-Jaber, Crescent , Freud, unheimlich

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Abstract

This study focuses on the deconstruction of dominant perceptions of Arab masculinity, particularly with respect to Hans, the exiled Iraqi protagonist of Diana Abu-Jaber's 2003 novel Crescent. Employing the concept of the unheimlich as it intersects with the Iraqi Al-Futuwwa movement, this article explores the ways in which the condition of being exiled strips the protagonist of his masculine ideals that are often associated with nationalism and chivalry, and exposes his internalized vulnerabilities to “unhomeliness,” since he has been disconnected from country and family. In effect, the study subverts hegemonic conceptualizations of Arab masculinity by examining the unsettling repercussions of forced migration.

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Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 02713519

ISSN (Electronic): 20436920

Publication date (Print): Winter 2017

Volume: 39

Issue: 1

Pages: 741-757

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.39.1.0741

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.39.1.0741

SO-VID: e5b5b10f-b288-413e-b87a-53eeb4bf437f

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History

References

Abdelrazek, Amal Talaat (2007). Contemporary Arab American Women Writers: Hyphenated Identities and Border Crossing. New York, NY: Cambria Press.
Abu-Jaber, Diana (2003). Crescent: A Novel. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Aghacy, Samira (2011). Masculine Identity in the Fiction of the Arab East since 1967. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Alsultany, Evelyn (2012). Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Bengio, Ofra (1998). Saddam's Word: Political Discourse in Iraq. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bhabha, Homi (1992). The World and the Home. Social Text , 31/32, 141–153.
Bhabha, Homi (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Boym, Svetlana (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fadda-Conrey, Carol (2006). Arab American Literature in the Ethnic Borderland: Cultural Intersections in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent. MELUS , 31(2), 187–205.
Field, Robin E. (2006). A Prophet in Her Own Town: An Interview with Diana Abu-Jaber. MELUS , 31(4), 207–225.
Freud, Sigmund (1960). The Ego and the Id. Trans. James Strachey. New York, NY: Hogarth Press.
Freud, Sigmund (1965). New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. Trans. James Strachey, ed. Peter Gay. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Freud, Sigmund (2003). The Uncanny. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Gana, Nouri (2008). In Search of Andalusia: Reconfiguring Arabness in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent. Comparative Literature Studies , 45(2), 228–246.
Inhorn, Marcia C. (1996). Infertility and Patriarchy: The Cultural Politics of Gender and Family Life in Egypt. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
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Masschelein, Anneleen (2011). The Unconcept: The Freudian Uncanny in Late-Twentieth-Century Theory. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Norton, Anne (1991). Gender, Sexuality and the Iraq of Our Imagination. Middle East Research and Information Project , 173, 26–28.
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Polk, R. (2005). Understanding Iraq. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
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Singerman, Diane (1995). Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Sluglett, Peter (2005). Colonialism, the Ottomans, the Qajars, and the Struggle for Independence: The Arab World, Turkey, and Iran. In A Companion to the History of the Middle East , ed. Youssef M. Choueiri. Oxford: Blackwell.
Wien, Peter (2006). Iraqi Arab Nationalism: Authoritarian, Totalitarian, and Pro-Fascist Inclinations, 1932–1941. London and New York: Routledge.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Abdelrazek, Amal Talaat (2007). Contemporary Arab American Women Writers: Hyphenated Identities and Border Crossing. New York, NY: Cambria Press.

[2] Abu-Jaber, Diana (2003). Crescent: A Novel. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

[3] Aghacy, Samira (2011). Masculine Identity in the Fiction of the Arab East since 1967. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

[4] Alsultany, Evelyn (2012). Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. New York, NY: New York University Press.

[5] Bengio, Ofra (1998). Saddam's Word: Political Discourse in Iraq. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[6] Bhabha, Homi (1992). The World and the Home. Social Text , 31/32, 141–153.

[7] Bhabha, Homi (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

[8] Boym, Svetlana (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York, NY: Basic Books.

[9] Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.

[10] Fadda-Conrey, Carol (2006). Arab American Literature in the Ethnic Borderland: Cultural Intersections in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent. MELUS , 31(2), 187–205.

[11] Field, Robin E. (2006). A Prophet in Her Own Town: An Interview with Diana Abu-Jaber. MELUS , 31(4), 207–225.

[12] Freud, Sigmund (1960). The Ego and the Id. Trans. James Strachey. New York, NY: Hogarth Press.

[13] Freud, Sigmund (1965). New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. Trans. James Strachey, ed. Peter Gay. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

[14] Freud, Sigmund (2003). The Uncanny. London: Penguin Books Ltd.

[15] Gana, Nouri (2008). In Search of Andalusia: Reconfiguring Arabness in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent. Comparative Literature Studies , 45(2), 228–246.

[16] Inhorn, Marcia C. (1996). Infertility and Patriarchy: The Cultural Politics of Gender and Family Life in Egypt. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

[17] Jacob, Wilson Chacko (2011). Working Out Egypt: Effendi Masculinity and Subject Formation in Colonial Modernity, 1870–1940. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

[18] Jentsch, Ernst (1995). On the Psychology of the Uncanny (1906). Angelaki , 2(1), 7–16.

[19] Joseph, Suad (2003). Among Brothers: Patriarchal Connective Mirroring and Brotherly Deference in Lebanon. In The New Arab Family , ed. Nicholas S. Hopkins. Cairo, Egypt: American University of Cairo.

[20] Lukitz, Liora (1995). Iraq: The Search for National Identity. London: Frank Cass.

[21] Masschelein, Anneleen (2011). The Unconcept: The Freudian Uncanny in Late-Twentieth-Century Theory. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

[22] Norton, Anne (1991). Gender, Sexuality and the Iraq of Our Imagination. Middle East Research and Information Project , 173, 26–28.

[23] Orfalea, Gregory and Sharif Almusa. eds. (2000). Grape Leaves: A Century of Arab American Poetry . New York, NY: Interlink Books.

[24] Parikh, Crystal (2009). An Ethics of Betrayal: The Politics of Otherness in Emergent U.S. Literatures and Culture . New York, NY: Fordham University Press.

[25] Polk, R. (2005). Understanding Iraq. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

[26] Sedaghat, Michel (2010). Arabs—All You Need to Know. New York: Lulu Enterprises Incorporated.

[27] Singerman, Diane (1995). Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[28] Sluglett, Peter (2005). Colonialism, the Ottomans, the Qajars, and the Struggle for Independence: The Arab World, Turkey, and Iran. In A Companion to the History of the Middle East , ed. Youssef M. Choueiri. Oxford: Blackwell.

[29] Wien, Peter (2006). Iraqi Arab Nationalism: Authoritarian, Totalitarian, and Pro-Fascist Inclinations, 1932–1941. London and New York: Routledge.