American Palestinian Women and Intersectionality

Undergraduates: Sarah Austin, Danica Ry

Faculty Advisor: Claudia Yaghoobi
Department:

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Middle Eastern women¿¿¿s writing in the context of intersectionality will be addressed through the analysis of Sahar Khalifeh¿¿¿s novel, The Inheritance. The novel investigates the struggle to discover and define identity within the confines of two radically different cultural spheres. The story of the protagonist, Zeynab, explores the adversity of double ¿¿¿othering¿¿¿ within her cultural backgrounds ¿¿¿ Palestine and America - as a woman. The American perception of Palestine has been tainted by the lenses of Orientalism. The values of her Palestinian cultural background conflict with this new American culture in which she has been immersed. This causes the protagonist to struggle with understanding who she is supposed to be within these societies, with particular regard to the responsibility of carrying her Palestinian cultural traditions. Beyond the matter of cultural conflict, she must also navigate these cultures adversities as a woman, presenting a third-layer of estrangement. The poster focuses on issues of feminism, the position of the individual in diverse societies, navigating the obstacles that come with the predisposition of a mixed identity, and attempting to define an independent identity while faced with factors of cultural assimilation and historical agents.