Ethnicity, Cultural Predicament, And Food Connotations In Diana Abu-jaber’s Crescent

Résumé: This study aims at shedding light on the cultural in-betweenness and hybridity of Arab Americans. Additionally, it examines the expression of important themes in Arab American women’s minor literature. Furthermore, it accentuates the hyphenated identity and food significance in Crescent (2003), a novel written by the Arab American writer Diana Abu-Jaber. This novel focuses on the Arab-American community of Los Angeles. It highlights the multidimensional romantic relationship between Sirine, the thirty-nine-year old beautiful Iraqi-American heroine who works as a main cook at Nadia’s Café, a Lebanese restaurant in Los Angeles, and Hanif, a handsome Iraqi professor of Arabic literature who works with Sirine’s uncle at the university and who admires her beauty and delicious meals. Indeed, both of them suffer from exile and dislocation: Sirine represents cultural exile while Hanif represents political exile. It is undeniable that the Middle Eastern cuisine plays a pivotal role and grants the Arab Americans a sense of identity and community.

Publié dans la revue: دراسات وأبحاث