Patriarchy, Subordination, and Rise of the Individual in Hisham Matar&apos;s <i>In the Country of Men</i>

Abraham, Nevine

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.43.4.0333

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Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 43, Issue 4

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Patriarchy, Subordination, and Rise of the Individual in Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men

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Author(s): Nevine Abraham

Publication date (Print): 1 October 2021

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Matar, individualism, collectivism, authoritarianism, patriarchy, subordination

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Abstract

This article examines the narrative of resistance to social subordination and the manipulated notions of faithfulness and treason in Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men (2006) observed through the lens of the child narrator, 9-year-old Suleiman, who grows critical of the patriarchy and power hierarchy of Libyan society's private and public spheres. In the private sphere, his mother's retelling of her forced marriage at a young age informs his initial aversion of patriarchy. In the public sphere, the Revolutionary Committee's policing and suppression of dissent, and the neighbor's public execution amid a cheering crowd, shed light on the dynamics of subservience and divisiveness. Though the novel takes place in 1979 Libya, it raises questions on the possibility of individual agency and rise of the citizen against a post-colonial Arab despotic regime, where patriarchal authoritarianism, rooted in colonialism, creates a system of dependency and subjugation that undermines citizens' power and manipulates faith as a medium of submissiveness. This article concludes with some reflections on the outcomes of 2011 Arab uprisings with regards to active citizenship.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005550

Journal ID (jcode): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 0271-3519

ISSN: 2043-6920

Publication date (Print): 1 October 2021

Volume: 43

Issue: 4 ( doiID: 10.13169/arabstudquar.43.issue-4 )

Pages: 333-348

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.43.4.0333

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.43.4.0333

SO-VID: 47f826f5-5e70-4b88-9436-4ae6f89a8476

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Behavioral Sciences

Keywords: subordination,patriarchy,authoritarianism,collectivism,individualism,Matar

References

Adams, L. (2007). The Dissident's Son: Review of In the Country of Men. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/books/review/Adams.t.html, accessed March 28, 2021.
Afikra (2021). Writer Hisham Matar: Afikra Conversation, January 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAGteqUl-30.
Alterman, J. B. (2019). How the Rise of Individualism is Upending the Middle East. Washington Post, December 20. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-the-rise-of-individualism-is-upending-the-middle-east/2019/12/20/e007ef10-21ba-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html, accessed April 12, 2021.
Anon. (2017). Rif Protests Activist Nasser Zefzafi Arrested, May 29. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/05/217959/rif-protests-leader-nasser-zefzafi-arrested, accessed July 25, 2021.
Attar, L. S. (2011). An Interview with Hisham Matar. Jadaliyya, October 31. https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/24569, accessed February 14, 2021.
Barakat, H. (1993). The Arab Family and the Challenge of Change. In The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 97–118.
Barat, I. (2011). Reframing the Israel-Palestine Conflict. New Internationalist, April 1. https://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2011/04/01/palestine-israel-interview-pappe, accessed July 25, 2021.
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Durkheim, E. (1970). L'individualisme et les intellectuels. In La science sociale et l'action. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 261–278.
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Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. Q. Hoare and G. Nowell-Smith. New York: International Publishers.
Harlow, B. (2012). From Flying Carpets to No-Fly Zones: Libya's Elusive Revolution(s), According to Ruth First, Hisham Matar, and the International Criminal Court. Journal of Arabic Literature, 43(2/3), 431–457.
Hashem, N. (2014). “The Feast of the Ants”: Agency, the Body, and Qur'anic Narrative in Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men. Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 16(3), 39–61.
Hashemi, N. (2013). The Arab Spring Two Years On: Reflections on Dignity, Democracy, and Devotion. Ethics and International Affairs, 27(2), 207–221.
Hofstede, G. H. (1980). Culture's Consequences, International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Hougua, B. A., Rachid, E. A. and Hind, S. (2018). The Authoritarian Spectrum through the Prism of Individualism/Collectivism: Lessons for Political Socialization in Moroccan Society. Contemporary Arab Affairs, 11(3), 47–68.
Kearney, J. (2014). Traumatised Narrators in Hisham Matar's Novels. Journal of Literary Studies, 30(3), 124–148.
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Micklethwait, C. (2013). Zenga Zenga and Bunga Bunga: The Novels of Hisham Matar, and a Critique of Qaddafi's Libya. In The Edinburgh Companion to the Arab Novel in English: The Politics of Anglo Arab and Arab American Literature and Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 171–193.
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Adams, L. (2007). The Dissident's Son: Review of In the Country of Men. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/books/review/Adams.t.html, accessed March 28, 2021.

[2] Afikra (2021). Writer Hisham Matar: Afikra Conversation, January 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAGteqUl-30.

[3] Alterman, J. B. (2019). How the Rise of Individualism is Upending the Middle East. Washington Post, December 20. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-the-rise-of-individualism-is-upending-the-middle-east/2019/12/20/e007ef10-21ba-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html, accessed April 12, 2021.

[4] Anon. (2017). Rif Protests Activist Nasser Zefzafi Arrested, May 29. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/05/217959/rif-protests-leader-nasser-zefzafi-arrested, accessed July 25, 2021.

[5] Attar, L. S. (2011). An Interview with Hisham Matar. Jadaliyya, October 31. https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/24569, accessed February 14, 2021.

[6] Barakat, H. (1993). The Arab Family and the Challenge of Change. In The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 97–118.

[7] Barat, I. (2011). Reframing the Israel-Palestine Conflict. New Internationalist, April 1. https://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2011/04/01/palestine-israel-interview-pappe, accessed July 25, 2021.

[8] Buda, R. and Elsayed-Elkhouly, S. M. (1998). Cultural Differences between Arabs and Americans: Individualism-Collectivism Revisited. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29(3), 487–492.

[9] De La Boëtie, E. (2012). Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, tr. J. B. Atkinson and D. Sices, intro. and notes J. B. Atkinson. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

[10] Durkheim, E. (1970). L'individualisme et les intellectuels. In La science sociale et l'action. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 261–278.

[11] Elbadawi, I. and Makdisi, S. A. (2011). Democracy in the Arab World: Explaining the Deficit. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

[12] Gana, N. (2007). An Interview with Hisham Matar. Words without Borders. https://www.wordswith-outborders.org/article/an-interview-with-hisham-matar, accessed February 18, 2021.

[13] Georgis, D. (2013). Thinking Past Pride: Queer Arab Shame in Bareed Mista3jil. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 45(2), 233–251.

[14] Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. Q. Hoare and G. Nowell-Smith. New York: International Publishers.

[15] Harlow, B. (2012). From Flying Carpets to No-Fly Zones: Libya's Elusive Revolution(s), According to Ruth First, Hisham Matar, and the International Criminal Court. Journal of Arabic Literature, 43(2/3), 431–457.

[16] Hashem, N. (2014). “The Feast of the Ants”: Agency, the Body, and Qur'anic Narrative in Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men. Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 16(3), 39–61.

[17] Hashemi, N. (2013). The Arab Spring Two Years On: Reflections on Dignity, Democracy, and Devotion. Ethics and International Affairs, 27(2), 207–221.

[18] Hofstede, G. H. (1980). Culture's Consequences, International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

[19] Hougua, B. A., Rachid, E. A. and Hind, S. (2018). The Authoritarian Spectrum through the Prism of Individualism/Collectivism: Lessons for Political Socialization in Moroccan Society. Contemporary Arab Affairs, 11(3), 47–68.

[20] Kearney, J. (2014). Traumatised Narrators in Hisham Matar's Novels. Journal of Literary Studies, 30(3), 124–148.

[21] Levy, L. (2019). Family Affairs: Complicity, Betrayal, and the Family in Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men and Nadine Gordimer's My Son's Story. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 21(3).

[22] Lister, T. (2011). Gadhafi's Demise and the Arab Spring. CNN, October 21. https://www.cnn.com/2011/10/21/world/gadhafi-arab-spring/index.html, accessed August 1, 2021.

[23] Mari, L. (2013). “In the Country of Absences”: Ancient Roman and Italian Colonial Heritage in Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men (2006). Incontri: Rivista Europea di Studi Italiani, 28(1), 7–15.

[24] Matar, H. (2008). In the Country of Men. New York: Dial Press Trade Paperbacks.

[25] Meijer, R. (2019). Active and Passive Citizenship in the Arab World. Middle East Journal, 73(4), 607–627.

[26] Micklethwait, C. (2013). Zenga Zenga and Bunga Bunga: The Novels of Hisham Matar, and a Critique of Qaddafi's Libya. In The Edinburgh Companion to the Arab Novel in English: The Politics of Anglo Arab and Arab American Literature and Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 171–193.

[27] Owen, R. (2012). The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[28] Said, E. W. (2000). Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[29] Scott, J. C. (2008). Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

[30] Sharabi, H. (1988). Neopatriarchy: A Theory of Distorted Change in Arab Society. New York: Oxford University Press.

[31] Stewart, A. L, Pratto, F., Zeineddine, F. B., Sweetman, J., Eicher, V., Licata, L., Morselli, D., et al. (2016). International Support for the Arab Uprisings: Understanding Sympathetic Collective Action Using Theories of Social Dominance and Social Identity. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 19(1), 6–26.

[32] Thomas, A. J. (2012). In the Country of Men: Libya in the Dreams of Hisham Matar. Indian Literature, 56(3), 197–206.

[33] Turner, O. (2006). Muammar, We're All Crazy Now: Review of In the Country of Men. The Guardian, October 21. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jul/16/fiction.features2, accessed January 23, 2021.

[34] Wedeen, L. (2002). Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political Science. American Political Science Review, 96(4), 713–728.